Al Hakam Ii
Al-Hakam II Umayyads of Cordoba |
Abu al-`Aas al-Mustansir bi-llah al-Hakam ibn Abd ar-Rahman (Arabic: ), better known as the Al-Hakam II or Alhakn II (in Spanish ) is the son of Abd ar-Rahman III an-Nasir. He was born Jan. 13 915 to Cordoba. Second Umayyad caliph of Cordoba. He died on 1 October 976.
Summary |
Youth and access to the throne
He succeeded his father Abderraman III at the age of forty-six years and nine months, continuing the policy of 'Abd ar-Rahman III of consolidation of peace and prosperity of the Al-Andalus. Not only has he kept the caliphate at the height at which it came under the reign of his father, but with him, it reached its maximum splendor. Al-Hakam II was only eight years old when his father appointed him as successor. His education was treated, he participated actively in government and military campaigns accompanying the caliph in all sorts of occasions. After the death of his father, he ascended the throne and adopted the title of al-Mustansir bi-llah (he who seeks the help of God victorious) and despite its union with Radhia, it did not then son. On reaching the throne, it became necessary to have offspring. A slave of Basque origin called Subh (or Zohbeya or Aurora, and that he later gave the name of male Chafar) became his concubine, he gave the eldest son died in 970.
Foreign policy and military campaigns
Unlike his father, Al-Hakam II was based on two characters of the court: General Ghalib , of Slavic origin and Hagibis pm Al-Mushaf , who with Subh exerted a great influence on the caliphate.
The Maghreb
In the Maghreb, the policy of Al-Hakam II was marked by the attempt to curb the expansion of the caliphate of the Fatimids. The conquest of Egypt by the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli in 969 , and the ensuing transfer of their capital in the Maghreb to the new city of Cairo , have urged Al-Hakam II to recover its area of influence in the Maghreb. However, he must deal with the last of the dynasty Idrisside , Amir Al-Hasan bin Kannun , which he received the submission in 974 thanks to the troops commanded by General Ghalib , whom he has given complete freedom as to bribe that to fight his enemies. So much so that he won without fighting, but by spending so much and so little of a controllable manner the caliph sent his steward Muhammad ibn Abi Amir, the future Almanzor , to monitor accounts. It was the first military experience of the latter.
The Christian kingdoms
The first measures taken upon accession to the throne were to claim the Christian kingdom of Len ten fortresses as their king, Sancho I. had promised his father Abd al-Rahman III against his support in the conflict that opposed to dynastic Ordoo IV and allowed him to recover the throne. Before the king's refusal to honor his promise of Leon, Al-Hakam II supports a Ordoo IV, promising to get back on the throne and absorbing it into its capital, Cordoba. The latter then made a promise to fulfill what was promised by his rivals. The death of Ordoo IV in 962 pushes Sancho I. to go further in its challenge to the caliph in establishing an alliance with the King of Navarre Garcia II , the Count of Castile Fernn Gonzlez and the Count of Barcelona Borrell II to against the power of the Caliphate of Cordoba.
Al-Hakam II in 963 then begins a military offensive that ends with taking the fortresses of San Esteban de Gormaz, Atienza and Calahorra ; dynastic crises plaguing the Christian kingdoms put back the Caliphate of Cordoba in a position supremacy. A period of calm military until 973, when the new Castilian Count Garca Fernndez , who succeeded Fernn Gonzlez, taking advantage of the presence of a large part of the army of Caliph in North Africa (sent counter the influence of its arch-rivals the Fatimids), attack the strongholds of Deza and Sigenza , sustained and supported in 974 by the new king of Len Ramiro III. The return of General Ghalib his African campaign ended the attacks by Christian vitoires Langa and Estercuel.
The Norman invasions
He also had to confront the offensive Danish Marine who, under the command of a certain Gundurendo, roamed the ports of Europe, spreading terror: they attacked Lisbon in the year 966, but they have been failure face Silves fleet that the caliph was sent from Seville under the command of Admiral at Ibn Rumah. Al-Hakam II ordered the construction Almeria a fleet in Nordic style with the intention to commence battle on the high seas and not wait to be near the coast or on land. During the year 971 the Vikings tried to raid again in Seville up the Guadalquivir , Al-Hakam II sent his fleet of Almeria while helping to that of Seville, thus enclosing the Viking ships in the Guadalquivir they were totally annihilated.
Domestic policy
The Caliphate of Cordoba was founded on the equality of all ethnic and religious groups. Access to positions of government and administration was open to Arab military aristocracy, Berber , Slav , or any other origin. Respect for Christians, Jews and the huge portion of population has encouraged the emergence of a meritocratic bureaucracy and a middle-class commercial and administrative matters, which were the basis for this state of well-being.
Public Works
Great Mosque of Cordoba
He devoted himself to the Great Mosque of Cordoba , which during the reign of his father he was already in charge of his works. He made the finest and most remarkable extension of this building. He shoots the wall of the qibla by extending the prayer hall to the south (toward the Guadalquivir River) by adding twelve new bays. The result is up to the sovereign. A series of garrets covered with beautiful ornate domes, A maqsura monumental three magnificent domes topped with the presence of lobed arches and intersecting, besides the construction of the mihrab, designed for the first time as an octagonal chamber, whose bottom was decorated with beautiful gold mosaics of great delicacy, made by master craftsmen sent by Emperor Byzantine. This new extension is, without doubt, one of many highlights of the architectural and artistic apogee reached by the then Western Umayyad.
The city of Cordoba
He has Cordova many infrastructure and public buildings, Cordoba was the largest city in Europe as its population as its political and cultural. She was the first city in the Iberian Peninsula whose streets were paved with street lighting at night and a sewage system, water was distributed through a complex and perfectly organized, something extraordinary the time. A poet sang of the beauty of a lighted path from Madinat al-Zahra, Cordoba and in the darkness he wrote, he looked like a pearl necklace that adorned the gardens and orchards on the outskirts of Cordoba.
Medina Al-Zahara
He completed the construction of Madinat al-Zahra , with the same architectural style and decoration. He moved into his town palate from spring to autumn, and if sometimes he did in winter, was to preside at solemn receptions or receiving ambassadors.
Fortifications and Alcazar
He renovated the Alcazar and built castles on the different steps of Al-Andalus facing the Christian kingdoms in the north and east. It's time that the construction date of chteau de Baos de la Encina (Jan).
Economy
Taxation
The legal taxes from the Zakat almost never enough to accomplish the ambitious policy of Al-Hakam II, but the economy was booming thanks to the long period of peace that has preserved the caliph and he has enjoy his subjects, which allowed the state to have additional revenue and accounts cleaned, which helped carry out many public works during his reign.
Agriculture
Economic life itself was based agriculture and livestock. Growing grains and vegetables, have been particularly intense. The surplus of olives, grapes and figs were exported to the east. We brought rice, Narjess and orange and was built irrigation systems and canals. The cultivable area has probably reached its maximum extension in the peninsula under the Caliphate of Al-Hakam. We took advantage of forests for the construction of vessels, especially in the shipyards of Tortosa. The cattle were in the hands of the Berbers. A time of Abd al-Rahman II had brought the first camel in Spain, which have been bred for the army.
Trade and Industry
The Dominion of Morocco and Algeria has provided the protection of caravans and trade with the kingdoms of the Sudan in particuleir that of Ghana , guaranteeing a secure supply of gold, with which he struck his money.
Mining techniques have not changed too much since Roman times, and the metals used were the same as in antiquity: gold, silver and copper. The craft industry has focused on the manufacture of luxury items.
Culture
The development of science and letters at the time of the Umayyads of Cordoba is due to the facilities that the caliphs were awarded to scientists and scholars of immigrant East, The diffusion of Andalusian culture throughout Europe has been achieved through travel Continuing Mozarabic monks of Christian Spain, the Hispanic market until Lorraine.
Medicine has been in the hands of Mozarabians until the mid ninth century. At that time arrived practitioners who replaced Oriental Christians, and a century later, the translation of the Eastern Dioscorides fit the botanical terminology of al-Andalus , with the collaboration of the Jewish physician Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Nicholas Byzantine monk and Muslim physician Ibn Yulyul. At the time of Al-Hakam II, 27 public schools were founded when scientists ensured a free public education to the poor and orphans in exchange for attractive salaries. It was decreed compulsory education for all children.
The University of Cordoba, attracted scholars from all over the world. Al-Hakam II created a library, a symbol of this Andalusian culture, pluralistic, tolerant and universal, with more than 400,000 volumes Succession This caliph, intelligent, erudite, sensitive and extremely pious, he is to be regretted that his reign lasted barely 15 years, and it commits the great mistake of not appointing a successor trained and effective. Perhaps sensing the approach of death, following a stroke who suffered in 975 , making hemiplegic, he rushed to appoint his son as successor Hichem II. The latter was a minor when he ascended the throne, turned into a puppet used by Al-Mansur and his supporters. Preceded by Al-Hakam II Followed by `Abd ar-Rahman III an-Nasir 
Umayyads of Cordoba 
( 961 - 976 ) Hisham II al-Mu'ayyad External documentation
References
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