The prodigious rise and subsequent dramatic
fall of royal houses has always been one of the most reliable fonts of drama in history.
From the destruction of the Achaemenids to the fracturing of Han China, eras of dynastic collapse
are notable as a time for change and renewal. One of the most tumultuous and enthralling
dynastic collapses in all of history afflicted none other than the second dominion of Islam - the
massive and ever-expansionist Umayyad Caliphate. As the largest Islamic realm in world history
started disintegrating in the middle of the eighth century, a young member of the caliphate’s
ruling dynasty found himself isolated and amongst many enemies. This remarkable man - Abd
al-Rahman; the Falcon of Quraysh, escaped, and in a daring series of adventures eventually
came to found a rival realm in the furthest western edge of the Islamic world, beginning
a golden age for al-Andalus: Muslim Spain. It’s the kind of story that makes you want
to get right into the midst of the drama, and there is a way to do that with the new Fate of
Iberia expansion to Crusader Kings Three. Paradox kindly sponsored this look at medieval Iberia,
since it turned out they were doing the same, creating this new expansion to the
foremost historical dynasty simulator. They’re adding a new mechanic called ‘The
Struggle’ that simulates the multi-stage large scale conflicts in Iberia, and of course
allows you to step in and determine the outcome. Perhaps you want to see the region united,
or perhaps your own goals might be furthered by the war weakening everyone for as long as
possible? Achieve your plans by spilling blood, or embrace a multi-cultural realm, you’ll
have to make those decisions for yourself. Fate of Iberia comes with loads of new art, items,
music, models, character customisation options, cultural traditions, and events, carefully
researched to be as accurate to historic Iberia as possible. And it even adds more
swag to show off in the Royal Court system. Check it all out, or crusader kings three
in general, via the link in the description. The year was 741AD, a time of transition
across Eurasia. In the Frankish Kingdom, Charles ‘the hammer’ Martell passed away
after a great tenure of almost thirty years. Leo III, savior of Constantinople, died also after
a quarter-century reign as Byzantine Emperor, initiating a round of civil strife in the Roman
remnant. As these events unfolded elsewhere, one of the world’s most powerful rulers sat
working inside his kingly residence at Rusafa, in northern Syria. That man was Hisham ibn Abd
al-Malik - tenth caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate. His realm, although colossal and powerful, had
begun suffering issues both internal and external, including a massive Berber revolt in Africa and
military setbacks in both east and west. Suddenly, a ten year old child entered the caliph’s chamber.
He was Abd al-Rahman - the caliph’s grandson, whose father was Hisham’s late son Mu’awiya, and
whose mother was a captured Berber concubine. These were, if the sources are to be
believed, days in which capricious Umayyad governors would frequently abduct
comely womenfolk from Berber homes to fill the harems of Syria - the Umayyads’ centre
of power. Abd al-Rahman was not fully mature, but already tall and athletic, he had all
the hallmarks of physical greatness to come. Curiously, the boy is also said to have had little
to no sense of smell, for whatever reason. As the child entered the chamber, caliph Hisham
and his brother Maslama turned to regard him, but the caliph did so with little patience, giving
him a quick, familiar hand signal indicating that al-Rahman should go away. The caliph was busy.
As the child turned to depart, however, Maslama went over and took his great nephew up in both
hands, embracing the boy. The caliph’s brother was believed to have the ability to see the destiny
of individuals in their faces. Turning to Hisham, Maslama said: “Let him stay, O Commander of the
Faithful. He is a lord of the House of Umayya, their refuge in the time of decline of their
power. He will be the restorer of their realm after its fall. Be good to him.” After this,
al-Rahman was always regarded highly by Hisham. The Caliph died two years later, and with him
passed the last hope for the Umayyad line. Seven years later, the armies of the final Umayyad
caliph Marwan II were utterly crushed by the brilliant ‘Abbasid’ general Abu Muslim at the
Battle of Zab. The fourteenth and final caliph, defeated in battle, fled from town to town until
he was finally caught and killed at Busiris, in Egypt. So great was the enmity with which
the Umayyads were viewed that, after their fall, a great slaughter of the family took place.
Dozens of prominent members of the Banu Umayya were massacred across the entire empire. Even
the corpse of caliph Hisham, who had died in 743, was dug up, lashed and then burned ignominiously.
Abd al-Rahman, now in his late teens, was forced to hide in a village close to
the Euphrates river in Northeastern Syria. But, the young man was betrayed by a slave of
a man he trusted, and riders bearing the black standard of the new Abbasid dynasty were on their
way. Running for his life alongside a brother, al-Rahman first fled into a riverside orchard,
but was seen and pursued. With the usurpers’ cavalry at their heels, the two princes leapt into
the river and began desperately swimming across. At the midpoint, al-Rahman’s brother, who was not
nearly his equal as a swimmer, began struggling and panicked. When the onlooking horsemen
shouted “Come back, you will not be harmed!”, the prince’s brother went back and threw himself
at the ground before them, begging for mercy. When Abd al-Rahman reached the other bank, he
turned and looked on helplessly. According to him “They caught my brother who had come to
them under the promise of amnesty. They cut off his head. They took his head away, and I was
watching.” Horrified, the older sibling turned and sprinted blindly into a nearby forest, possessing
the shirt on his back and a small bag of money. On his own, sheltering with generous
shepherds, cowherds and other such lowly folks, this ‘last Umayyad’ eventually arrived
in Palestine, where he was joined by two former slaves - his own - Badr, and the
ex-slave of his sister, Salem. The latter had, with considerable stealth, brought a small
fortune of money and jewels to keep Abd al-Rahman at the behest of his sister. Halting for a while
in Palestine to prepare for the coming journey, this veritable fellowship laid low to
avoid detection by Abbasid partisans. After some time had passed, they traveled south
to Egypt and resided there incognito for a time. For whatever reason, the fugitive prince and his
band made their way to the ancient city of Barca by the Mediterranean coast, and settled down
for a while. Now far from the Mesopotamian core of the new Abbasid Caliphate, the company of
al-Rahman believed they could rest easier, but there was another threat close at hand. The
local governor was a man who shared the prince’s name - Abd al-Rahman bin Habeeb. This magnate
was closely advised by a Jewish councilor who had previously lived in Syria, serving the former
Umayyad caliph’s brother Maslama. Consequently, this advisor was known for making prophecy-like
predictions about what would happen in the future like Maslama once had. One of his predictions was
that a man from the Banu Umayya clan would seize a realm of his own in Spain and start a new dynasty.
His name, according to the Jew, would be Abd al-Rahman, a prediction which gave the ambitious
governor hope. The prudent advisor, however, discouraged this line of his superior’s thinking
by arguing that he was not of the correct clan. Reluctantly acknowledging this fact, the
viceroy set down his hopes for Spain. He was still concerned by the prediction, primarily
because his cousin and ally Yusuf governed the territory of al-Andalus. Because of this
fear, agents had been dispatched to many towns and roads throughout the Maghreb, searching
for any other Abd al-Rahmans in the region. As the fugitive Umayyad prince was making his way
through Tripoli, one of these henchmen managed to locate him. The escapee was finally captured
and brought to his namesake’s seat at Qairowan, where he was brought into a hostile audience
with the other Abd al-Rahman. Immediately noticing the prince’s noble bearing, the
viceroy whispered to his advisor “This is he. I am going to kill him.” The Jewish
councillor protested, stating in reference to his own prediction “If you kill him, it
is not he. If you let him go, it is he.” Perhaps there was still some remnant of loyalty to
the Umayyads in this advisor. Whatever the case, the viceroy was so taken aback by this response
that he allowed Abd al-Rahman to leave unharmed. The Prince took the opportunity, speeding west
as fast as he could with his two companions. Passing into Berber country, Abd al-Rahman lived
there for a while among the people of his mother Ra’ha, around the area of modern Tiaret. He,
Salem and Badr passed from tribe to tribe, some of which welcomed him, while others treated
him with suspicion. Meanwhile, the viceroy changed his mind about sparing the Prince. While Abd
al-Rahman was being sheltered by the Berber chieftain Abu Qurrah Wanesus, soldiers of the
other al-Rahman came to the village and began scouring the whole encampment. As it became
inevitable that he would be found and slain, it is said that the chieftain’s wife Tekfah
concealed al-Rahman within the folds of her dress until the danger had passed. This protective act
can only be explained by a great fondness which the wanted Umayyad had engendered during his time
among the native Africans. Immensely thankful, Abd al-Rahman would never forget these Berbers
during his later, more prosperous days. Driven by the constant pursuit of the viceroy’s men, Abd
al-Rahman fled to the Mediterranean coast in early 754, probably emerging somewhere in the vicinity
of Ceuta, where his mother’s ‘Nafza’ tribe was located. The prince could finally feel peace,
being both out of the viceroy’s reach and in the midst of loving kinsmen and women. Throughout
the entire journey, Badr and Salem kept faithful. From his new, relatively comfortable stomping
grounds on the coastal region in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains, news trickled across the
straits from al-Andalus. Ever since the 730s, Muslim Spain had been embroiled in civil war
driven by a complex fusion of both Arab-Berber and inter-Arab tribal feuds, supplemented by jealousy
between old and new arrivals to the peninsula. In this, the Prince saw opportunity. He
knew that veteran Syrian jund contingents with strong ties to his deposed family had
been dispatched to deal with the unrest, and were stationed at Granada and Jaen. These men
represented the possible core of a conquest army. So, in the middle of June 754, al-Rahman
dispatched his ever-faithful companion Badr across the strait to Spain. Over the course of
a year, while his banu Umayya escapee master resided comfortably on the African coast, Badr
laboured with peerless grit and determination. He put out feelers and tested for allies, while
raising support and spreading the word that the great Umayyads were about to return and put
al-Andalus to rights. The Syrian divisions were on board, as were many Arab Yamanite1 clans and other
factions who opposed the rule of governor Yusuf - cousin of Abd al-Rahman’s old pursuer. With the
stage set, Badr sent a ship to pick up al-Rahman. It was on the afternoon of August 14th 755 that
the fugitive prince landed at Almuñécar on the Andalucian coast. On his arrival, supporters
poured out to meet him, supposedly offering him wine and women, both of which he turned out in
acts of ascetic, princely virtue. As al-Rahman was rallying the sympathetic tribes, clans
and military units of al-Andalus to his side, Yusuf and his cunning chief captain Sumail were
debating on how to stop him. The latter wished to march on al-Rahman immediately before winter
set in. Eventually however, to Sumail’s dismay, the vacillating governor decided to ensnare the
Umayyad with a marriage to his own daughter, which was swiftly denied. Winter swept in, and
Yusuf’s opportunity to win quickly was gone. Throughout the winter of 755 and into early
756, Abd al-Rahman embarked on a final flurry of activity, drawing in whatever clients he could and
concentrating forces at Granada for the decisive clash. He went from city to city, Archidona
to Ronda to Medina-Sidonia and then Jerez, receiving welcomes and recruiting
more warriors as he did so. By the time al-Rahman reached Seville in early
April, his army was about 3,000 strong. After receiving the allegiance of the citizens and
that of the entire southwestern region of Spain, known as the Gharb, the would-be conqueror called
a council of prominent generals, advisors and chiefs. Messengers had just brought in news
that Yusuf and his forces were on the march. The council agreed that it was time to meet the
governor in a decisive battle and crush him. At the beginning of May 756, al-Rahman advanced
northeast from Seville along the southern bank of the Guadalquivir River towards Córdoba. The
army’s strength is almost entirely unknown, but it consisted of Banu Umayya and their client junds,
who were mostly from Syria, most of the Yamanite wing of the tribal division, some Muzarites who
hated Yusuf and a large Berber contingent from the Gharb. The march along the river’s edge
continued, Umayyad forces on the south bank, while Yusuf’s hugged the north. Before long, the
two armies encountered one another about halfway between Seville and Córdoba. The Guadalquivir
however, swollen by recent heavy rainfall, couldn’t be forded, and so both forces simply
stared at one another. Logistics began exerting strain almost immediately. Yusuf’s troops were
better organised and therefore better provisioned, whereas al-Rahman was leading a hungry army with
little supply. He needed an early conclusion before hunger started prompting desertions. Aiming
at precisely this kind of decisive stroke, the Umayyad prince force marched directly towards the
near-undefended capital at Córdoba, but Sumail saw through this strategy and simply shadowed along
the other bank. This parallel march continued for a few days until Yusuf came to a stop at a place
called Musara, where there was a usable ford. Checkmated, Abd al-Rahman’s starving
army was blocked from crossing the ford, nor could it march on to Córdoba, which was
guarded. So, sending entreaties across the river, the prince outlined that it had all been a
misunderstanding. Yusuf’s offer was generous, but had merely not been explained clearly enough
by al-Rahman’s emissaries. Negotiations and an inevitable acceptance could take place, but it
would, of course, be far easier to negotiate if he could cross the river unhindered.
For some inconceivably naive reason, perhaps underestimating the young man, both Yusuf
and Sumail were overjoyed with the prospect of peace and allowed al-Rahman’s force to cross the
Guadalquivir without opposition. By nightfall of May 13th 756, all of al-Rahman’s army were
across and encamped west of the governor’s. When dawn came, however, the truth was revealed
in the form of a fully battle-arrayed enemy force. It had, somewhat obviously, all been a trick. In
what became known as the brief and bloody Battle of Musara, the surprised and beleaguered
force under Yusuf and Sumail was shattered and scattered by Abd al-Rahman’s hodgepodge army.
Soon after, the erstwhile Prince entered Córdoba. What followed was the foundation
of an extremely prosperous Emirate, and later Caliphate. Centered in Córdoba,
this illustrious polity came to represent not only the golden age of Islamic high culture
in Iberia, but perhaps the entire Muslim world. More videos on Islamic history are on the way, so
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