Moonlight in a Jar: An Al-Andalus Timeline
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Deleted member 67076
Well, more soCould be Bulgaria's Big Chance.
Those last two are OTL, no?
You know, that's not a scenario that comes up very often: the Muslims are more successful at converting the Hindus, and the subcontinent is majority-Muslim by the 20th century. Wonder what the effects of having a Muslim power with a billion (or more [1]) inhabitants would be?
[1] Current population Pakistan+India+Bangladesh - over 1.59 billion.
[1] Current population Pakistan+India+Bangladesh - over 1.59 billion.
They did try for the better part of a millennium. Forcefully. Didn't work.
Planet of Hats
Donor
India's one of those areas that I actually know very little about, and which I'll have to do miles and miles of reading as I wade into. I have a pretty good idea of some high points that China will hit, but India's a total question mark right now.
Bangladesh? Pakistan? The something like 170 million Muslims living in India proper? It wasn't an overwhelming success, but a third of Muslims world wide live in the Indian subcontinental area. (More forcefully than in areas where Christians were ruled? I dunno: Polytheism is supposed to be verboten in Islam, but there were plenty of Hindu vassal kings and such under Islamic rule, and there were often things like tax exemptions for high caste Brahmins. My impression was that the success of conversion in Bangladesh started early and in any event had more to do with popular preachers, Muslim settlement, and conversions in the lower castes than with top-down brute force).
(Checks profile)
Ah, you're from India originally. Not Muslim yourself, I'm guessing?
I mean, a third of the Indian subcontinent of Muslim. And Persianate culture has been tremendously influential to India, to the point that India is often called "Hindustan", the language is known as "Hindi" or "Hindustani", and the religion is known as "Hinduism". So, it did work - to an extent. But converting every Hindu to Islam was too much work for the Turkic rulers of India, and they liked the money from the jizya tax.
The reason behind that is that conversion was too much work, and Muslim rulers preferred to rule India, not convert it.
If you had something like the Ghurid Empire rule India for a long time while still retaining control of Persia, you could keep the conversions from calming down.
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Planet of Hats
Donor
I'm glad you appreciate it.
I'm working on the next installment; expect it... now?!
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ACT 2 Part XV: On the Role of the Muladies
Planet of Hats
Donor
Yea, one should love an Arab girl
Even if she's not beautiful or pure.
But stay far away from a Spanish girl
Even if she's radiant as the sun!
- A poem by Todros ben Judah Halevi Abulafia
Even if she's not beautiful or pure.
But stay far away from a Spanish girl
Even if she's radiant as the sun!
- A poem by Todros ben Judah Halevi Abulafia
~
Excerpt: The Triumphal Myth: De-Mythologizing al-Muntasir and Medieval al-Andalus - 'Asma Zakari, Falconbird Press, AD 2006
Scholarly opinion agrees that in many ways, the myth of al-Muntasir was built up in large part by nostalgia among those who came after him.[1] In his own time, he was a man of contradictions, and it is in some ways ironic that he gained the reputation that he did as a mighty warrior, for aside from his exploits in the Aquitanian-Andalusian War, he seems to have presided over a time of prosperity and comparative peace - not exactly a Pax Andalusiyya, but at least stability.
As a man, al-Muntasir's personal valor is not in question, and his abundance of fine personal traits were well admired by the court at Córdoba. However, it's also evident that al-Muntasir himself had little to do with running the day-to-day administration of the Córdoban Caliphate at the time. Much of the administrative duty of the empire following the war with Aquitaine fell into the lap of al-Muntasir's Hajib, his brother al-Azraq.
Yet even al-Azraq is not the start of this trend: Before him, Hisham II was effectively controlled by his uncle, al-Mughira, who served as his Hajib until his own death. In Hisham we see the first example of the trend which would define al-Andalus into the future: The growing power of the Hajib relative to the Caliph, with the Hajib taking increasing responsibility for the secular sphere of influence within the polity. With al-Muntasir and al-Azraq the arrangement worked well. While by all accounts al-Azraq was brilliant and gifted, and appears to have furnished his brother with a full treasury and a robust organization, it nevertheless codified the notion that the Caliph could and did devolve certain powers to the Hajib in a traditional fashion.
In the years after the war, al-Azraq focused heavily on economic affairs. A number of prominent academies across the nation date to this time. A new mosque was commissioned in Coimbra, the famous Algarve Mosque, with its spectacular 11th-century architecture and minaret. But he also paid enormous attention to matters of trade and economic development. Recognizing the growing influence of the Saqaliba, he and al-Muntasir began to seed them in settler colonies in east-central Andalusia, and the community at Denia continued to grow in influence, setting on course to one day become one of the most prominent cultural centres in the state.[2]
The other key preoccupation of al-Azraq was the expansion of the nation's maritime trade. Among his acts - in the name of al-Muntasir, of course - was the further enhancement of Denia, already a major port, with a major repair and upgrade to its port infrastructure. The Caliph and his Hajib encouraged Andalusian traders to go far and wide, and they plied not only the Mediterranean, but also up the Atlantic coast. Al-Muntasir's era saw trade networks thrive, enriching the kingdom - particularly in the form of the slave trade. The trade delivered even more new Saqaliba to al-Andalus, including many newcomers imported from battle zones in the Balkan region - some displaced by the constant state of flux there as the Eastern Roman Empire's borders butted up against grumbling Bulgars and Serbs and marauding Pechenegs, others simply captured and shipped west. Still more are likely to have come from the Baltic region.
Through this, al-Muntasir continued to wage the yearly raids against the kingdoms of the north, making a point to lead them himself, always on horseback and in full regalia, though how much he actually fought as he got older is dubious. Beyond the regularly scheduled harassment of Leon and Pamplona, he turned his attention in 1035 to a substantial revolt among the Banu Qasim of Alpuente, evidently at the urging of a stubborn leader resistant to the Caliphate's growing reliance on imported slave-soldiers from the Slavic world. Al-Muntasir's generals spent the next couple of years driving the Banu Qasim out of a friendly city and rounding them up, leading to even more friendly troops being stationed in the east.
However, while al-Muntasir maintained an excellent relationship with his vassals, shored up by al-Azraq's carefully-timed dishing-out of prudent cash gifts to help local landowners fund new schools and mosques, al-Andalus remained fundamentally an ethnically-tiered polity where local lords largely tended to their own affairs. The legacy of Hisham, now being shored up by al-Muntasir, was the establishment of a few new Saqaliba polities in the core, especially Denia. These slave-soldiers - Muslim conversos all, many of them not actually eunuchs at this point - tended to favour staffing their own councils and alcazars with other Saqaliba, but more importantly with people of muwallad background.
In general, Muslim conversos enjoyed a cultural flowering in the 11th century as Islam finally came to enjoy a clear dominance among the commons.[3] Gradually, many people of muwallad background - with Islam in their family line for generations - forgot their Christian ancestry. It became common among them to create Arab genealogies for themselves, and to view themselves as no different than the Arabo-Andalusians who enjoyed utmost privilege within the ummah.
Much ill-informed fluff tends to be written of the preeminent status of medieval al-Andalus as a wonderland of ethnic mixing and unity.[4] In point of fact, even as muwallad people gained in prominence and the population of the region grew more and more mixed, and even as they came to enjoy greater access to government offices in those cities managed by the Saqaliba and within Córdoba, they remained third-class citizens. Despite their preeminent role as the drivers of the economy, the muwalladun were generally viewed with contempt by Arabo-Andalusian and Berber aristocrats, standing at the absolute bottom of the social totem pole.
The growing power of the muwalladun in areas such as Denia led to a gradual refinement of the Andalusian Shu'ubiyya movement - a backlash against the predominance of Arabo-Andalusians. The movement had always existed; landowners within al-Andalus were obliged to put down regular revolts among the commons, and al-Muntasir himself ruled during the suppression of many, including a particularly merciless play against the muwalladun of Seville in 1039, apparently provoked into revolt by the actions of a tax collector. However, in the Saqaliba-heavy corners of al-Andalus, more and more muwallad people with Shu'ubi leanings found themselves in position where they could exercise real power.
At its core, Umayyad al-Andalus - while a standout in culture, civilization and learning, and certainly a jewel of the world - remained bound to its nature as a state forged by the conquest of a vast local population by a tiny invading one. Yet more and more, the blood of the Arabo-Andalusians was beginning to dilute. The Umayyad Caliphs of the time were largely blonde, blue-eyed men with Iberian and Slavic traits from generations of interbreeding with slave women. Gradually, the bloodlines thinned - but no Caliph seems to have been inclined to entrust the oft-reviled muwalladun with forming a native-strength army, or of doing more than providing taxes to the nation.
It's debatable the extent to which al-Muntasir and al-Azraq realized the extent to which muwalladun were growing in political power at the local level - or its implications for the future.
[1] No, you don't get to be privy to those discussions just yet. Stay tuned.
[2] OTL, Denia was one of the more prominent taifa kingdoms, and run by rulers of Saqlabi ancestry.
[3] And now you see the truth: The biggest effect of this POD was to buy al-Andalus 60 or 70 more years of stability and a couple of generations of further breeding in order for Islam to continue to take root in a nominally unified polity.
[4] Much as OTL.
ACT 2 Part XVI: The Last Ride of al-Muntasir
Planet of Hats
Donor
Excerpt: The Palm of the Distant West Nurtured in the Soils of al-Andalus - Joseph ibn Abram al-Qadisi, AH 442 (AD 1059)
Now even as the years passed did the Caliph al-Muntasir continue to ride out yearly with his forces, and waged the iihad against the foe, as was the want of the Caliph. And each summer the men did go into the north to punish the Christian kingdoms there, the Castilian and those Leon, and those of Gallaecia, for indeed that kingdom was once more whole; for in the year 420[1] did the king called Ordono perish, and in his lifetime he had completed the retaking of Gallaecia for the kings of Leon. And Ordono had two sons, the eldest being named Alfonso, and the younger of the two, Ramiro. And upon the occasion of his death did he place the crown of Leon upon the brow of Alfonso, and he was the sixth to bear the name, and upon the brow of Ramiro did he grant the crown of Gallaecia, and he was the fourth to rule over it.[2]
Now just as some of the land-lords of the Andalus did chafe at times beneath the rule of the Banu Umayya, and pursue their own designs, so too did the rulers of the Christian lands, and many of the Gallaecians did resent the men of Leon for their seizure of their kingdom, and the ending of its brief independence. And in the Gallaecian lands did live a noble of Portugalia by the name of Munio the son of Gonzalo,[3] and he looked with greatest disfavour upon the rule of Ramiro over Gallaecia, for his line had endured even the surrender of the kingdom to Leon, and he felt his claim to the kingship the stronger. And he sought the support of the Caliph, though for many years al-Muntasir put him off, and acknowledged him as the Count.
As the years went by did the forces of the Portugalians clash with those of the Gallaecian, and as was often the case in those days, the Count turned to the Caliph to seek his involvement in the affairs of the Christians. And al-Muntasir did welcome Munio to Córdoba with some ceremony, and brought the Christian before him at the Madinat az-Zahra, and did agree to a peace with him, in exchange for some tribute from the Portugalian, and the passage of men of the Muslim lands northward each year, to cross over the river Lima,[4] and into Gallaecia, there to conduct the summer raid.
So incensed was Ramiro, that he did send an emissary even unto Córdoba, and did curse the name of al-Muntasir, and brought word that the place of the Caliph was not to choose a side in the affairs of the Christians.
Thus it was that al-Muntasir did pen a missive to the King, and advised him that he had sent no army, nor waged no war on behalf of the Portucalian, nor sought to send him blades nor soldiers, but merely sought peace. And he advised Ramiro as well to pay unto him the tribute his forebears had paid. And it is said that Ramiro was so wroth upon reading the missive of the Caliph that he did smash his goblet in fury, and swore an oath even unto the false Messiah of the Christian,[5] and did denounce the Caliph's actions as vile treachery.
And yet al-Muntasir paid little mind to the rantings of the weak King, and merely collected his tribute from the Count of Portugalia, and allowed the soldiers of the King and his wayward Count to war now and then, though the days proceeded and Portugalia plotted its own path.
And thus it was that the kingdoms of the North divided themselves, for though Leon and Gallaecia were bound to each other by blood, each grappled with its own troublesome men within, for the constant stubbornness of the Counts of Castile did long trouble the Kings of Leon, and those of Portugalia the Kings of Gallaecia, and the affairs of Pamplona - called Navarre by some, for the eyes of Queen Sancha were most often upon affairs in Aquitaine.
Now it was some seven years hence that al-Muntasir did call his men to the field again, for upon a summer's day did a host of the al-Madjus[6] come unto the al-Gharb, and they did sail even to Lishbuna and smite it, and the men there did take up arms and war with the men of the ships. And the vessels of the Caliph did sail in to battle them upon the waters, and many of both sides were slain, and yet it was the Muslims who emerged the victors.
From that battle did the soldiers of the Andalus capture some number of the al-Madjus. Now they were taken to Córdoba, and paraded through the streets in chains, and taken before al-Muntasir, and some were placed into the prison. And it is said that some were kept within the Caliphate, and their swords and strength purchased for the ranks of the faithful, and they came into the service of the Caliph.
Now in those days the affairs in the Maghreb were unsettled, though it was so that the leaders of the Banu Ifran had been firmly ensconced within the seat of power at Fes, and the tribes of the Maghrawa had begun to divide from their old confederation, and many of them joined with the Banu Ifran out of convenience if not love. And into those divisions came other forces, and the most troublesome were the Banu Zejel, one of the tribes of the Ghomara, and they dwelled in the Western Rif. And they agitated against the Caliphal authority, and did work to unify the Ghomara, and swore their fealty to the Caliph of Cairo, and they did seek to increase their dominion.
In those times did al-Muntasir continue to hire the Africans into the army, though always with care, and increasingly less so, and the Saqaliba came to more often see to affairs in the Andalus herself, for they were better suited to the life of urban persons, and not so alienated as were often the Africans. But in Africa al-Muntasir did rely on these tribes that would swear fealty to him, of which the Ifran were the greatest in those days, but also the Dejrawa, who had been one of the tribes of the Zenatah who had held their fealty to the Andalus.
Now the leader of the Banu Zejel was a holy man, and he was called Badis the son of Yusuf, and his ways were most zealous and his heart filled with passion, and he told those who followed him of the strictest adherence to the law, and the moral fibre of the faithful. And his zeal in enforcing the laws of God was vast, and he drove his followers on with great fury, and did gather the tribes of the Ghomara under his banner, and rode out to strike even against the bastions of Fes, and caused the Banu Ifran great consternation. And al-Muntasir did worry greatly of their influence, for their lands lay on the coast, and en route to Fes.
So intent was he on crushing the Ghomara did he bring his royal guard, the Saqaliba, and rode out with them despite his eld. And they landed upon the shore in the Maghrib and marched unto the lands of the Ghomara, and there was joined by some number of the Banu Ifran. But he could not know that the Banu Zejel were prepared, and they did fall upon the host of al-Muntasir by darkness, and did slay many of the followers of the Caliph, and did wound many good men. And the men were in chaos, and fearful at being so greatly shaken.
And in their confusion did al-Muntasir speak unto them, and exhorted them forward in the name of God, and said to them, "Can you truly believe that these men hear the word of God? Do you not ride with the Commander of the Faithful? Fie, where is your faith!, that you should find it and gird yourself in the armour of belief, and draw the sword of faith!"
And the men did let out a great cry, and they did ride forth, and al-Muntasir did move himself to the head of the host. And the battle raged at the dawn at the site of Oued Laou, and the host of the Saqaliba and the Banu Ifran did slay many of the Ghomara, and the enemy host broke and fled to the east. And al-Muntasir was wounded in the arm in the battle, but did not fall from his horse.
Now it is said that this was the final battle of al-Muntasir, and he rode out no more after that.
[1] November 1029.
[2] Technically Ramiro III was also king over Gallaecia!
[3] Count Munio is the brother of Rodrigo and son of OTL Gonzalo Menendez, who succeeded Menendo Gonzales as Count of Portugalia.
[4] Andalusian lords currently hold Portugalia up to roughly Viseu, with effective control almost to the Duero. The Count still holds Porto, running north through Guimaraes and Braga to the Lima.
[5] Lest you forget that the author is a Sephardic Jew.
[6] The Vikings.
Now even as the years passed did the Caliph al-Muntasir continue to ride out yearly with his forces, and waged the iihad against the foe, as was the want of the Caliph. And each summer the men did go into the north to punish the Christian kingdoms there, the Castilian and those Leon, and those of Gallaecia, for indeed that kingdom was once more whole; for in the year 420[1] did the king called Ordono perish, and in his lifetime he had completed the retaking of Gallaecia for the kings of Leon. And Ordono had two sons, the eldest being named Alfonso, and the younger of the two, Ramiro. And upon the occasion of his death did he place the crown of Leon upon the brow of Alfonso, and he was the sixth to bear the name, and upon the brow of Ramiro did he grant the crown of Gallaecia, and he was the fourth to rule over it.[2]
Now just as some of the land-lords of the Andalus did chafe at times beneath the rule of the Banu Umayya, and pursue their own designs, so too did the rulers of the Christian lands, and many of the Gallaecians did resent the men of Leon for their seizure of their kingdom, and the ending of its brief independence. And in the Gallaecian lands did live a noble of Portugalia by the name of Munio the son of Gonzalo,[3] and he looked with greatest disfavour upon the rule of Ramiro over Gallaecia, for his line had endured even the surrender of the kingdom to Leon, and he felt his claim to the kingship the stronger. And he sought the support of the Caliph, though for many years al-Muntasir put him off, and acknowledged him as the Count.
As the years went by did the forces of the Portugalians clash with those of the Gallaecian, and as was often the case in those days, the Count turned to the Caliph to seek his involvement in the affairs of the Christians. And al-Muntasir did welcome Munio to Córdoba with some ceremony, and brought the Christian before him at the Madinat az-Zahra, and did agree to a peace with him, in exchange for some tribute from the Portugalian, and the passage of men of the Muslim lands northward each year, to cross over the river Lima,[4] and into Gallaecia, there to conduct the summer raid.
So incensed was Ramiro, that he did send an emissary even unto Córdoba, and did curse the name of al-Muntasir, and brought word that the place of the Caliph was not to choose a side in the affairs of the Christians.
Thus it was that al-Muntasir did pen a missive to the King, and advised him that he had sent no army, nor waged no war on behalf of the Portucalian, nor sought to send him blades nor soldiers, but merely sought peace. And he advised Ramiro as well to pay unto him the tribute his forebears had paid. And it is said that Ramiro was so wroth upon reading the missive of the Caliph that he did smash his goblet in fury, and swore an oath even unto the false Messiah of the Christian,[5] and did denounce the Caliph's actions as vile treachery.
And yet al-Muntasir paid little mind to the rantings of the weak King, and merely collected his tribute from the Count of Portugalia, and allowed the soldiers of the King and his wayward Count to war now and then, though the days proceeded and Portugalia plotted its own path.
And thus it was that the kingdoms of the North divided themselves, for though Leon and Gallaecia were bound to each other by blood, each grappled with its own troublesome men within, for the constant stubbornness of the Counts of Castile did long trouble the Kings of Leon, and those of Portugalia the Kings of Gallaecia, and the affairs of Pamplona - called Navarre by some, for the eyes of Queen Sancha were most often upon affairs in Aquitaine.
Now it was some seven years hence that al-Muntasir did call his men to the field again, for upon a summer's day did a host of the al-Madjus[6] come unto the al-Gharb, and they did sail even to Lishbuna and smite it, and the men there did take up arms and war with the men of the ships. And the vessels of the Caliph did sail in to battle them upon the waters, and many of both sides were slain, and yet it was the Muslims who emerged the victors.
From that battle did the soldiers of the Andalus capture some number of the al-Madjus. Now they were taken to Córdoba, and paraded through the streets in chains, and taken before al-Muntasir, and some were placed into the prison. And it is said that some were kept within the Caliphate, and their swords and strength purchased for the ranks of the faithful, and they came into the service of the Caliph.
Now in those days the affairs in the Maghreb were unsettled, though it was so that the leaders of the Banu Ifran had been firmly ensconced within the seat of power at Fes, and the tribes of the Maghrawa had begun to divide from their old confederation, and many of them joined with the Banu Ifran out of convenience if not love. And into those divisions came other forces, and the most troublesome were the Banu Zejel, one of the tribes of the Ghomara, and they dwelled in the Western Rif. And they agitated against the Caliphal authority, and did work to unify the Ghomara, and swore their fealty to the Caliph of Cairo, and they did seek to increase their dominion.
In those times did al-Muntasir continue to hire the Africans into the army, though always with care, and increasingly less so, and the Saqaliba came to more often see to affairs in the Andalus herself, for they were better suited to the life of urban persons, and not so alienated as were often the Africans. But in Africa al-Muntasir did rely on these tribes that would swear fealty to him, of which the Ifran were the greatest in those days, but also the Dejrawa, who had been one of the tribes of the Zenatah who had held their fealty to the Andalus.
Now the leader of the Banu Zejel was a holy man, and he was called Badis the son of Yusuf, and his ways were most zealous and his heart filled with passion, and he told those who followed him of the strictest adherence to the law, and the moral fibre of the faithful. And his zeal in enforcing the laws of God was vast, and he drove his followers on with great fury, and did gather the tribes of the Ghomara under his banner, and rode out to strike even against the bastions of Fes, and caused the Banu Ifran great consternation. And al-Muntasir did worry greatly of their influence, for their lands lay on the coast, and en route to Fes.
So intent was he on crushing the Ghomara did he bring his royal guard, the Saqaliba, and rode out with them despite his eld. And they landed upon the shore in the Maghrib and marched unto the lands of the Ghomara, and there was joined by some number of the Banu Ifran. But he could not know that the Banu Zejel were prepared, and they did fall upon the host of al-Muntasir by darkness, and did slay many of the followers of the Caliph, and did wound many good men. And the men were in chaos, and fearful at being so greatly shaken.
And in their confusion did al-Muntasir speak unto them, and exhorted them forward in the name of God, and said to them, "Can you truly believe that these men hear the word of God? Do you not ride with the Commander of the Faithful? Fie, where is your faith!, that you should find it and gird yourself in the armour of belief, and draw the sword of faith!"
And the men did let out a great cry, and they did ride forth, and al-Muntasir did move himself to the head of the host. And the battle raged at the dawn at the site of Oued Laou, and the host of the Saqaliba and the Banu Ifran did slay many of the Ghomara, and the enemy host broke and fled to the east. And al-Muntasir was wounded in the arm in the battle, but did not fall from his horse.
Now it is said that this was the final battle of al-Muntasir, and he rode out no more after that.
[1] November 1029.
[2] Technically Ramiro III was also king over Gallaecia!
[3] Count Munio is the brother of Rodrigo and son of OTL Gonzalo Menendez, who succeeded Menendo Gonzales as Count of Portugalia.
[4] Andalusian lords currently hold Portugalia up to roughly Viseu, with effective control almost to the Duero. The Count still holds Porto, running north through Guimaraes and Braga to the Lima.
[5] Lest you forget that the author is a Sephardic Jew.
[6] The Vikings.
Yay! One of my favorite pre-1900's has updated! These divisions of Leon and Gallaecia spell doom for the Reconquista. al-Muntasir truly has saved Al-Andalus.
Planet of Hats
Donor
What really doomed the Reconquista was the lack of Sancho III conquering most of the north and planting related monarchs on the various northern thrones. Probably the most serious butterfly stemming from the POD is the fact that Sancho III was born as Sancha. Even though she's in power in Pamplona right now, the role of women ensured she'd be linked to whichever jurisdiction she was married into - in this case, Aquitaine.
The fact that Sancho III was born Sancha and married to the Duke of Aquitaine has bought al-Andalus much-needed time and robbed the north of a unifying force.
The Saqaliba really are Slavic Mamluks at this point.
Quick question : what about languages in Al-Andalus ITTL ?
Is arabic widespread among the population (or at least the converts), or do they still speak a romance language?
Is there an influx from slavic languages through the Saqaliba?
Maybe it is too early for major changes on that topic only a few decades after the POD?
Is arabic widespread among the population (or at least the converts), or do they still speak a romance language?
Is there an influx from slavic languages through the Saqaliba?
Maybe it is too early for major changes on that topic only a few decades after the POD?
Planet of Hats
Donor
It's only been about 70 years since the POD. I doubt you'll see a major influx of Slavic languages. Arabic remains the language of written culture while Mozarabic is "the common tongue."
To further clarify: Most people who know how to write do so in Arabic, and Arabic language instruction is becoming more common. The lower classes mostly speak Mozarabic, which is just called Latina, or al-Lathini. That said, Arabic is becoming more common - probably about six or seven million people speak it now.
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