THE FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL ISLAMIC WORLD

General Editor: Lawrence I. Conrad

Volume 46

The Formation of al-Andalus

THE FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL ISLAMIC WORLD

General Editor: Lawrence I. Conrad

1 Byzantium on the Eve of Islam Averil Cameron
2 The Sasanian East on the Eve of Islam Shaul Shaked
3 The Arabs and Arabia on the Eve of Islam Frank E. Peters
4 The Life of Mul}ammad Uri Rubin
5 The Arab Conquests Fred M. Donner
6 The Articulation of State Structures Fred M. Donner
7 Problems of Political Cohesion R. Stephen Humphreys
8 Arab-Byzantine Relations Michael Bonner
9 The Turks in the Early Islamic World C.E. Bosworth
10 Patterns of Everyday Life David Waines
11 Agricultural Production and Pastoralism Michael G. Morony
12 Manufacturing, Mining and Labour Michael G. Morony
13 Trade, Exchange and the Market Place A.L. Udovitch
14 Property and Consumption Baber Johansen
15 Cities in the Islamic World Hugh Kennedy
16 Nomads and the Desert Hugh /( ennedy
17 Society and the Individual to be announced
18 Muslims and Others Albrecht Noth
19 Christian Communal Life Sidney H. Griffith
20 The Jewish Communities David Wasserstein
21 Archaeology and Early Islam Donald Whitcomb
22 Numismatics and Monetary History Michael Bates
23 Art and Architecture Jonathan Bloom
24 The Qur'an: Style and Contents Andrew Rippin
25 The Qur'an: Text and Interpretation Andrew Rippin
26 The Development of Ritual G.R. Hawting
27 The Formation of Islamic Law to be announced
28 The Development of lfadlth Harald Motzki
29 Historiographical Traditions Lawrence I. Conrad
30 Early Islamic Theology Josef van Ess
31 Eschatology and Apocalyptic Wiljerd Madelung
32 Visions of Community Wadad al-Qa¢1
33 Shr'ism Etan [( ohiberg
34 The Khawarij Ridwan al-Saiid
35 The Emergence of Mysticism Bernd Radtke
36 The Philological Tradition Ramzi Baalbaki
37 Poetry and Poetics Suzanne Stetkevych
38 Arabic Prose Literature Fedwa Malti-Douglas
39 The Rise of Islamic Philosophy Everett Rowson
40 The Rise of Arab-Islamic Medicine Lawrence I. Conrad
41 The Exact Sciences Jamil Ragep
42 Magic and Divination Emilie Savage-Smith
43 Education and the Transmission of Knowledge Claude Giiliot
44 The Islamic Manuscript Tradition Jan Just Witkam
45 Islamic North Africa Elizabeth Savage
46 The Formation of al-Andalus I Manuela Marin
47 The Formation of ai-Andalus II Maribel Fierro/ Julio Samsd
THE FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL ISLAMIC WORLD

General Editor: Lawrence I. Conrad

Volume 46

The Formation of al-Andalus

Part 1: History and Society

edited by
Manuela Marin
First published 1998 by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge

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This edition copyright © 1998 by Taylor & Francis, and Introduction by Manuela Marin.
For copyright of individual articles refer to the Acknowledgements.

Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 were translated from
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British Library CIP Data

The Formation of al-Andalus.
Part 1: History and Society.
(The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: Vol. 46).
1. Islam-Iberian Peninsula-History. 2. Civilization, Islamic.
3. Spain-Civilization-711-1516. 4. Portugal-Civilization-
To 1500. 5. Spain-History-711-1516. 6. Portugal-History-
To 1385.
I. Marin, Manuela.
946' .000902

US Library of Congress CIP Data

Marin, Manuela.
The Formation of al-Andalus/edited by Manuela Marin.
p. em.- (The Formation of the Classical Islamic World: Vol. 46).
1. Spain-Civilization-711-1516. 2. Muslims-Spain.
I. Tide. II. Series.
DP103. M36 1998 98-15270
946' 02-dc21 CIP

ISBN 978086087082 (hbk)

Transferred to Digital Printing in 2010

THE FORMATION OF THE CLASSICAL ISLAMIC WORLD-46

 CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Vll

General Editor's Preface xi

Introduction xiii

1 The Itineraries of the Muslim Conquest of al-Andalus in the

Light of a New Source: Ibn al-Shabbat
Emilio de Santiago Simon 1

2 The Muslim Settlement of Spania/al-Andalus

Maria Jesus Viguera Molins 13

3 Al-Andalus and Gothica Sors

Heinz Halm 39

4 The Social Structure of al-Andalus during the Muslim

Occupation (711-55) and the Founding of the
U mayyad Monarchy
Miguel Cruz Hernandez 51

5 The Settlement and Organisation of the Syrian Junds in

al-Andalus
Eduardo Manzano Moreno 85

6 An Arab among Muwallads: Mu~ammad ibn 'Abd al-Salam

al-Khushan1
Luis Molina 115

7 The Population of the Region of Valencia during the First Two

Centuries of Muslim Domination
Pierre Guichard 129

8 Mozarabs: an Emblematic Christian Minority in Islamic

al-Andalus
Mikel de Epalza 183
Vl - - - - - - - CONTENTS

9 From the Roman to the Arab: the Rise of the City of Murcia
Alfonso Carmona Gonzalez 205

10 From Civitas to Madfna: Destruction and Formation of the

City in South-East al-Andalus-the Archaeological Debate
Sonia Gutierrez Lloret 217

11 Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus

Leopoldo Torres Balbas 265

12 Four Questions in Connection with Ibn ljaf9iin

Maribel Fierro 291

13 From the Sikkat al-Andalus to the Mint of Madinat al-Zahra'

Alberto Canto Garcia 329

14 Settlement and Fortification in Southern al-Andalus: the

Formation of a Land of lfu~iin
Manuel Acien Almansa 347

15 Considerations with Respect to "al- Thaghr in al-Andalus" and

the Political-Administrative Division of Muslim Spain
Jacinto Bosch Vil6 377

16 The "Zalmedina" of Cordoba

Joaquin Vallve Bermejo 389

17 The Manifest Caliph: Umayyad Ceremony in Cordoba, or the

Staging of Power
Miquel Barcelo 425

18 Eastern Influences in al-Andalus

Juan Zozaya 457

19 The Structure of the Family in al-Andalus

Maria Luisa Avila 469

Index 485
 11

CITIES FOUNDED BY THE MUSLIMS

IN AL-ANDALUS
Leopoldo Torres Balbas

Location and Construction

[781] In a land as rich in urban centres as was the Iberian peninsula at the
beginning of the eighth century, when the Islamic invasion occurred, it is
natural that the number of cities founded during the following centuries of
domination by the conquerors should be small. What follows is a description
of 22 such cities, by order of the date of their founding, though this number
is not meant to be regarded as exhaustive. 1
According to the Qirtiis, scholars or philosophers believed that the pros-
perity of a city depended on the presence of five conditions: flowing water,
good arable land, nearby wooded areas, solid buildings and a leader able to
command respect, who would look after the city's prosperity and protect the
roads that led to it. 2
Ibn Khaldun commented at great length on the birth, growth and death
of cities. Location was all-important in determining whether a city was
good or bad, and the degree of its prosperity was greatly affected by natural
factors. The Arabs-he wrote-paid little attention to choosing good sites
for the cities they founded, failing to take into account the conditions of
the terrain, the purity of the air and water, and the quality of the lands
available for farming or grazing. The structures that they erected were of
very little solidity, as a consequence of their nomadic civilisation and their
meagre interest in the cultivation of the arts. In order for life [782] in a city
to be agreeable, the great Berber philosopher claimed, it was necessary to
attend to various conditions at the time of its founding, first and foremost the
presence within the chosen site of a river or springs yielding pure, abundant
water-for water, "a gift from Allah", was of capital importance, and the
1 For each of the 22 cities founded by the Muslims in the Peninsula which are described

in this article, information is provided as to its origin, the topographical features of the site
on which it was built, the history of its vicissitudes, what archaeological remains from the
Muslim period-if any-are still to be found there, and, when the former city perimeters
are known, the area circumscribed therein. This account is limited by the necessary brevity
of these pages to a highly cursory treatment.
2 Qirfiis, Huici (trans.), Valencia, 1918, p. 27; Beaumier (trans.), Paris, 1860, p. 36.
266 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

2 Leopolda Torres Balbas

fact of having it close at hand meant sparing one's neighbours considerable

trouble. In the surroundings there must be good grazing land, farmlands
capable of feeding men and animals and hills or forests which would provide
wood for construction and use as fuel. But the primordial necessity, Ibn
Khaldun claimed, was defensibility. Hence, the city must be built at the
summit of a steep mountain, on a peninsula almost completely surrounded
by the sea, or on the banks of a river that could be crossed only by means
of a bridge, either of pontoons or stone. In order to protect the city against
surprise attack, all its houses should be sheltered inside a girdle of walls,
within which the peasants who dwelt in the vicinity might also seek refuge
when necessary. In this way the city would be able to defend itself without
the aid of an army. 3
As will be seen in the following pages, a fair number of the cities founded
in al-Andalus were set up by sovereign rulers or by princes who were to a
greater or lesser degree independent of the central authority. In addition to
the fact that, in the Islamic countries, the building of large structures was
an act of royal initiative, the demanding task of founding a city was only
possible for rulers with great resources at their disposal who wished to show
off their grandeur in this fashion. The founding and building of cities, Ibn
Khaldun remarked, was the prerogative of sovereigns and empires. 4 The
'Abbasid monarch al-Mutawakkil, upon completing the construction of the
city of Ja'farlya, the present-day Mutawakkil1ya, to the north of Samarra,
exclaimed, "Now I know that I am king, after having built for myself a city
in which to live" .5
It was exceptional in all mediaeval civilisations for a new city to be
founded at a site that was completely devoid of previous inhabitation. With-
in the area of nearly all new cities there had existed beforehand some strong-
hold, farmhouse, hamlet, or village. With regard to Islamic Spain, the his-
torical fact of a city's foundation can usually be inferred from the date at
which the site began to be classified as a madina, through the construction
of a perimeter wall and main mosque. This category of conurbation also
implied the existence of markets and suburbs, as well as different neighbour-
hoods inside and sometimes outside the city walls. 6 It is by this means that

3 Ibn Khaldiln, Prolegomenes historiques, Slane (trans.), Paris, 1985, 2, pp. 247, 250,

251, 274 and 275.

4 Ibid., pp. 238-39.
5 Ya'qilbl, Buldiin, Leiden edition, p. 266, quoted in Najl al-A~il, "La ciudad de al-

Mu'ta~im en al-Qa~ill", Al-Andalus, 12 (1947), p. 346.

6 The concept of the city was nearly identical in Christian Spain. In the Siete Partidas
 HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 267

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 3

Plate XX

Map showing newly-founded

Hispano-Muslim cities
268 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

4 Leopolda Torres Balbas

in the year 344/955-56 'Abd al-Ra~man III converted the urban nucleus, no
doubt already fairly sizeable, [783] which something more than a century
earlier had served as port to the landlocked Pechina, into Madinat al-Mariya
(the later "Almeria" of the Christians). 7
Unlike the cases of Fez and Marrakush, little is known of the material
details of the founding of the new cities of al-Andalus. 8 The founding of
Gibraltar in 555/1160 was preceded by excavations on the site at several
places in the side of the mountain, from which springs emerged. The streams
that flowed from these springs were then directed into a channel which passed
into the city and emptied into a large reservoir. 9
Al-Manf?iir began construction work at al-Madina al-Zahira in 368/978-
79 by levelling the plot of ground which had been chosen. The first struc-
ture to be built was the perimeter wall which guaranteed the permanence
of the new urban nucleus. We know that this is what occurred not only
at al-Madina al-Zahira but also at Almeria, Medinaceli and }jif?n al-Faraj
(Aznalfarache). The fortress-if such a structure was planned-was erected
simultaneously, as were the main and lesser mosques, as occurred at Badajoz,
Almeria, Gibraltar and al-Buniya (Algecira la Nueva). When the new site
was to be a royal city, the palace was built after the city walls were finished;
this was the case at Madinat al-Zahra', al-Madina al-Zahira, }jif?n al-Faraj
and al-Buniya. At Badajoz, bath-houses were constructed at the same time
as the walls and mosques, whereas barracks were built at Medinaceli by
virtue of its being a military base on the frontier.

The New Cities

1. CALATAYUD (Qal'at Ayyiib)

In the first half of the thirteenth century, Don Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada-
no doubt reflecting previous Muslim tradition-wrote that Calatayud was
founded by Ayyiib, to whom the city owed its name. Ayyiib ibn ljabib al-
Lakhmi was a tiibi' (follower and disciple of the Companions of the Prophet)
de Alfonso el Sabio, by the word city "se entiende todo aquellugar que es cercado de los
muros, con los arrabales et los edificios que se tienen con ellos" ["is understood every place
that is inside the walls, along with the outlying neighbourhoods and buildings pertaining
to them"] (Part. 6, Tit. 33, Law 6).
7 L. Torres Balbas "Almeria islamica", AI-Andalus, 22 (1957), pp. 416-18.
8 Qirfiis, Huici (trans.), pp. 24-26, 33-34 and 327; Beaumier (trans.), pp. 31-33, 44,

55 and 459-60; E. Levi-Provenc;al, "La fondation de Marrakech", Melanges d'histoire et

d'archeologie de /'Occident musulman, Algiers, 1957, 2, pp. 117-20.
9 E. Levi-Provenc;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 121, trans. p. 148.
 HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 269

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 5

and governor of Muslim Spain for six months following the assassination of
his first cousin 'Abd al-'Az1z ibn Musa ibn Nuf:?ayr at the beginning of Ra-
jah 97 /March 716. This assertion, disseminated above all by the historians
Zurita and Mariana, has been accepted as fact by contemporary Arabists. 10
The next reference (784] to Calatayud in the historical record is from more
than a century and a half later, in the year 271/884. On this date, 'Abd
al-Ra~man ibn 'Abd al-'Az1z al-Tuj1b1, the head of a powerful Arab family
established in Aragon since the conquest, and at the time lord of Daroca
and Calatayud and ally of the emir in Cordoba, restored the fortifications of
both cities for protection against the Banu Qas1 of Zaragoza.l 1 In 1120, Ca-
latayud was conquered by Alfonso I "the Battler". According to the Qirtas,
it was the most important fortress in eastern al-Andalus. 12
Located near a fertile valley and comprising the key to several natural
communication routes, Calatayud occupies a position of matchless strate-
gic advantage. The city was established in a ravine moulded by erosion.
The topography of the site required unusually complex defences. The walls
had first to include the hills that dominated the city, on which were raised
four lofty forts, then descend to the bottom of the two ravines that sepa-
rated the hills, then descend still further towards the river valley and river
itself so as to enclose within the walls the eastern part of the flood plain,
with the River Jalon acting as a natural moat to provide additional protec-
tion.
As evidence of Calatayud's Islamic past, there survive in the city only
the remains of fortifications, which have not been studied, as well as walls
and towers made of chalky rubble and, in some places, stone slabs. There
is a tower, octagonal on the outside and cylindrical within, with a conical
dome, as well as rectangular towers, some covered by barrel vaulting and
others with open interiors. In the wall which climbs the hill from the now-
vanished Soria Gate to the main castle, one walled-in city gate still survives.
The portal of the gateway, now walled in, is a bit more than two metres high
and is capped by a horseshoe arch with toothing.
The walled area of Calatayud was between 39 and 40 hectares at the
time of its conquest by the Christians.

10 See the article by C.F. Seybold in Encyclopedie de /'Islam, Leiden-Paris, 1913, 1, p.

846.
11 Levi-Provem;al, Histoire de I'Espagne musulmane, Paris-Leiden, 1950, 1, p. 328.
12 Qirfiis, Beaumier (trans.), p. 234; Huici (trans.), p. 167.
2 7 0 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

6 Leopolda Torres Balbas

2. CALATRAVA LA VIEJA (Qal'at Raba~)

The Arabic name of Calatrava, Qal'at Raba~, is said to come from another
tiibi' and diikhil (emigrant), 'Ali ibn Raba~ al-Lakhmi, 13 probably the city's
founder. Al-l:limyari states that the city was founded in the Umayyad period
and settled by the inhabitants of"Orlt (Oreto) when that city of Roman origin
was destroyed. Maqqari calls it al-Bayc;la' ("the White") .1 4
Calatrava is named later in the Arabic chronicles, in [785) connection
with the uprising in Toledo of Abu l-Aswad Mu~ammad ibn 'Abd al-Ra~man
al-Fihri against 'Abd al-Ra~man I in 169/785, during the last days of the
latter's reign. The emir inflicted a bloody defeat on the rebel, who was
pursued until beyond Qal'at Raba}:t, with the loyal troops meting out death
to all those fugitives that they managed to lay hands on. 15
An audacious move allowed the ever-rebellious Toledans, under the com-
mand of the Mozarab Suintila, to occupy Calatrava, which had been evac-
uated by the Muslims and had had its defences dismantled. The response
was the rapid dispatch of an expedition from Cordoba against Toledo in
the summer of 239/853 led by the prince al-l:lakam, brother of the reign-
ing emir Mu~ammad. Upon their arrival in Calatrava, they found the city
abandoned. Al-ijakam ordered the fortifications rebuilt and obliged the in-
habitants, who had fled following the Toledans' assault, to return to their
houses. The reconstruction work was completed two years later in 241/855.
A strong garrison was left in the re-populated city. 16
Calatrava was conquered by Alfonso VII in 1147 and abandoned by the
Christians in 595/1195 as a consequence of the rout at Alarcos. In the
summer of 609/1212 it was taken over by the army which a few days later
vanquished the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa. The unhealthy site of the
city, beside the nearly stagnant waters of the Guadiana, seems to have been
the cause for the city's desertion and depopulation in 1217.
Calatrava extended along the flat summit of a long, narrow hill, some-
what higher towards the west, whose height varies from between 15 and 40
13 C.F. Seybold in Encyclopedie de l'Islam, 1, p. 846: Miguel Asin Palacios, Contribuci6n

a Ia toponim{a arabe de Espana, Madrid-Granada, 1940, p. 100.

14 Levi-Provenc;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 163, trans. p. 196; Maqqarl, Analectes, 1, p.

103.
15 1bn 'ldharl, Bayan, 2, pp. 51-52, trans. pp. 77-78; Ibn al-Atrnr, Annales du Maghreb

et de l'Espagne, p. 53, trans. p. 132.

16 Baytin, 2, pp. 87, 98 and 99, trans. pp. 138 and 155-56; Ibn al-Athlr, Annales, p. 47,

trans. p. 231; Nuwayn, Historia de los musulmanes de Espana y Africa, Gaspar Remiro
(trans.), Granada, 1917, pp. 15, 40-41, 46.
- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 271

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 7

metres above the wide course of the River Guadiana, covered with cane,
bulrushes, and cat-tails, which served as a moat on the west side.
The founding of Qal'at Raba~ was no doubt a response to military fac-
tors: the need to have a fortress in the central section of the Guadiana valley,
one step on the route used by armies to travel from Cordoba towards Toledo
and the Upper March to fight the Christians. It was furthermore an im-
portant cross-roads, the key to communications between Andalusia and the
north of the Peninsula. 17
At present there survive in Calatrava only some scanty remnants of its
walls and some towers made of limestone rubble.l 8
The area within the city walls amounted to slightly more than 4 hectares.

3. QANAT 'AMIR
[786] In the year 136/753-54 the military leader 'Amir constructed a fortress
in a plot of cultivated land that he owned to the west of Cordoba, called
Qanat 'Amir. He surrounded a large area with a wall and erected buildings
within, planning to turn it into a city wherein to house his supporters and
which would act as a base of support in his holy war against Yiisuf until
he could receive the aid of the Yemenis. 19 The chronicles make no further
mention of Qanat 'Amir.

4. ILBJRA
Al-~imyari attributes the founding of Ilbira to 'Abd al-Ra~man I. He states
that he peopled it abundantly with clients ( mawiili) of his, to whom were
later added the Arabs of the jund ofDamascus. 20 Previously, in 123/742, the
governor Abii 1-Khattar al-Kalbi had granted to these Syrian junds feudal
rights over lands in the region of Ilbira. 21 Apparently in contradiction with
the date given above for the city's founding, several Muslim authors have
passed down to us the information that the famous tiibi' ~anash al-$an'ani
(d. 100/718-19) founded its main mosque, a structure that was rebuilt and
enlarged by Mu~ammad I in 250/864. In it congregated the Arabs of neigh-
bouring hamlets in the valley. 22 Leaving the city of Granada to its Mozarab
Dozy and De Goeje (eds.), pp. 175, 186 and 213, trans. pp. 210, 226 and 263-65.
17 /drlsl,
18 Leopoldo Torres Balbas, "Ciudades yermas hispanomusulmanas", BRAH, 141 (1957),
pp. 79-114.
19 Akhbar majmii'a, Lafuente and Alcantara (ed. and trans.), Madrid, 1867, pp. 67-68.
20 Levi-Provem;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 29, trans. p. 37.
21 Bayan, 2, p. 33, trans. p. 48.
22 Dozy, Recherches sur l'histoire et Ia litterature des Arabes d'Espagne, 3rd edition,

Paris, 1881, 1, pp. 328, 331-32 and Appendix, 27, p. 69.

272 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS - - - -

8 Leopolda Torres Balbas

and Jewish populations, with their respective places of worship open, the
Muslims made Ilbira the capital city (~arjra) of the province (kiira).
For a short time, Ilbira was one of the richest, most populous and noblest
cities of al-Andalus, the metropolis of its eastern half. But the city and its
province suffered greatly during the uprisings of the Arabs, Muslim converts
and Mozarabs against the Umayyads at Cordoba during the tumultuous
reign of the emir 'Abd Allah and the first years of 'Abd al-Ra~man III's
rule. Its violent demise by fire and steel at the hands of the Berbers came in
the year 400/1010 during the revolts which brought an end to the Cordoban
caliphate. 23
Ilbira was situated at the foot of the southern slopes of the [787] Elvira
range, called al-'Uqab and later Jabal Ilbira by the Arabs, mountains of
dark marble and barren ground which rise two leagues to the north-west
of Granada, on the same site as the Roman QasFliya, a town of minor
importance.
No visible traces ofllbira remain. Excavations in the last century yielded,
apart from some Roman objects and fragments of decorative plaster, various
bronze articles and ceramic ware from the tenth century, largely found in the
excavations of the mosque. These are all kept in the Archaeological Museum
of Granada. 24

5. Uc11~s (Uqlish)
In 160/775-76, al-Fat~ ibn Musa ibn Dhl 1-Nun, a prince or lord who rose
up against the emir 'Abd al-Ra~man I, built and set up his residence at
Uqlish, until that time capital of the district of Shantabarlya (Santaver).
There was a main mosque, as well as baths which received water from a
spring located in the highest part of the city. 25 A political centre which
also performed a strategic function, its importance must always have been
slight. It passed into the hands of Alfonso VI at the same time as Toledo
(1085). Becoming the headquarters of the Order of Santiago in the thirteenth
century, the character of the town never transcended the limited military-
religious character of this organisation.

23 Torres Balbas, "Ciudades yermas", BRAH, 141, pp. 205-18. The bibliography is in

this article.
24 Medina Elvira, by Don Manuel Gomez Moreno, Granada, 1888.
25 Levi-Proven<;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 28, trans. pp. 35-36; Maqqarl, Analectes, 1,

pp. 99 and 140.

- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 273

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 9

6. TUDELA (Tutila)
According to various Muslim authors, in the year 186/802, al-IJakam l's
faithful Muwallad 'Amrus, following the orders of his patron, built the
stronghold of Tutila on the right bank of the Ebro, almost midway between
Zaragoza and Pamplona, and there he installed his son Yusuf permanently,
accompanied by a strong garrison. 26
The importance of the city grew by virtue of the fact that it was the
capital of the principality of Musa ibn Musa, or Musa II, the most famous of
the Banu Qasi, who (788] called himself "the third king of Spain" and whose
domain comprised a great deal of territory in the early years of the second
half of the ninth century. In 1119, after conquering Zaragoza, Alfonso I "the
Battler" acquired Tudela as part of a negotiated pact.
The city occupies the eastern slope of a hill near the right bank of the
Ebro 80 kilometres from Zaragoza. It was protected by a fortress set on the
summit of the hill and the Ebro itself to the north, while the low-lying section
of the city is protected to the east by a ravine or gully, now covered, which
was called Merdancho in the Middle Ages and later Mediavilla. Lacarra27
believes that when the "third king of Spain" made Tudela the centre of his
political power and people moved there from nearby Tarazona, the walled
area was extended towards the east to reach the natural moat afforded by
the city's second, smaller river, the Queiles ( nahr Qiiliis).
The founding of Tudela followed from the need to protect the flat fertile
lands of the central Ebro valley against the incursions of the Basques and
Franks. It acted as a watchtower over the Basque counties and simultane-
ously guarded over the river crossing. Once the original military reason for
its founding had disappeared, its role as way station along the trade route,
indispensable to commerce by virtue of its bridge, and, above all, the rich
farming and grazing lands in its vicinity, guaranteed its continued existence.
Of its Islamic past, Tudela contains, aside from the modillions set into
the lintel of the Colegiata, which may originally have been part of a tenth-
century Mozarab church, only a few crude decorative remains.
26 Those who attribute the founding of Tudela to 'Amrils, acting on the orders of al-

l:Iakam I, are al-Razf (Gayangos, "Memoria sobre la autenticidad de la Cr6nica del moro
Rasia", Memorias de Ia R. Academia de Ia Hist., 8, pp. 44-45; Levi-Provenc;al, "La 'De-
scription de l'Espagne,' d'A}:lmad al-Razf", in AI-Andalus, 18, p. 76) and the geographer
Yaqilt in his Mu 'jam al-buldiin, completed in 621/1224 ( Yacut's Geographisches Worter-
buch, Wiistenfeld edition, Leipzig, 1866, 1, p. 853).
27 Jose Maria Lacarra, El desarrollo urbano de las ciudades de Navarra y Aragon en Ia
Edad Media, Zaragoza, 1950, p. 9.
274 THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

10 Leopolda Torres BalMs

At the time of its conquest by Alfonso, the intramural area of Tudela

was slightly more than 23 hectares.

7. MURCIA (Mursiya)
The emir 'Abd al-Ra~man II ordered that the city of Murcia should be
built to serve as the residence of the governors and military leaders of the
surrounding district. In a letter dated Sunday, 4 Rabi' I 216/21 April 831,
the monarch entrusted Jabir ibn Malik ibn Labld, governor of Tudmlr, with
the building of the city and ordered him to set up his residence there. Once
Murcia had been built, Jabir, also on royal orders, destroyed the city of
Ello, 28 then inhabited by Mu<;larls and Yemenis, as punishment for being a
hotbed [789] of opposition to the emir from which turmoil and rebellions
had spread on earlier occasions. 29
Castile's incorporation of Murcia as a tributary kingdom took place in
640/1243. When the Moors of the region revolted, Jaime I besieged the city
and regained control in February 1266. 30
Murcia is situated on the left bank of the Segura River, which was
spanned, in the twelfth century, by a pontoon bridge. 31 The surrounding
fertile flood plain, criss-crossed by irrigation canals, ensured the city future
prosperity.
In the thirteenth century, when it fell into Christian hands, its walls
enclosed an area of a bit more than 41 hectares.

8. UBEDA (Ubbadat al-'Arab)

All the Muslim writers attribute its founding to the Umayyad 'Abd al-
Ra~man II (206-38/822-52); his son Mu~ammad, they say, completed the
construction of the city. It was named Ubbadat al-'Arab-"Ubeda of the
Arabs"-in order to distinguish it from another site of the same name lo-
cated in the county ofllblra. It made up part ofthe district (kiira) of Jaen. 32
28 Ello was one of the seven cities turned over to Musa ibn Nu~ayr by Theodomir under

the terms of a famous treaty. It may be the present-day Oj6s or Ulea, neighbouring villages
in the valley of the Ricote.
29 Levi-Provem;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 181, trans. pp. 218-19. Ibn 'Idharl (Bayiin,

2, pp. 84-85, trans. pp. 134-35) and Yaqut ( Mu 'jam al-buldiin, 4, p. 497) attribute the
founding of the city to the same emir but say it took place in the year 210/825.
3 °Francisco Codera y Zaidln, "Biblioteca arabico-hispana", Vol. 1, BRAH, 10, 1887,

p. 386; Antonio Ballesteros Beretta, "La reconquista de Murcia", BRAH, 111, 1942, pp.
138-47.
31 ldrlsl, Dozy and De Goeje (eds.), pp. 194-95, trans. pp. 236-37.
32 Encyclopedie de /'Islam, 4, p. 1038.
- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 275

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 11

According to Ibn Khaldun, Alfonso VII forced Ya~ya ibn Ghaniya to cede
Baeza and Ubeda to him in 542/1147. The Qirtas, on the other hand, dates
the transfer to his ownership of this place and other nearby strongholds to
544/1149-50. 33 After having passed through the hands of several masters,
the city was conquered in July 123334 after a six-month siege by Fernando III,
who had been master of Baeza since 1227. In 1305 heavy rains brought down
part of the city wall, which was largely demolished in 1368 by Mu~ammad
V of Granada, though he was unable to wrest control of the palace and
citadel. 35
Ubeda stands on the southern crest, jutting out over the valley of the
Guadalquivir, of the long ridge of the same name that separates this valley
from that of the Guadalimar. Three ravines descend from the northern part
of the city's site, quite shallow at their outset [790] and gradually deepening
as they proceed southward. The two outer ravines served as boundaries
and defensive fosses for the town, while the intervening ravine was used as
the town's main thoroughfare. The palace occupied the highest and most
prominent part of the peak, towards the south-east.
A military vantage point from which a broad area of territory could be
watched over, Ubeda was prosperous and heavily populated as a result of
the fertility of the surrounding lands.
There is nothing that can be attributed with any certainty to the Islamic
structure in the ruined city walls that still stand today, though the original
defensive plan is probably preserved in them.
An area of somewhat more than 35 hectares was enclosed within the
perimeter of Ubbadat al-'Arab.

9. TALAMANCA ('falamanka)
The city of Talamanca, in the March, was founded on the orders of the
emir Mu~ammad I (238-73/852-86). 36 This event must have taken place
before the year 860, when, according to the Cronic6n de San lsidoro de
Leon (Anales Castellanos primeros}, it was destroyed by the Castilian count
33 lbn Khaldlin, Histoire des Berberes, 2, p. 187; Qirfiis, Huici (trans.), pp. 396-402.
34 The Chronique latine des rois de Castille (Cirot edition, Bordeaux, 1913, pp. 136-37)
and the Annales Compostellani (in Espana Sagrada, 23, p. 324) date the conquest to 1271
of the old Hispanic Era, i.e. the year 1233.
35 Mariano Gaspar Remiro, Correspondencia diplomritica entre Granada y Fez {siglo

XIV), Granada, 1916, pp. 295, 301 and 325-30.

36 Levi-Proven<;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 118, trans. p. 155. The same information is

given by Yaqut, Mu 'jam al-buldiin, Wiistenfeld edition.

276 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

12 Leopoldo Torres Balbas

Rodrigo during an audacious expedition that took him as far as the Tagus,
and which other chronicles attribute to his brother or brother-in-law Ordoiio
1.37 Talamanca fell into Christian hands about 1085 as a consequence of the
conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI.
It stands on the southern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama, on the
left bank and about 200 metres above the Jarama River, in relatively flat
terrain, with the dry stream bed of Valdejudfos acting in part as fosse.
Talamanca was founded as a stronghold that was intended to block pas-
sage over an ancient bridge across the Jarama by Christian expeditions mov-
ing towards the valley of the Tagus. Following the conquest of Toledo it lost
its military importance and somewhat later its value as a river crossing.
Nothing remains in today's small village of its Islamic past.

10. MADRID (Majrit)

Madrid also owes its founding to the emir Mu~ammad I, 38 and, as with
Talamanca, its fell into Christian hands as a consequence of Alfonso VI's
conquest of Toledo.
[791] Islamic Madrid occupied the western end of a high tableland which
rises abruptly above the right bank of the Manzanares River. The site was
bounded to the north and south by deep ravines-the present-day Calle
Segovia, Calle del Arenal and Cuesta de San Vicente-that plunged steeply
towards the river and served as natural fosses.
The same military motive for the founding of Talamanca operated in
the case of Madrid: the protection of the Tagus Valley against military
expeditions by the Christians of the North that had crossed the Sierra of
Guadarrama.
No archaeological remains of Muslim origin have been found at Madrid.
The al-Mudayna {Citadel) of Madrid extended over some 8 hectares and
the mediaeval walled precinct, which certain scholars believe reflected the
Islamic plan, 39 covered about 35 hectares.

11. LERIDA {Larida)

Lerida, a city of Roman origin that had been abandoned and left in ru-
ins, was reconstructed in the year 270/883-84 during the reign of the emir
37 Discursos leidos ante Ia Real Academia de Ia Historia en Ia recepci6n publica de D.
Manuel G6mez-Moreno Martinez, Madrid, 1917, pp. 12 and 23.
38 Levi-Provem;;al, La Peninsule iberique, pp. 179-80, trans. p. 216.
39 Jaime Oliver Asin, Historia del nombre 'Madrid,' Madrid, 1959.
 HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 277

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 13

Mu~ammad I by the independent prince Isma'n ibn Musa ibn Lubb (Lope)
Ibn Qasi. Shortly afterwards a handsome main mosque was erected in its
impregnable citadel. 40 Ibn Khaldun gives the same date for the beginning
of the city's construction, which the Christians of Barcelona attempted to
impede. 41 In 1149, Lerida was conquered by Count Ramon Berenguer.
The citadel of Lerida occupied a high hill on the right bank of the Segre
River. The city, lying between the citadel and the river, which was traversed
by a bridge at that spot, was of great strategic value. The rich lands that
surrounded the city ensured its continued existence.

12. BADAJOZ (Batalyaws)

The construction of Badajoz is credited to the convert of Merida 'Abd al-
Ra~man ibn Marwan, known as Ibn al-Jilliqi ("son of the Galician"), who
rebelled against the emir Mu~ammad I. Besieged by the Cordoban troops, he
then reached an agreement with the emir in the year 261/874-75, and, with
the authorisation of the latter, Ibn al-Jilliqi took up residence in Badajoz,
by that time in ruins, fortifying it [792] and attracting to it people from
Merida and other places. When it rose up in revolt again, the emir's troops
occupied the city and destroyed its buildings. 42
This account, which comes from the Bayiin, does not concur with that
given by al-Bakri. He likewise attributes the building of the city to Ibn
al-Jilliqi, but dates it to sometime during the reign of 'Abd Allah (275-
300/888-912), who authorised its construction. The emir placed workmen
and funds at Ibn al-Jilliqi's disposal. He started out by building the main
and various minor mosques, one of them within the citadel, and some bath-
houses.43 Alfonso XI of Leon conquered Badajoz in 1230.
The city rests upon a hill that is bounded in part by the Guadiana,
tucked into the angle the course of the river forms as its bends towards the
south to serve as the frontier between Spain and Portugal. The site lies
along the easiest and most direct route from Lisbon and the Atlantic to the
central meseta of the Peninsula. On the highest part of this hill, 60 metres
above the level of the river, stands the old Muslim citadel. To the north,
the Guadiana-previously flowing closer to the site-serves as moat. To the
40 Levi-Provenc;al,La Peninsule iber·ique, p. 168, trans. p. 202.
41 Historia de los arabes de Espana, por Ibn .ffaldun, Machado (trans.), Cuadernos de
Historia de Espana, 8, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1947, p. 157.
42 1bn 'ldharr, Bayiin, 2, pp. 104-105, trans. pp. 167-69.
43 Levi-Provem;al, La Peninsule iberique, p. 46, trans. p. 58. The accounts provided by

Ibn al-Qil~iya and Ibn Khaldiln differ from those given in these sources.
278 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

14 Leopolda Torres Balba.s

east, the ravine of Rivillas flows into the Guadiana at the foot of the hill.
From both sides the hill presents a steep escarpment above the riverbed and
valley.
The only relic of Muslim Badajoz to be preserved is the wall which girdled
the citadel, though it has been greatly altered by countless repairs, with
free-standing towers. The wall has two angled gateways, and is an Almohad
construction dating from the end of the twelfth century. 44
The approximate intramural area of Islamic Badajoz was 75 hectares.

13. MADLNAT AL-FATf.I (Chalencas)

In 318/930, 'Abd al-Ra~man III attempted to subdue definitively the ever-
mutinous Toledo. With the aim of demonstrating to the Toledans his firm
determination to keep control over their city, he ordered his vizier Sa'id
ibn al-Mundhir to build a city on the rise known as Jarancas or Jalankash.
Located beside the final stretch of the route from Cordoba to Toledo, this
site dominated the city, river and valley, with its gardens and vineyards.
The vizier set up tents there and called it Madinat al-Fat~, or the "City of
Victory". The siege lasted two years until, at last, on 25 Rajah 320/the end
of July 932, the caliph, after receiving word of the surrender of the Toledans,
[793] entered the vanquished city on horseback. Once the siege was lifted,
the people of Toledo hurried to Madinat al-Fat~ to obtain food and other
supplies of which they had need. 45 The military city probably would have
had an earthen wall inside which provisional buildings were erected. Its site
is unknown. 46

14. MADLNAT AL-ZAHRA'

In 325/936, after he was proclaimed caliph, 'Abd al-Ra~man III founded
the palatine city of Madinat al-Zahra', at a distance of exactly one league to
the northeast of Cordoba, on the slopes of the sierra called Jabal al-'Arus.
Construction work continued off and on for the next 40 years, consuming
enormous sums of money in the process.
44 Leopoldo Torres Balbas, "La alcazaba almohade de Badajoz", Al-Andalus, 6 (1941),

pp. 168-203.
45 1bn 'ldharl, Bayan, 2, pp. 218 and 222-23, trans. pp. 336-37 and 343.
46 In the twelfth century there grew on its site a vine: "vina en Chalencas" (Angel
Gonzalez Palencia, Los mozarabes toledanos en los siglos XII y XIII, preliminary volume,
Madrid, 1930, p. 309, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1926), doc. no. 258, p. 201). The archbishop of
Toledo, Don Sancho de Aragon, owned some properties at "calencas prope Toletum",
which he exchanged in 1271 for other property in Alcala de Henares (Fidel Fita, "Madrid
desde el afio 1235 basta el de 1275", BRAH, 9 {1888), pp. 77-79).
- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 279

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 15

Quickly springing forth as if by the arts of enchantment, with a mon-

umentality and richness that was rare in the western Europe of its day,
Madinat al-Zahra' was for a few brief years the eloquent expression of the
grandeur of the Cordoban caliphate. Today, partly excavated, desolate and
ruined, it begins to reclaim this function once again.
A city born artificially through the will of a sovereign or the whimsy of
a royal favourite, its very wealth was the seed of its destruction following a
short, ephemeral life. It was sacked by the rabble of Cordoba in 401/1010.
Later occupied by soldiers and set on fire, its ruins were systematically pil-
laged over the course of many years, and its marbles and worked stones were
carried off to distant places.
The walled precinct is some 1,518 metres long by 745 metres wide. The
now fallen walls enclosed an area of 112 hectares. 47

15. SEKTAN
In 329/940-41, the qii'id A~mad ibn Mu~ammad ibn Ilyas completed the
construction of the city of Sektan, in which he established a garrison and left
[794] the city well provisioned with foodstuffs and arms. 'Abd al-Ra~man
III sent another qii'id, A~mad ibn Ya'la, governor of Badajoz, with several
members of his court, to join up with the first qii'id in this city, which Ibn
Ya'la reached in $afar/December. On 1 Jumada I 330/1 February 941, news
was received of the military success of this governor of the new city, who
had penetrated the territory of Ramiro II, killing and taking prisoner its
Christian inhabitants. 48

16. MEDINACELI (Madinat Salim)

The Roman Ocilis, which had lain empty and desolate for many years, was
reconstructed by the general Ghalib, one of 'Abd al-Ra~man III's freedmen,
on the emir's orders, in order to serve as a sound base for the army during
its summer expeditions against the Christians. Workmen from all over the
frontier zone came to the site to raise the city's walls and barracks. The
major construction work had been finished by $afar 335/September 946,
and thereafter the Muslims were able to dwell there in complete safety. 49
47 L. Torres Balbas, in Historia de Espana, edited by Ramon Menendez Pidal, Madrid,

1957, vol. 5, pp. 424-63.

48 lbn 'ldhan, Bayiin, 2, p. 226, trans. p. 348. The original source of this information is

Ibn Mas'ud.
49 Ibn 'ldhan, Bayiin, 2, pp. 229-30, trans. pp. 354-55.
2 8 0 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS - - - -

16 Leopolda Torres Balba.s

Al-Razi, writing a little before the date of its founding, says that Tariq ibn
N U!?ayr found the place in ruins. 50
After various vicissitudes, including ephemeral periods under Christian
control, Medinaceli was conquered by Alfonso I "the Battler" at the end of
1123 or in the first days of 1124.
Mediaeval and present-day Medinaceli, apparently lying on the site of
its Roman antecedent, is perched on a broad plateau or tableland at the
high point of a steep ridge, at an altitude of 1202 metres, on the left bank
of the River J al6n. Access to the site involves a difficult, laborious climb.
Excavations conducted several years ago on a nearby hill called Villa Vieja
uncovered the existence there of a wide walled precinct which would appear
to be that erected by Ghalib, 51 in the patio of whose palace al-Man~?ilr was
buried when he died there on 27 Ramagan 932/10 August 1002.
Its location gave Medinaceli great strategic importance in the Umayyad
period. A sentinel facing the lands of Castile on the Duero, it was the
last stronghold on the frontier from which the Cordoban columns would
sally forth on their summer raids against the Christians of the north or-if
necessary-take refuge. [795] Its military value long disappeared, ill sup-
plied with fresh water, surrounded by poor lands and of difficult access,
Medinaceli today is a dying town.

17. ALMERIA (al-MarTy a)

According to al-l:limyari, Almeria was city of modern, in other words Muslim,
foundation, for it was built on the orders of 'Abd al-Ra~man III in the year
344/955-56. The defensive perimeter walls and citadel 52 were built at that
time, as was, most likely, the main mosque.
As on many other occasions, the site was already inhabited. On it there
had stood a neighbourhood or suburb which acted as seaport to the inland
town of Pechina (Furga Bajjana).
'Abd al-Ra~man III thus transformed the maritime village into a madina
and turned its port into the naval dockyard and anchorage for the caliphal
fleet. The slave prince Khayran al-'Amiri (403-19/1012-28) erected a mud-
brick wall to incorporate the new neighbourhoods that had sprung up as the
city grew. His successor Zuhayr (419-29/1028-38) enlarged the two naves of
50 Gayangos, "Memoria sobre ... Ia Cr6nica del moro Rasis", MRAH, 8, p. 47; Levi-

Provencal, "La 'Description de l'Espagne'", Al-Andalus, 18, p. 79.

51 Junta Superior de Excavaciones y Antigiiedades, Ocilis {Medinaceli}, Memoria de las

excavaciones practicadas en 1924-1925 por don Jose Ramon Melida, Madrid, 1926.
52 Levi-Provenc;al, La Peninsule iberique, pp. 183-84, trans. p. 221.
- - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 281

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 17

the main mosque. 5 3 In 1489, the city fell to the Catholic monarchs, Fernando
and Isabel.
Almeria was situated at the inner end of a large, deep gulf that afforded
good shelter for ships. The citadel occupied an isolated ridge, long and
narrow, which abutted two small ravines. As the number of inhabitants
swelled, in the first half of the eleventh century, the city spread out towards
the west and, even more so, east, along the alluvial plain, each new set of
walls positioned where another ravine could serve as fosse.
Almeria's prosperity, which reached a. peak under the Almora.vids, was
due to its industrial activities and maritime trade with other Mediterranean
ports, particularly those of the East.
Of Islamic Almeria. there remain a. few sections of curtain wall with tow-
ers, as well as the citadel, very much rebuilt, and remnants of the mi~riib
from the main mosque. 54
The tenth-century city founded by 'Abd a.l-Ra.l).man III occupied some 21
hectares; after the expansion that occurred in the eleventh century, Almeria.
attained, by mid-century, an intramural area. of 79 hectares.

18. UNNAMED CITY IN THE REGION OF TOLEDO

Ibn 'Idhari tells us that in the year 353/964 the caliph a.l-l;la.ka.m II entrusted
Al).ma.d ibn N~r with the task of building or rebuilding a. city, which [796]
Ibn 'Idhari does not name, on the Toledo frontier. 55 This man was one of
the prefects of police who in the following year, 354/965, supervised the
installation of new marble facing on the mi~rab of Cordoba's main mosque,
according to an inscription on that structure. 56

19. AL-MADlNA AL-ZAHIRA

Once a.l-Ma.n~iir, vizier to the caliph Hisham II, had become the absolute
master of power, he began the construction of a. city in 368/978-79 which he
called a.l-Ma.dina. a.l-Zahira. ("the flowering city"). His probable goal in this
project was to gather about him the court and administrative apparatus
of the state, thus isolating the caliph, who was still nominal ruler. The
founding of a. city was an act of virtual sovereignty that could have the effect
of tangibly augmenting the prestige of the founder.
53 Ibid.
54 Torres Balbas, "Almeria islamica", Al-Andalus, 22, pp. 411-53.
55 Bayan, 2, p. 252, trans. p. 300.
56 Levi-Provem;al, Inscriptions arabes d'Espagne, Leiden-Paris, 1931, pp. 9-10. See be-

low, p. 802.
2 8 2 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

18 Leopolda Torres Balbas

After the selected plot had been levelled, construction work began. A
high, strong perimeter wall was erected, and within it were built a luxurious
palace and residences for members of the family, dignitaries and courtiers,
offices destined for the chancellery, barracks, vast storehouses for weapons
and grain, markets and mills on the banks of the Guadalquivir. Work was
completed in two years, and in 370/980-81, al-Man~ur was able to establish
himself there. The vizier ceaselessly added to the decoration of his resi-
dence, which was finally finished, says Ibn Khaqan, in 387/997. 57 When
Mu}:tammad ibn Hisham ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar assumed power and was pro-
claimed caliph in 399/1009, he ordered that al-Madina al-Zahira should be
sacked, and in Jumada 11/19 February of that year, the city was razed and
burned to the ground, with no structure left standing.
The destruction of al-Zahira was so total that there remained no echo of
its name in local tradition or memory of its location. All that is known is that
it stood not far to the east of Cordoba, on the banks of the Guadalquivir,
inside a bend in the river. 58

20. GIBRALTAR (Jabal Tariq)

The Almohad monarch 'Abd al-Mu'min planned the construction on the Ja-
bal Tariq of a great fortified city destined to serve as support base in the
Holy War he was waging against the Christians in al-Andalus. Excavations
to prepare the foundations began on 9 Rabi' I 552/9 May 1160, and construc-
tion work at the site, [797] which had proceeded rapidly and involved the
investment of large sums of money, was completed during the month of Dhu
1-Qa'da (2 November-1 December) of the same year. 'Abd al-Mu'min sent
masons, carpenters and stonecutters from Seville and other parts of his em-
pire to carry out this work. Among the structures raised at that time-the
first Almohad buildings in Spain-were the main mosque, a palace to serve
as lodgings for the sovereign, other palaces for his children and residences
for the principal dignitaries of the Court. Thereafter, the Penon (Gibraltar's
"Rock"), with its city, citadel and port, converted into a bastion of Islam,
acted as a secure base for the passage of the Muslims from Africa to An-
dalusia. These structures were apparently torn down following the Christian
conquest of Gibraltar in 1309. The city was retaken by the Marinids and the
Granadine army in 733/1333, and the former forces erected strong defensive
works in 1350, when it was unsuccessfully besieged by Alfonso XI.
57 Maqqarl, Analectes, 2, pp. 58-59.
58 Bibliography in Torres Balbas, "Ciudades yermas", BRAH, 141, pp. 142-48.
 HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 283

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 19

The Muslim city stood on the northernmost part of the site of present
city, that is, in the area that lies at the foot of the cliff comprising the
northern edge of the Rock, with the citadel placed at the highest point of
the enclosure.
Gibraltar still retains evidence of the Islamic period in the form of some
walls, a bath-house and, most notably, the great tower of the citadel, known
as Calahorra, which was erected by the Marinid monarch Abu 1-J:Iasan be-
tween 1342 and 1344. 59

21. AZNALFARACHE (J:Ii9n al-Faraj)

$ali~ ibn Sayyid tells us that in the year 472/1079-80 al-Mu'tamid 'Ala'
Allah restored l:Ii9n al-Faraj-"castle of the observation point or watch-
tower"-so called because of the broad panorama which unfolds to the eye
from that site. 60 This and the other fortresses of the Aljarafe district were
fiercely contested in the spring of 578/1182 by Christian forces which had
earlier assaulted San Lucar de Barrameda only to pull back along the Niebla
road. 61
l:Ii9n al-Faraj must have already been in ruins when the Almohad emperor
Abu YusufYa'qub al-Man9ur, during his stay in Seville in the year 589/1193,
ordered a residence built on this spot, for the purpose-so says the Bayiin-
of housing within it the champions of the Holy War and striking fear into the
souls of the Infidels. Its walls were built swiftly, ringing the flat summit of
the broad hill at the site, [798] and within the perimeter a large palace was
built with chambers from which could be seen Seville and a broad expanse
of land all about. The monarch, who first named the place J:Ii9n al-Faraj,
watched over the construction work himself, impatient to see it finished. 62
When in 1248 Fernando III conquered Seville, l:Ii9n al-Faraj fell only after a
bitter, bloody struggle. By the sixteenth century, the town of Aznalfarache
had moved to the foot of the hill, alongside the Guadalquivir, and the former
site was uninhabited, its towers and walls in ruins.
l:Ii9n al-Faraj stood about four kilometres downstream from Seville, on a
steep ridge 40 metres above the Guadalquivir and on the river's right bank.
59 L. Torres Balb.is, "Gibraltar, llave y guarda de Espana", AI-Andalus, 7 (1942), pp.

168-216, in which article will be found further references and bibliography.

60 Al-Bayan al-mugrib ... par Ibn 'lsJarf ai-Marrakusf, Los almohades, vol. 1, Ambrosio

Huici (trans.), Tetuan, 1953, p. 177.

61 Ambrosio Huici Miranda, "Los almohades en Portugal", Academia Portuguesa de His-

toria. Anais, series 2, vol. 5, Lisbon, 1954, p. 28.

62 Al-Bayan, Los almohades, vol. 1, Huici (trans.), pp. 176-77.
284 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS - - - -

20 Leopolda Torres Balbas

The city's walls, with rectangular towers, stood along the edge of this ridge,
following its contours.

22. ALGECIRA LA NUEVA (al-Bun1ya)

During one of his military expeditions against the Christians, the Sultan of
Morocco Abil Yilsuf ordered the construction of a new city beside the port
of Algeciras, on the left bank of the Rfo de la Miel, which served as a natural
moat to the north of that town.
The new city was created in order to keep the troops isolated, freeing
the inhabitants of the country from their violence and exactions, while at
the same time on the seafront and near the port. The sultan ordered that
the necessary buildings should be built under the direction of a competent
man. The new city was given the name al-Bun1ya ("the edifice"). 63
The historians and chroniclers do not agree as to the date of its found-
ing. Some place it slightly ·after Jumada I 674/0ctober-November 1275 or
somewhat later; others in 682/1282. 64 The Cr6nica de Alfonso X claims
that it was founded when the Christians abandoned the siege of Algeciras
in 678/1279, on the spot where they had been camped, making use of the
houses and structures they had left behind. According to this Cr6nica, the
new Algeciras was established to prevent the enemy from once more using
this piece of land to bring harm to the old city in the event of a new siege. 65
In 1344,. after a long and difficult siege, Alfonso XI managed to capture
both the new and the old Algeciras. They were reconquered in 771/1369
by MuJ:tammad V of Granada, [799] taking advantage of Castile's dynastic
squabbles. 66 Without sufficient forces to maintain the two cities, he razed
them completely between the years 780/1378-79 and 790/1388, according to
Ibn Khaldiln, filling in the port to render it useless. 67 The two Algeciras re-
mained deserted until the conquest of Gibraltar by the English in 1704, after
which date the towns began to be re-populated by the former inhabitants of
Gibraltar, who had taken refuge in nearby farmhouses.
63 lbn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes, Slane (trans.), 4, p. 81.
64 lbid.; Qir!iis, Beaumier (trans.), p. 568; Huici (trans.), p. 416; Al-lfulal al-mawshfya,
Huici (trans.), p. 202; Levi-Provew;al, "Le Musnad d'lbn Marzuk", Hesperis, 5 (1925),
pp. 44-45.
65 Cr6nica de don Alfonso X, Biblioteca de Aut ores Espaii.oles, Rivadeneyra, 46, Madrid,

1875, Chaps. 69, 70 and 72, pp. 53-57.

66 lbn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes, 4, pp. 380-81; Qir!iis, Beaumier (trans.), p. 568;

Mariano Gaspar Remiro, Correspondencia diplomatica entre Granada y Fez {siglo XIV),
pp. 264-69 and 334-41.
67 Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes, 4, pp. 380-81.
- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 285

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 21

Al-Buniya stood, as we have noted, on a hill beside the sea, north of

the hill that was the site of Algeciras, with the De La Miel River flowing
between. The hill where the new city was founded was larger and some 10
metres higher than that on which the old town stood.
The walls of Algeciras enclosed a bit less than 15 hectares, while al-
Buniya covered a smaller area.

ROYAL CITIES

Several of these cities, as we have seen in the preceding pages, were founded
by monarchs, great lords or usurpers of the power of the former to serve as
residences for themselves and their court. Thus, Madinat al-Zahra', built
by 'Abd al-Ra~man III on the Cordoban sierra beginning in 325/936; al-
Madina al-Zahira, built not far to the east of that city by al-Mans;ur, de
facto king, between 368/978-79 and 370/981; J.:Iis;n al-Faraj, erected by the
Almohad monarch Abu Yusuf Ya'qub in the vicinity of Seville in 589/1193;
al-Buniya, which the Marinid Abu Yusuf had constructed between 674/1275
and 681/1282 beside Algeciras, and whose intended function was military but
which included a royal residence.
The existence of palatine and official cities that were independent of
ancient capitals is a recurring phenomenon in Eastern as well as Western
Islam. Such places were established outside the former capital cities, as
luxury residences, places of retreat for those who wished to escape from
the constant annoyances of governance, from the ever-turbulent hustle and
bustle of city life, as well as from the pressure of popular movements. In
these places they could enjoy greater ease, independence and repose than in
the citadels that stood inside the teeming cities.
The Umayyad monarchs, whose capital city was Damascus, built castle-
palaces in the Syrian desert whose ruins have been excavated and studied
in the last few years. Later, the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil transferred
[800] his court from Baghdad to Samarra (Surra man ra'a), a splendid
metropolis which he had erected at huge cost, only for the city to be aban-
doned 50 years after its founding when the caliph al-Mu'tamid returned to
Baghdad. In Ifriqiya, the Aghlabid emir Ibrahim I inhabited the old palace
that stood at a distance of four kilometres from Qayrawan; one of his suc-
cessors went to live at Raqqada, founded in 236/876 a further five kilometres
beyond.
Around such aulic residences, in the shadow of the new palaces, new royal
urban centres sprang up, as a consequence of the more or less temporary
2 8 6 - - - THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS - - - -

22 Leopolda Torres Balbas

abandonment of the old capital. 68 Hostility between the populations of the

rival cities was continuous, and the royal city, founded on caprice, often met
its end by being looted and destroyed at the hands of the plebeian masses of
the older city. In terms of just the Spanish examples, recall the plundering
and ruin of Madinat al-Zahra' and al-Madina al-Zahira, largely at the hands
of the populace and officialdom of Cordoba, with Berber help, in the early
years of the eleventh century. Surely the people of Seville in the last decade
of the twelfth century would have viewed with bitterness the construction
upon the top of a hill downstream the walls and towers of the precinct and
palaces of l:Ii~?n al-Faraj, whose founding must have emptied the palaces of
Seville of their inhabitants. Al-Buniya managed to survive by becoming just
one more neighbourhood of Algeciras, until both new and old cities were
razed by Mu~ammad V of Granada.

SIEGE CITIES

Among those cities established to serve military needs, as many were of

those we have mentioned, there is a special type, the siege city. These
were military encampments of somewhat greater than usual solidity and
permanence, which addressed the same military needs as true cities but only
in a temporary, limited fashion. Nearly all of these places disappeared once
they had served their purpose. In addition to serving as a base for the siege
of an enemy city and protection against the reaction of its defenders, such
encampments showed the enemy the besiegers' firm intention to prosecute
the siege indefinitely, until surrender was obtained.
From the time of Islamic Spain, only the memory remains of the siege
city called Madinat al- Fat~ ("City of Victory"), founded near Toledo with
a view to the conquest of that city by 'Abd al-Ra~man III in 318/930. Its
location, as we have noted, is unknown.
Siege cities were also thrown up in the Maghrib. 'Abd al-Mu'min, when
besieging Marrakush in 541/1146-47, erected a city [801] of this nature on
the nearby hill of lgllliz. Ruins of al-Man~?lira ("the Victorious"), set up
by the Moroccan sultan Abu Ya'qub in 702/1302-1303 to bring about the
surrender of Tlemcen, are still to be seen near that city. As the siege dragged
on, the sultan converted the temporary encampment into a permanent city,
where he set up his residence after the ultimate victory. There also exist
ruins of the afragh of Ceuta, which was built by the Marinids.
68 Georges Marr;ais, "L'urbanisme musulman", Melanges d'histoire et d'archeologie de

/'Occident musulman, Algiers, 1957, 1, pp. 221-22.

- - - - - - - HISTORY AND SOCIETY----- 287

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 23

In Christian Spain, such siege cities were also established, such as that
organised by Fernando III in 1247 to secure the conquest of Seville; that
built by Alfonso XI in 1342 during the siege of Algeciras; or that which
the Catholic monarchs had built in 1491 outside Granada and which was
called Santa Fe-unusually, it is still in existence. The Castilian chronicles
include curious scraps of information about these three sites. The pragmatic,
regular disposition on the ground that they share seem to have preserved the
tradition of the regular city plan down through the Middle Ages. 69

* * *
Various military cities among those included in this list, created for strate-
gic purposes, occupied easily defended, inaccessible sites. Such sites were
almost always the slopes of hills, with a fortress on the summit that dom-
inated the approaches (Ucles, Tudela, Lerida, Almeria, Gibraltar). Others
spread out over the flat top of a ridge cut by rivers or ravines which offered
further protection (Ubeda, Madrid, Badajoz, Medinaceli, Aznalfarache). Ca-
latayud was perched on several ridges divided by ravines. Murcia stood on
flat ground, as did, most probably, al-Madina al-Zahira. Several cities were
located on the banks of important rivers: Lerida (the Segre), Tudela (the
Ebro), Calatayud (the Jal6n) Badajoz and Calatrava (the Guadiana), Az-
nalfarache (the Guadalquivir) and Murcia (the Segura). Almeria, Gibraltar
and Algeciras were founded on the seacoast.
Of the 22 cities founded by the Muslims, there is information in his-
torical sources that two-Lerida and Medinaceli-involved the reconstruc-
tion of previously existing metropolises. The founding or reconstruction
of ten-Qanat 'Amir, Calatrava, Tudela, Talamanca, Madrid, Madinat al-
Fat}:l, Sektan, Medinaceli, Gibraltar and al-Buniya are stated explicitly as
having occurred for exclusively military reasons: as frontier or coastal de-
fence or as a support base from which to undertake military campaigns.
Thirteen are reported to have have been founded on the orders of monarchs:
Ilbira, by 'Abd al-Ra}:lman I; Tudela, by al-J:Iakam I; Murcia and Ubeda,
by 'Abd al-Ra}:lman II; Mu}:lammad I completed the second of these cities
and founded Talamanca and Madrid; 'Abd al-Ra}:lman III founded Madinat
al-Fat}:l, Madinat al-Zahra', Medinaceli and Almeria; al-J:Iakam II, the un-
named city in the province of Toledo; 'Abd al-Mu'min, [802] Gibraltar; Abu
Yusuf Ya'qub, I:li9n al-Faraj; and the Marinid Abu Yusuf, al-Buniya. The
69 1. Torres Balbas, L. Cervera, F. Chueca, and P. Bidagor, Resumen hist6rico del ur-

banismo en Espana, Madrid, 1954, pp. 50-74.

288 THE FORMATION OF AL-ANDALUS

24 Leopolda Torres Balbtis

period which saw the greatest number of foundings extends from the reign of
'Abd al-Ra}Jman II to the death of the third ruler who bore that name {206-
350/822-961). Calatayud and Calatrava, whose names reveal their birth in
the shadow of their respective fortresses, owe their existence to two tiibi'is;
Qanat 'Amir, Uch'is, Lerida, Badajoz and Sektan, to princes or lords who
were more or less independent of the central power; al-Madlna al-Zahira, to
an omnipotent vizier.
Of the 22 cities, Calatrava, Ilbira, Madinat al-Zahra', al-Madina al-
Zahira and I;Iil;m al-Faraj have all vanished, the last three being artificial
creations that sprang from the fancy of powerful men alongside other older
and more populous cities, which ended up absorbing their rivals, thus bring-
ing about their disappearance. As a siege city, Madinat al-Fat}J was designed
for a brief existence. As for Qanat 'Amir, Sektan and the unnamed city
raised by al-l:fakam II on the Toledo frontier, given that their locations are
a mystery, we cannot know whether they survive under an altered name,
although it is unlikely. The 22 cities are evenly spread over Muslim Spain
with no special preference for a particular county.
Very few of the names of the architects who planned and built the cities
of Muslim Spain are known. A}Jmad ibn N~r ibn Khalid {288-370/901-80),
of Toledan origin, prefect of police, market inspector and qiifji of the district
of Jaen, was entrusted in 353/964 by al-l:fakam II with the construction or
reconstruction of a solid and well-organised city, of unknown name, on the
frontier in the province of Toledo, to which end the caliph put at AIJmad ibn
N~r's disposal a considerable sum of money. 70 Given that Ibn I;Iazm states
that this man wrote a book on the subject of surveying, one must assume
that he played a technical role in the building of the city. 71
The anonymous author of Al-lfulal al-mawshiya claims that the Almohad
monarch 'Abd al-Mu'min designed the ground plan for the fortified perimeter
of Gibraltar. 72 The famous geometer and engineer al-l:fajj Ya'ish of Malaga,
sent by 'Abd al-Mu'min from Marrakush, and the architect A}Jmad ibn B3£?o,
who was living in Seville at the time, together directed the construction work.
From the latter city and other points of his empire, masons, carpenters and
stonecutters came by order of the sovereign to help build Gibraltar.

70 Ibn 'ldhari, Bayan, 2, p. 252, trans. p. 390; Ibn al-Fara<;Ir, Ta 'rzkh 'ulama' al-Andalus,

no. 398, p. 114; Dozy, Recherches sur l'histoire et Ia litterature des Arabes d'Espagne, 3rd
edition, 2, pp. 434-35.
71 Maqqari, Analectes, 2, p. 118, cited by Dozy (see note above); Levi-Provem;al, In-

scriptions arabes d'Espagne, p. 12.

72 Huici (trans.), Tetuan, 1951, pp. 185-86.
 HISTORY AND SOCIETY - - - - - 289

Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus 25

With regard to those works of construction carried out two centuries

later under the Marinids, initiated by Abii 1-I:Iasan and completed by Abii
'I nan (proclaimed in Rabi' I 749/ June 1348), Ibn J uzayy, scribe of the ac-
count of Ibn BaHiita's travels, writes that Abii 'I nan's preoccupation with
this bulwark of Islamic power [803] was such that he had installed in the re-
ception hall ( mashwiir) of his palace in Fez a remarkable model ( shakl) that
reproduced in scale the mountain at the site, with city walls, towers, citadel,
gates, mosque, shipyard, granaries and munitions storehouses. 73 The exis-
tence of such a scale model of a city in the mid-fourteenth century is a note
of interest for the history of urban development.

* * *
The names of many places existing today reveal that other cities of al-
Andalus, about whose founding no information has been preserved, and
many villages must also have been first established under Islamic domina-
tion, for such names show their Arabic origins, albeit disfigured to a greater
or lesser degree by adaptation to Romance forms. 74 Of those places that
no longer keep their Arabic names, if they date from before the eighth cen-
tury, one must assume that they held onto their ancient names by virtue
of uninterrupted inhabitation. Of Islamic origin are, among many others,
those toponyms that contain the words Medina, Albalat or Albalate (some-
times meaning "the road", other times "the palace"), Baides or Albaida ("the
white"), Almaden ("the mine"), as well as the many names of military origin,
such as Alcala ( al-qal'a, "the fortress" or "the castle", including the definite
article), Calatorao ( qal'a, "fortress" or "castle"), Alcolea ( al-qulay'a, "the
small castle"), and those names that begin with the words ~i?n and burj,
of Arabic derivation ("castle" and "tower", respectively), such as Iznatoraf,
Iznajar, Aznalcazar, or Bujalance, Bujalaroz, and Burja.sot. 75

73 Defn!mery and Sanguinetti (eds.), Voyages d'lbn Batoutah, Paris, 1879, 4, pp. 359-60.
74 Asin, Contribuci6n a Ia toponimia arabe de Espana.
15 lbid.