Abbad II. Al-Mu'tadid

Taifa Empire of Seville under Abu l-Qasim (Abbad I) (dark green), Abbad II. Al-Mu'tadid (green) and Muhammad al-Mu'tamid (light green)

Dinar from the time of Almotadid

Abbad II. Al-Mu'tadid ( Spanish al-Mutádid ; * in Seville , † 1069 ) from the Abbadid dynasty , was the son and successor of the Emir Abbad I as ruler of Seville, who after the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba had established as an independent Taifa kingdom in 1023 . The city ​​of Seville experienced its heyday under Abbad II and his son and successor Muhammad al-Mu'tamid .

Abbad II expanded his domain in years of wars of conquest against his neighbors. He successively conquered the Taifa emirates of Mértola (1044-1045), Huelva (1051), Faro (1051-1052), Niebla (1053-1054), Algeciras (1055), Silves (around 1063), Morón de la Frontera ( 1066), Ronda (1065), Carmona (around 1067) and Arcos de la Frontera (1069). With the Zirids of Granada as well as with the Aftasids of Badajoz , there were repeated military clashes without either side being able to prevail. He himself almost never went into the field, but commanded his troop leaders, whom he deeply mistrusted, from the safe Alcázar in Seville.

Abbad II was feared for his cruelty and tyranny , and his word could rarely be trusted. He also had a reputation as a drinker and poisoner. He personally killed a son who had rebelled against him. He had an embassy of Berber chiefs from Ronda locked up in a heat bath and suffocated. He kept the skulls of killed enemies; He collected princely skulls in chests, those of enemies of lesser blood he used as flower pots.

At the same time, however, he was also a generous patron of the arts and sciences, and his court attracted many poets and scholars. He himself wrote a number of noteworthy poems.

Although Seville became the most powerful empire in Al-Andalus , the endless wars among themselves weakened the Muslim states, much to the advantage of the Christian kings of Castile and León . When Ferdinand the Great of Castile and León appeared with an army at the gates of Seville in 1063, Abbad was forced to recognize his sovereignty and to pay him tribute .

Abbad died in 1069. His successor was his son Muhammad al-Mu'tamid , who was deposed by the Almoravids in 1091 and died in exile in Morocco in 1095 .

See also

 Wikisource: Abadites  - Article of the 4th edition of Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

literature

• Ulrich Haarmann, Heinz Halm (Hrsg.): History of the Arab world . CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-47486-1 .
• Günter Barthel, Kristina Stock (ed.): Lexicon Arab World . Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-88226-783-6 .

Web links

• List of the Taifas in Al-Andalus u. a. ( Memento of January 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish-language website of the Centro de Estudios Moriscos de Andalucía )
• Literature about the Taifas in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin

predecessor	Office	successor
Abbad I.	Emir of Seville 1042-1069	Muhammad al-Mu'tamid