al-Hurr ibn Abd ar-Rahman

al-Hurr ibn Abd ar-Rahman ath-Thaqafi ( Arabic الحر بن عبد الرحمن الثقفي, DMG al-Ḥurr bin ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān aṯ-Ṯaqafī ) is the fourth governor of Al-Andalus after the beginning of the Arab - Berber conquest in 711. He ruled from about 715 / 16-19.

According to the chronicle of 754, probably the most recent Latin source, al-Hurr was ordered by a princely ("per principalia iussa", probably meant the caliph in Damascus) to succeed Ayub ibn Habib al-Lakhmi ( Arabic أيوب ابن حبيب اللخمي, DMG Ayyūb bin Ḥabīb al-Laḫmī ). His residence was probably in Cordoba , where he also kept troops stationed.

The chronicle, which characterizes al-Hurr as one of the most active and energetic governors, attributes the following government measures to him: First, he is said to have strengthened the power of the judges in the conquered area ("per Spaniam lacertos iudicum mittit"). Second, he is said to have tried for almost three years to gain control of the Gallia Narbonensis through fights and contracts . Third, he is said to have taken administrative measures by preparing the conquered territories for taxation ("Spaniam ulteriorem vectigalia censiendo conponens"). In doing so, he apparently gave back to the subjugated Christian population those estates that they had made available to the conquerors in order to increase tax revenues ("resculas pacificas Christianis ob vectigalia thesauris publicis inferenda instaurat"). This seemingly paradoxical measure becomes understandable if one assumes, like Collins (Arab Conquest, p. 46) and Wolf (Conquerors, p. 137, FN 119), that Muslim landowners, unlike Christian ones, did not have to pay any real estate tax and thus the administration did not bring any profits.

It is clear that al-Hurr was very careful to provide the tax authorities with the necessary income: for example, he had Berber conquerors who had been in conquered territory for a long time and had retained loot, interrogated and tortured, e.g. B. by having them wrapped in a sack full of worms and lice.

It is not entirely clear how al-Hurr's rule ended. The chronicle of 754 only mentions that the governor as-Samh ibn Malik al-Chawlani ( Arabic السمح بن مالك الخولاني) followed.

Editions and translations

• Chronica a. 754 , cap. 79-82; in: Theodor Mommsen (Ed.): Auctores antiquissimi 11: Chronica minora saec. IV. V. VI. VII. (II). Berlin 1894, p. 356 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version ).
• Kenneth Baxter Wolf: Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain . Translated Texts for Historians . Liverpool University Press, Liverpool 1999, pp. 111-61 (English translation with commentary, attention: other chapter counting, cap. 59-69, pp. 134-38).

literature

• Roger Collins : The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710-797, A History of Spain . Blackwell, Oxford et al. 2000.
• 'Abd-al-Wahid Dhanun Taha: The Muslim Conquest and Settlement of North Africa and Spain . Routledge, London et al. 1989.

predecessor	Office	successor
Ayub ibn Habib al-Lachmi	Governor of Al-Andalus 716–719	as-Samh ibn Malik al-Chawlani