Sacks of Córdoba (1009–1013)

The city of Córdoba in al-Andalus, under the rule of Umayyad Caliph Hisham II al-Hakam, was besieged, pillaged, and attacked by Berbers twice: from 1009 to 1010 and from 1010 to 1013. The siege, and the massacres and sacking that followed have been linked to the decline and end of Umayyad rule.[1]

From 1011 to 1013, the Berbers engaged in raids on the countryside as well as maintaining a blockade of Córdoba from a base at the Medina Azahara.[2] Historian Elizabeth Nash reports that, "Berber mercenaries from North Africa stationed in Córdoba rebelled and sacked Medina Azahara, hauled down its columns, horseshoe arches and soaring vaults, demolished its elaborate water channels, bathhouses and aqueducts, plundered the ruins, then set fire to them."[3]

During the sacks, Córdoba was looted and its citizens were massacred, including many Jews.[4][5][6] Prominent Jews in Córdoba, such as Samuel ibn Naghrela, were forced to flee the city in 1013.[7]

See also

References
  1. "By 1013 the power of Córdoba was broken and the Umayyad pretenders who struggled for the title of caliph from 1013 to 1031 had neither the military backing nor the resources to extend their transient power." Luscombe, David (1995). The new Cambridge medieval history. Cambridge University Press. p. 601. ISBN 978-0-521-41410-4.
  2. They took control of the Madinat az-Zahra and "established a base for [Sulayman's] Berber troops. From there he blockaded the city for the next two and a half years." (Fletcher, Richard (2006-05-05). Moorish Spain. University of California Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-520-24840-3.)
  3. Nash, Elizabeth (2005). Seville, Cordoba, and Granada: A Cultural History. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 196. ISBN 9780195182040.
  4. Fletcher, Richard; Fletcher, Richard A. (2006). Moorish Spain. University of California Press. pp. 40. ISBN 9780520248403.
  5. Kantor, Máttis (2005-11-01). Codex Judaica: Chronological index of Jewish history, covering 5,764 years of Biblical, Talmudic & post-Talmudic history. Zichron Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-9670378-3-7.
  6. Benny Morris cites the killing of approximately two thousands Jews Morris, Benny (1999). Righteous victims: a history of the Zionist-Arab conflict, 1881-2001. Random House, Inc. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-679-42120-7.
  7. Brann, Ross (2009-12-21). Power in the Portrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-14673-7.
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