Sulayman ibn Yaqzan al-Kalbi (al-A'rabi meaning the Bedouin; full name in ar, سليمان بن يقظان الكلبي الأعرابي) was an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

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 ...

(governor) of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

in the year 777. For the history of al-Arabi, we must rely on the Muslim historian Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad (1160-1233), also known as Ali ‘izz ad-Din ibn al-Athir al-Jazari (ibn al-Athir), who wrote four centuries after the fact. When the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

governor

Abd al-Rahman ibn Habib al-Siqlabi ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥabīb al-Fihrī (), called al-Ṣiqlabī (), was an Abbasid-appointed governor of al-Andalus (Spain) in the 770s. He was sent from Ifrīqiya to oppose the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd al-Raḥmān I. He landed in Tudmīr and dem ...

landed near

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

sometime before 777, he sent an invitation to al-Arabi to join him, but the governor of Barcelona refused. Al-Siqlabi then marched on Barcelona, but was defeated near

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

.Roger Collins, ''The Arab Conquest of Spain, 710–797'' (Basil Blackwell, 1989), pp. 174–177. According to ibn al-Athir, threatened by Abd ar-Rahman I, the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

emir of Córdoba Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

, al-Arabi sent a delegation to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

at the

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

, offering his submission, together with the allegiance of

Husayn of Zaragoza Husayn of Zaragoza (in the Arabic sources ''Al Hossain ibn Yahia al Ansari ibn Saad al Obadi'' and ''Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyà al-Anṣārī'' o ''Al-Ḥusayn ibn Yaḥyà al-Anṣārī'') was a descendant of Sa'd ibn Ubadah the companion of Muhamma ...

and

Abu Taur of Huesca Abu Tawr () was ''wali'' of Washka, a Muslim nobleman, perhaps member of the Banu Salama ( ar, بني سلمة) clan. Alternatively, it has been suggested that he may be the individual Al-Andalus genealogist Ibn Hazm named as Abu Tawr ibn Qasi, so ...

in return for military aid. As a result, Charlemagne marched across the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

toward

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 ...

in 778, joined by troops led by Sulayman. Husayn of Zaragoza, however, refused to surrender the city, claiming that he had never promised Charlemagne his allegiance. After a month of siege Charlemagne decided to return to his kingdom, taking some hostages from his Muslim allies including Sulayman. On his retreat, Charlemagne suffered an attack from the Basques in central

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. As a reprisal he attacked

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

, conquering it. However, on his retreat north his baggage train was ambushed at the

battle of Roncevaux Pass The Battle of Roncevaux Pass ( French and English spelling, ''Roncesvalles'' in Spanish, ''Orreaga'' in Basque) in 778 saw a large force of Basques ambush a part of Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees on t ...

August 15, 778. The children of Sulayman, Aysun al-Arabi and

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 ...

collaborated with the Basques in the assault which resulted in the release of their father. Sulayman returned to Zaragoza where, in 780, he was killed by his former friend and ally Husayn of Zaragoza. These historical events are assumed to be part of the factual nucleus around which was eventually formed, by centuries of oral tradition on the Christian side,

The Song of Roland ''The Song of Roland'' (french: La Chanson de Roland) is an 11th-century '' chanson de geste'' based on the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in 778 AD, during the reign of the Carolingian king Charlemagne. It i ...

, which was to have an immense importance in the Medieval culture of France and the whole of Christian Western Europe. It did not, however, make a comparable deep and lasting impression on the Muslim side.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulayman Al-Arabi Walis of Barcelona 8th-century Al-Andalus people 780 deaths 8th-century Arabs Year of birth unknown