The story of the fall of Cordoba two centuries before Andalusia and Granada!

The city of Cordoba was the capital of the Muslim state in Andalusia. Despite being the historical capital, it fell before the fall of Andalusia in its entirety by about two and a half centuries.

Andalusia was ruled by several Muslim countries, from the Umayyads, all the way to the period of the king of the sects in which each governor of his city separated and became its king, then the Almoravids who maintained the Islamic state in Andalusia, then the Almohads whose fall was the cause of the final crack of Andalusia.

After the cracking of the Almohad state in Andalusia, revolutions spread against them throughout Andalusia, and this was mainly as a result of the failure of the Almohad rulers in defending Andalusia against the attacks of Christian enemies in the Kingdom of Castile.

Most of these revolts were scattered competing and antagonistic movements and rebellions, although their goal was to eliminate the Almohad rule in Andalusia and protect it from the aggression of the Castilians and others from the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of León.

The most prominent of the leaders of Andalusia was a leader named Muhammad ibn Hood al-Jazami. He is a descendant of Bani Hood, kings of the Emirate of Zaragoza during the reign of the Taifas, when Ibn Hood appeared in the city of Murcia, east of Andalusia.

Ibn Hod launched raids on the neighboring Castilian lands, which consolidated his position in eastern Andalusia, and many knights and soldiers began to join him. In addition to the rise of his popularity with many of the people of Andalusia.

When Ibn Hood felt that he had gathered a force not to be reckoned with, he marched to the city of Valencia in 1228, to defeat the ruler of the Almohads, and then announced his assimilation under the Abbasid Caliphate and its center in the East, in Baghdad.

In the following year, the people of Seville met and announced the renunciation of obedience to the Almohad state and recognition of the obedience of Ibn Hood under the shadow of the Abbasid Caliphate, as did the cities of Marada and Badajoz, and the call of Ibn Hood spread throughout Andalusia. The Andalusians yearned for a leader who would defend them against the threat of hostile Christian kingdoms.

On the other hand, the Christian kings of Andalusia were waiting to pounce on the remains of the Almohad state. There were three kings of Spain: Fernando III of Castile, Jaime of Aragon, and Alfonso IX of Leon.

A struggle between Ibn Hood and Ibn al-Ahmar and a battle between them

After the collapse of the Almohad rule and after most of the cities of Andalusia recognized his obedience, Ibn Hood felt that he had become the real leader of Andalusia, responsible for protecting it against the three Christian kings, so he marched to save the city of Merida when Alfonso IX, King of Leon, raided it in 1232, but was defeated before them and Merida fell.

At that time, Ibn Hood decided to make a truce with the Castilians in order to devote himself to eliminating his opponents and rivals, as there was another fierce competitor in eastern Andalusia, Muhammad ibn Khamis al-Nasri, known as Ibn al-Ahmar, settled in Valencia.

This competition did not bother Ibn Hood at the beginning, as it threatens his leadership, as Ibn Hood submitted to most of the rules of Andalusia. He also controlled the hearts of people because of his defense of the cities of Andalusia and the fight against the Christian kings.

Ibn al-Ahmar had also appeared after the collapse of the Almohad dynasty, and he was described as brave, courageous and determined. He was sold in Arjuna – the home of his family – and in the neighboring regions in the year 1232, and in the following year he entered the city of Jiyan, and was allotted there, then Basta and Wadi Ash, so his power increased in across central and southern Andalusia.

Ibn Hood felt the increased danger of Ibn al-Ahmar to him. On the other hand, Ibn al-Ahmar called for the Abbasid caliph as well. He also made an alliance with Ahmed bin Muhammad al-Baji, the ruler of Seville, to consolidate the alliance by intermarriage. The two agreed to resist Ibn Hood, whose popularity became the largest and his influence was the strongest.

The two teams prepared for war and met near Seville, and the victory was in it the ally of Ibn al-Ahmar and his ally al-Baji, but the people of Seville revolted against them and expelled them from the city, and in return they called Ibn Hood to pledge allegiance to them, and he fell in the city of Cordoba (the historical capital of Andalusia) as happened in Seville, according to As mentioned by Ibn Adhari in his book (Al-Bayan Al-Maghrib).

Subsequently, both leaders (Ibn Hood and Ibn al-Ahmar) realized the danger of the civil war that each of them was waging against the other, and they also realized that the only beneficiary of these wars was the King of Castile who was stalking them together, so they concluded a peace treaty between them in 1234, and the terms of the treaty required that Ibn Al-Ahmar is obedient to Ibn Hod, provided that Ibn Hood acknowledges Ibn al-Ahmar in the regions of Jayan, Arjuna, Barkouna and Ahwaz.

In 1235, Ibn Hood learned that Fernando III of Castile was heading towards him to fight him, but Fernando changed his plan and headed towards Jaén, which was controlled by Ibn al-Ahmar, and began attacking Ahwaz Arjuna and Jaén.

At the same time, Fernando sent his ambassador to Ibn Hood, and negotiations took place between them, which ended with an agreement to renew the armistice for a period of 3 years, with Ibn Hood paying a royalty of 130,000 dinars to the King of Castile, and relinquishing some of the fortresses located in Mount Sharat, which Ibn Hood could not protect. They are remote fortresses far from Muslims.

On his way back, Fernando seized some of the fortresses after the Muslims secured themselves and took what they could carry of their belongings, and these forts were from those stipulated in the treaty, and all these events from Fernando were nothing but a prelude to a more dangerous and greater goal, which is his capture of Cordoba.

Troubled conditions of Cordoba

Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Annan narrates in his encyclopedia (State of Islam in Andalusia) that Cordoba, the capital of Andalusia, had since the collapse of the Almohad sultan revolted against the Almohad governor, Abu al-Rabei, and killed him, and they hesitated to enter into obedience to Ibn Hood or to engage in obedience to Ibn al-Ahmar.

The people of Cordoba were more inclined to Ibn Hood and others less supported Ibn al-Ahmar, so disagreements erupted between them, which made them not see the imminent danger facing them from the Castilians, and the matter did not stop at that, but disputes began to appear between them, and even betrayals as well.

In these circumstances, in the early part of 1236, a group of Castilian horsemen set out in the region of Andújar, in the east of Córdoba, on their way to the capital of the Caliphate. The city of Cordoba at this time was divided into 5 regions, each region separated from the other by a separating wall, and the first region from the eastern side adjacent to the Castilians was called the “Eastern Quarter”, which, once the Castilians reached its outskirts, drew up a plan to storm and enter it.

The Castilian narration says that the Castilian knights captured some Muslims who were resentful of the internal conditions in Cordoba, and learned from them that the city was heavily guarded by its people, and they agreed with them to make a breach in the eastern wall of the Rabat, through which they were able to enter Cordoba and seize the towers.

After that, the Castilians killed some of the eastern al-Rabad, while the rest fled into the rest of the other sections of Cordoba. Some of the al-Rabad people confronted them, killing a number of the two sides, but the Christians remained steadfast in the towers, and they sent immediately asking for supplies.

After that, two of the frontier commanders rushed, each with his forces, then a group of bishops and some other cavalry followed them, and the news almost reached Fernando of Castile until he set out for Cordoba and arrived on February 7 of 1236, and with his arrival at the assembled forces at Straddling walls, Fernando began devising a plan to capture the city once and for all.

The Cordovans turned to Ibn Hood, seeking help, and when he learned of Fernando’s advance, he set out with his forces from the city of Murcia and headed southeast and set up a camp near Isja.

In Cordoba, its people confronted the Castilians and defended their city in intense fighting, but all of these were spontaneous efforts without a unified and firm leadership.

The Castilian novel tells us that a group of mercenary knights in Ibn Hod’s army falsely warned him of the strength of the Castilian army, after they made him think that they had gathered news about them.

At that time, Abu Jamil Zayan, Prince of Valencia, was facing an attack by the King of Aragon, which called him to seek help from Ibn Hood. Ibn Hood only went to him and left Cordoba facing its painful fate, and its people remained steadfast in defending it.

However, the historian Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Annan says that in his view these narrations do not shed “any convincing light on the behavior of Ibn Hood.” However, there were also no narrations from the Muslim side on the part of the people of Cordoba or Andalusia.

In turn, Fernando surrounded Cordoba and increased its siege and prevented it from supplies and supplies from outside, and Cordoba’s supplies were almost running out, so the people of Cordoba negotiated with the King of Castile, obliged to surrender the city, to secure them on themselves, and Fernando agreed.

At that decisive moment, the people of Cordoba felt that the supplies of the Castile army had begun to run out as well, so they returned from negotiating in the hope of ending the siege and the safety of Cordoba. Ibn Hood, whom he considered his opponent in the presidency of Andalusia, and the objection of the people of Cordoba who expelled him from it before that.

Thus, Fernando was supporting his strong military positions with politics, and manipulating the conflict between Ibn Hood and Ibn al-Ahmar, so whenever one of them surrounded him, he went and pledged with the other to neutralize him and prevent any alliance that might arise between them. Any real alliance between them was enough, in the weakest case, to repel Fernando from Cordoba.

The fall of Cordoba and the conversion of the Great Mosque into a church

The people of Cordoba felt the loss of their cause, so they returned to the negotiations to hand over Cordoba, and some of Fernando’s advisors saw the non-acceptance of negotiations and the entry into the city by force and the killing of all Muslims in it. But Fernando’s opinion was that they should not enter by force, for fear that the people of Cordoba would destroy the city, and the people of Cordoba began to leave their city and take what they could carry, and they dispersed throughout Andalusia.

On Sunday, June 29, 1236, the Castilians entered Cordoba and Fernando entered it heading to the Great Mosque. There the bishops received him and held a mass of thanksgiving in which the King was blessed. They raised the cross on top of the Great Mosque and turned it into a church, and it is still a church to this day.

Then Fernando walked to the palace of Cordoba and lodged there, and delegated to the ruler of the city Don Tilio Alfonso, and mustered to protect the city a sufficient garrison of the knights, and the Christians flocked to it from all parts according to the plan that Fernando set for that.

Thus, Cordoba fell, and the curtain came down on the capital of the Caliphate, the major metropolis of Andalusia, and the Andalusian Palace of Sciences and Literature, after the Muslims ruled it from 711 until 1236, ie 525 years.