'Amrus ibn Yusuf al-Muwallad al-Laridi ( ar, عمروس بن يوسف المولد, died 808/9 or 813/4) was a Muwallad (probably of

Visigothic The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...

origin) general of the

Emirate of Córdoba The Emirate of Córdoba ( ar, إمارة قرطبة, ) was a medieval Islamic kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. Its founding in the mid-eighth century would mark the beginning of seven hundred years of Muslim rule in what is now Spain and Port ...

and governor of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

Amrus, a native of

Huesca Huesca (; an, Uesca) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the autonomous community of Aragon. It is also the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and of the comarca of Hoya de Huesca. In 2009 it had a population of 52,059, almo ...

, and his kinsman Shabrit ( ar, شبريط, links=no) were '' mawālī'' servants of Aysun ibn Sulayman al-Arabi, who was the son of the ''wali'' of Barcelona and Girona. The kinsmen joined Aysun's brother when

Matruh al-Arabi Matruh ben Sulayman al-Arabi ( ar, مطروح بن سليمان بن يقظان الكلبي القضاعي الأعرابي‎) was a Wali, or governor, of Barcelona from 778 to 792. Roger Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797'' (Basil B ...

rebelled and entered Zaragoza. In Muslim year 175 ( AD 791/2), Amrus turned on his master, and he and Sarhabil ibn Saltan al-Zawagi attacked Matruh with swords, killing him. Amrus then went to Córdoba, where he was rewarded by being named ''

wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...

'' of Talavera. In 802, he was sent from Toledo as general against another Zaragoza rebel, taking Zaragoza and Huesca, expelling

Bahlul ibn Marzuq Bahlul Ibn Marzuq () (died 802) was born in the current term of La Puebla de Castro (Huesca), was a Vascones, Vascon-Muslim, the son of a local lord named Marzuq ibn Uskara ("son of the Basque people, Basque"). He rebelled in Zaragoza against the Ar ...

and fortifying a settlement that would become Tudela, installing there his son Yusuf ibn Amrus. Zaragoza again rebelled in December, 802, this time under Fortun ibn Musa, apparently a member of the Banu Qasi, and Amrus was in the year 803/804 appointed as governor of Zaragoza. He installed his kinsman, Sabrit, in Huesca. In 807, he quelled a rebellion in Tudela, and upon the death of Oriol of Aragon, he occupied the county of

Sobrarbe Sobrarbe is one of the comarcas of Aragon, Spain. It is located in the northern part of the province of Huesca, part of the autonomous community of Aragon in Spain. Many of its people speak the Aragonese language locally known as ''fabla''. Th ...

, which was only regained by

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

under

Aznar Galíndez I Aznar Galíndez I (also ''Asnar'') (died 839) was a Basque Count of Aragon and Conflent from 809 and Cerdanya and Urgell from 820. Aznar has been confused with Aznar Sánchez, Duke of Gascony, and some authorities have even considered the two like- ...

in 814. This conforms with the timeline provided by the chronicler

Al-Udri Al-Udri or Al-Udhri (in full ''Abu al-abbas Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Anas ibn Dilhat ibn Abu al-Jiyar Anas ibn Faladan ibn Imran ibn Munayb ibn Zugayba ibn Qutba al-Udri'', ar, أحمد بن عمر بن انس بن دله� ...

, who reports that Amrus held Zaragoza for 40 days short of ten years, placing his death in 198 (813/4), but al-Udri indicated that others place his death in 193 (808/809). His family, the Banu Amrus ( ar, بنو عمروس, links=no), continued to be involved in the regional politics of the upper

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

valley. Grandson Amrus ibn Umar ibn Amrus () rebelled in Huesca in 870, capturing his cousin Lubb ibn Zakariyya ibn Amrus ( ar, لبّ بن زكريّا بن عمروس), and killing the ''amil'' Musa ibn Galind (), allying himself with the ''amil'' 's paternal uncle

García Íñiguez of Pamplona García Íñiguez I (Latin: ''Garsea Enneconis'', Basque: ''Gartzea Eneko''; c. 810 – 882), also known as García I was the second king of Pamplona from 851–2 until his death. He was the son of Íñigo Arista, the first king of Pamplona. Edu ...

. However, he shortly was enticed to return to Cordoban loyalty, being made governor of Toledo. Also active at this time were his brother Zakariyya ibn Umar, his uncle Zakariyya ibn Amrus and the latter's son Umar ibn Zakariyya. Mas'ud ibn Amrus (), son of Amrus ibn Umar, was the last of the family, being killed in 884 by kinsman

Muhammad al-Tawil of Huesca Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Tawil ( ar, محمد بن عبد الملك الطويل, died 913 or 914) was a Muwallad Wāli of Huesca and a prominent Muslim lord in the Upper March ( ar, الثغر الأعلى , ''Aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Aʿlà'') of ...

, a member of the Banu Sabrit, the descendants of the kinsman and ally of Amrus ibn Yusuf. Muhammad founded a family known as the

Banu al-Tawil The Banū Shabrīṭ, sometimes called the Banū al-Ṭawīl, were a prominent '' muwallad'' family in al-Andalus between the 8th and 10th centuries AD. The family traced itself back to an indigenous Iberian Christian who converted to Islam not ...

that would rule what was effectively a short-lived

taifa The ''taifas'' (singular ''taifa'', from ar, طائفة ''ṭā'ifa'', plural طوائف ''ṭawā'if'', a party, band or faction) were the independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (modern Portugal and Spain), re ...

state at Huesca in the late 9th and early 10th century before themselves being supplanted by the

Banu Tujib The Banu Tujib ( ar, بنو تجيب), the Tujibids ( ar, التجيبيون, al-Tujibiyyun, sing. Tujibi) or Banu al-Muhajir, were an Arab dynasty on the Upper March of Al-Andalus active from the ninth to the eleventh centuries. They were given ...

of Zaragoza.

Family tree

Sources

*Alberto Cañada Juste, "Los Banu Qasi (714-924)", in ''Principe de Viana'', vol. 41, pp. 5–95 (1980). *Fernando de la Granja, "La Marca Superior en la Obra de al-'Udrí", ''Estudios de la Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón'', vol. 8 (1967), pp. 457–545 *

Évariste Lévi-Provençal Évariste Lévi-Provençal (4 January 1894 – 27 March 1956) was a French medievalist, orientalist, Arabist, and historian of Islam. The scholar who would take the name Lévi-Provençal was born 4 January 1894 in Constantine, French Algeria, ...

, ''Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane'' (1944-1953).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amrus Ibn Yusuf 9th-century Al-Andalus people 9th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Upper March 8th-century Al-Andalus people Al-Andalus military personnel