The siege of Toledo was launched by the Córdoban caliph, Abdulrahman III, against the rebellious city of Toledo in May 930. The siege lasted for two years and finally fell to the Caliph in June 932.

Siege

Following the death of the Leonese monarch, Ordoño II, in 924, Fruela took over as king; however, his reign was brief as he was succeeded by

Alfonso IV of León Alfonso IV (s – 933), called the Monk (), was King of León from 925 (or 926) and King of Galicia from 929, until he abdicated in 931. When Ordoño II died in 924 it was not one of his sons who ascended to the throne of León but rather hi ...

, who fought two civil wars against his brothers,

Sancho Ordóñez Sancho Ordóñez ( 895 – 929) was King of Galicia from 926 and until his death in 929, and may briefly have been King of León in 925–26. He was the eldest son of Ordoño II, who inherited Galicia in a partition of the Kingdom of Asturias wit ...

and Ramiro. Ramiro defeated Alfonso. The former assumed the name "Ramiro II." Ramiro started to renew the war with the Moors. Ramiro realized that the Moors needed to be distracted by internal conflicts and civil wars to weaken them. Ramiro took advantage of Toledo's growing signs of rebellion and dispatched his spies to incite the city to rebel against the caliph. When the Caliph realized this, he issued commands to the city, demanding that they acknowledge his authority, but the city refused. The caliph gave Sa'eed bin Mundhir, his vizier, the order to besiege the city. After coming to join him in May 930, the caliph started destroying the city's suburbs and chopping off its trees. Subsequently, the caliph departed the city, leaving the siege to his vizier. The city resisted for two years; however, realizing they wouldn't last long, the rebels sent Ramiro a message pleading for assistance. Answering their call, Ramiro departed for Toledo on March 932. He was able to take control of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

's fort while marching. Ramiro then dispatched a detachment to relieve the city, but they were routed before they could enter the city by the Córdoban forces. Seeing that there was nothing he could do, Ramiro decided to let the city suffer its fate. In June, the Caliph returned to the city and launched a full-scale siege. The rebels lost hope and decided to surrender to the caliph. The rebel leader, Tha'laba bin Muhammad, asked the caliph for amnesty, to which he agreed. Thus allowing Abdulrahman to consolidate his power as the ruler of Andalusia. The walls of the city were demolished.Abdul Fattah al-Fathi, p. 63

Sources

*Muhammad Abdullah Enan, The State of Islam in Andalusia, Vol. I: The Era of Abdulrahman al-Nasi

*

Ibn 'Idhari Abū al-ʽAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʽIḏārī al-Marrākushī () was a Maghrebi historian of the late-13th/early-14th century, and author of the famous '' Al-Bayan al-Mughrib'', an important medieval history of the Maghreb (Morocco, No ...

, Al-Bayan al-Mughrib, Vol I

*Warren Hasty Carroll, The Building of Christendo

*Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy & Francis Griffin Stokes (jr.), Spanish Islam: A History of the Moslems in Spai

*Abdul Fattah al-Fathi, History and historians in Egypt and Andalusia In the fourth century AH, tenth century AD: A comparative analytical study, Volume

References

{{coord missing, Spain 10th century in the Kingdom of León Battles involving the Caliphate of Córdoba Battles involving the Kingdom of León 10th century in al-Andalus Toledo (930–932)