Abu al-As al-Hakam ibn Hisham ibn Abd al-Rahman () was

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

(

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

Biography

Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came to power, he was challenged by his uncles Sulayman and Abdallah, sons of his grandfather

Abd ar-Rahman I Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham (; 7 March 731 – 30 September 788), commonly known as Abd al-Rahman I, was the founder and first emir of the Emirate of Córdoba, ruling from 756 to 788. He established the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus, ...

. Abdallah took his two sons Ubayd Allah and Abd al-Malik to the court of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

Aix-la-Chapelle Aachen is the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is located at the northern foothills of the High Fens and the Eifel Mountains. It sits on the Wurm Riv ...

to negotiate for aid. In the meantime Sulayman attacked Cordoba, but was defeated and driven back to Mérida where he was captured and executed. Abdallah was pardoned, but was forced to stay in Valencia. Al-Hakam spent much of his reign suppressing rebellions in Toledo, Saragossa and Mérida. The uprisings twice reached Cordoba. An attempt was made to dethrone Al-Hakam and replace him with his cousin, Mohammed ibn al-Kasim, but the plot was discovered. On 16 November 806, 72 nobles and their attendants (accounts talk of 5,000) were massacred at a banquet, crucified and displayed along the banks of the river Guadalquivir. Such displays of cruelty were not unusual during this period, with the heads of rebel leaders or Christian foes killed in expeditions to the north being put on show at the gates of Cordoba. Following the rebellion in Cordoba, Al-Hakam established a personal bodyguard, the

Al-Haras The haras (; "the Guard") was a personal bodyguard unit of the caliphs during the Umayyads and the Abbasids. The haras was also instituted in the Emirate of Córdoba in contemporary Spain. Origin Muhammad era The Haras were depicted first ti ...

, led by the

Visigothic The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied barbarian military group united under the comman ...

leader of the

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

in Cordoba, the

Comes ''Comes'' (plural ''comites''), translated as count, was a Roman title, generally linked to a comitatus or comital office. The word ''comes'' originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "''com-''" ("with") and "''ire''" ("go"). Th ...

(Count) Rabi, son of Theodulf, who also served as the Emir's tax collector. Rabi was later removed and executed by

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

for corruption. In 818 he crushed a rebellion led by clerics in the suburb of on the south bank of the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

river. Some 300 notables were captured and crucified, while the rest of the inhabitants were exiled. Some moved to Alexandria in Egypt, some to Fez and Crete, where they formed an emirate. Others joined the Levantine pirates.Nagendra Kr Singh, International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD., 2002

Death

Al-Hakam I died in 822 after having ruled for 26 years.

Family

Al-Hakam was the son of

Hisham I Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (; 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743. Early life Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrative capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, in AH 72 (691–692 CE). Hi ...

, Emir of Cordoba and a concubine named Zokhrouf. Al Hakam fathered five children with his wife Halawah: *

Abd ar-Rahman II Abd ar-Rahman II (; 792–852) was the fourth ''Umayyad'' Emir of Córdoba in al-Andalus from 822 until his death in 852. A vigorous and effective frontier warrior, he was also well known as a patron of the arts. Abd ar-Rahman was born in Toled ...

, Umayyad Emir of Córdoba 822–852 * al-Mughira * Said * Umayya * al-Walid bin al-Hakam. He led an army to attack Galicia in 838. Al-Hakam had a concubine named Ajab. She established a foundation for lepers in the suburbs of Cordoba.Caroline Goodson, Anne E. Lester, Carol Symes, Cities, texts, and social networks, 400-1500: experiences and perceptions of medieval urban space, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2010 The leper colony was funded by the proceeds of the Munyat 'Ajab, an estate built for or named after Ajab.

D. Fairchild Ruggles D. (Dede) Fairchild Ruggles is an American historian of Islamic art and architecture, and a professor in the University of Illinois Department of Landscape Architecture. She is known for her books on Islamic gardens and landscapes, her series of ...

, ''Gardens, landscape, and vision in the palaces of Islamic Spain'', Penn State Press, 2003 Ajab was the mother of: * Abu Abd Al-Malik Marwan Another concubine was named Mut'a. She established a cemetery which was still in existence in the 10th century.

References

External links

Arabic biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hakam 01 Emirs of Córdoba 9th-century monarchs in Europe 771 births 822 deaths Year of birth unknown 8th-century Arab people 9th-century Arab people