The Taifa of Ceuta () was one of the ''
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 ...
'' states formed after the breakup of the
Caliphate of Córdoba
The Caliphate of Córdoba ( ar, خلافة قرطبة; transliterated ''Khilāfat Qurṭuba''), also known as the Cordoban Caliphate was an Islamic state ruled by the Umayyad dynasty from 929 to 1031. Its territory comprised Iberia and parts o ...
in the early 11th century. The cities of
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
( ar, Sabta, script=Latn, italic=yes) and
Tangiers
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the capit ...
were a part of the
Ḥammūdid dynasty ''taifa'' of Málaga from 1026. From 1036 (427
AH) it was governed on behalf of the Ḥammūdids by the
Barghawāṭa
The Barghawatas (also Barghwata or Berghouata) were a Berber tribal confederation on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, belonging to the Masmuda confederacy. After allying with the Sufri Kharijite rebellion in Morocco against the Umayyad Caliphate, ...
, a
Berber tribe with a non-Islamic religion.
David Nicolle
David C. Nicolle (born 4 April 1944) is a British historian specialising in the military history of the Middle Ages, with a particular interest in the Middle East.
David Nicolle worked for BBC Arabic before getting his MA at SOAS, University ...
, ''El Cid and the Reconquista, 1050–1492'' (Oxford: Osprey, 1988), 12–14. Shortly before 1061 (453
AH), the Barghawāṭa, led by the illiterate Saqqūt, took power from the Ḥammūdids. They could field a large army of 12,000 cavalry, but were defeated and conquered by the rising power of the
Almoravids
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...
in 1078–79.
[Bernard F. Reilly, ''The Medieval Spains'' (Cambridge University, 1993), 103.]
Notes
Ceuta
Ceuta (, , ; ar, سَبْتَة, Sabtah) is a Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa.
Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is one of several Spanish territorie ...
History of Ceuta
11th century in Morocco
11th century in Al-Andalus
1037 establishments
Hammudid dynasty
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