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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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A
History of the Roman Caliphate Musa
being returned to Damascus, the Caliph Abd-el Melek asked of him about his
conquests, saying "Now tell me about these Franks---what is their
nature?" "They,"
replied Musa, "are a folk right numerous, and full of might: brave and
impetuous in the attack, but cowardly and craven in event of defeat." "And
how has passed the war betwixt them and thyself? Favorably or the reverse?" "The
reverse? No, by Allah and the prophet!" spoke Musa. "Never has a
company from my army been beaten. And never have the Moslems hesitated to follow
me when I have led them; though they were twoscore to fourscore." Conversation
between Musa, conqueror of the Visigoth kingdom, and the Umayadd Caliph Ab-el
Melek. “A
victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock
of Gibraltar to the bank of the Loire; the repetition of an equal space
would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of
Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the
Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the
Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Koran would now be taught in the
schools of Oxford, and her pupils might demonstrate to a circumcised people the
sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammad”-Edward
Gibbon, 1776 The
year is 732 AD. The armies of the Caliph are unstoppable; Egypt, the Holy Land,
North Africa, and Spain have fallen. The Muslims believe that all of the world
shall be a part of Dar-Islam, including, as is prophesized, Constantinople; only
the use of Greek fire has saved Byzantium from invasion.
It is said that even the capital of the Roman Empire shall one day be
ruled by a Caliph. Now,
the armies of Islam have been ever victorious. Sweeping out of the deserts of
Arabia, under the banner of the prophet, swept out of Arabia in the early 7th
century. To make a long story short, they arrived at a very opportune time; the
Byzantine Empire and the Persians had just finished a very costly and bloody
war. The Arab armies were victorious in Syria and Egypt, and the Muslim faith
attracted many Monophysite Christians, who were persecuted by Byzantium for
their heretical ideas. By 711 they stood
on the Pillars of Gibraltar, ruled possibly the world’s largest empire. Across
the straits lay the Visigoth Kingdom. It was, like the Ostrogoth Kingdom of
Italy, fairly civilized; it was stronger, for example, than the Frankish kingdom
in the North, because the Visigoths did not divide their lands up among the sons
of the king. The Spanish were Catholics, and the Visigoth king was elected by
the nobles and bishops. He was elected either in Toledo or on the site of the
previous king’s death, and he had to swear to uphold the laws of the realm.
The Nobles were divided into the duces (dux, or duke), and the comes, or counts.
These were based on the military titles. In comparison, however, there was the
Church. The clergy were, as in much of the medieval world, the largest
landowners and the most powerful political figure. There was no standing
military; the comes and duces brought their own levies to battle. The
population was about four million, and there was little to no long distance
trade. In effect, it was a pretty typical medieval kingdom. Literacy was rare;
scholarship was restricted to the Bible. Now,
according to legend, Count Julian of Ceuta, which was in Muslim lands, asked his
Muslim overlords to avenge the rape of his daughter by King Roderick of the
Visigoths. While a legend, it probably does portray the dislike that the people
had for Roderick. Roderick had
taken power in a coup in 710, and defeated an army led by the rival claimant. By
717, the time was ripe for an invasion, and the governor of Tangier, with ten
thousand men, crossed the states into Gibraltar.
The Muslims win a few battles, and effectively crush the Visigoths, who
were divided in a civil war at the time. By 717, the peninsula is in the hands
of the Muslims. France
is the new battleground. The governor of Al-Andalus, the Muslim name for Spain,
has been leading raids into France, and each raid has become progressively
larger. Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace, raises an army to beat back the
infidel. The Mayor of the Palace is, by this point, the unofficial King of the
Franks. The Muslims are led by Abd al-Rahman, the governor. After defeating the
Duke of Aquitane in battle, Al-Rahman marches to sack Tours. By this point, Al-Rahman
has conquered Aquitane; or, looking at it another way, he has looted the region
and destroyed even the semblance of government. The
battle took place in October of 732, although we do not know the precise date.
The Muslims were maneuvered by Martel into fighting a battle in an indefensible
position, but even so, nearly won. The
heavy infantry of the franks was indeed formidable; but as history has shown,
heavy infantry can only beat cavalry if they do not waver. They didn’t, and
the Muslim raids ended. But
even this battle was a near run. Despite having slight numerical superiority,
and a superior position, the Franks were battered heavily; the Muslims only lost
when their general, Al-Rahman, was killed in battle, and according to the few,
sketchy accounts we do have, Charles expected the Arabs to fight another day;
they withdrawed in the night. Now,
there are several different ways at looking at this battle. It is only fair to
discuss them here. Details are sketchy (this was the dark ages), but Christiaian
chronicles record this as a major battle, saving Europe from an infidel
invasion. Muslim chronicles record this as a minor defeat of a raiding party.
The length of the battle also differs; the Muslims say it lasted two days, the
Christians seven. IN reality, the battle appears to have consisted of several
days skirmishing before the decisive clash. The
fact that it was led by the governor in person indicates that this was more than
just a raid; the establishment of a Muslim governor in Avignon does so as well.
It was certainly he largest raid in the history of Al-Andalus; numbers are put
around thirty thousand by modern historians. A key factor was also that the
Muslims were waging war against Duke Eudo; he had supported rebels in Al-Andalus,
and now he was to pay the price. So let’s make him pay the price, along with
Martel, and change the outcome at Poiters. So,
let’s change the battle’s outcome. The
POD: An arrow flying from the Muslim cavalry hits Charles Martel, instead of
missing. He dies shortly thereafter. The heavy infantry flee off of their
hilltop position, leaving them exposed to the charges from the Arab cavalry,
which doomed their Visigoth and Byzantine counterparts. Most of the army is
killed; The Muslims go on to sack Tours. The
Immediate after effects: Well, Charles reign after the battle was spent
consolidating his realm. Here, that doesn’t happen. The Duke of Friesland
(part of the Netherlands), Bobo, rose up in revolt under, but was suppressed by
Charles two years later. In This TL, with the best Frankish troops dead on a
road to Tours, this won’t happen. In fact, the Frankish realm was very
unstable; the Saxons and Bavarians rose up against the Franks repeatedly. Here,
it’s quite likely they will maintain their paganism and independence for a
good while longer. 732-
Al-Rahman sacks Tours, and returns home with disgusting amounts of loot, most of
it from the Catholic Church. He
also, unlike the leaders of previous raids, sets up Muslim strongholds in
Bordeaux and Nimes, in France. 733-
An even larger expedition is organized by Al-Rahman. This army is intended to be
one of conquest; the holy war is to be carried out against “The Franks”.
Al-Rahman receives an interesting offer around this time, which
complicates things a bit. The
Duke Eudo of Aquitane, you see, had two sons. Hatto and Hunold. But the Duchy
was not divided, as per Frankish custom. Pepin, the King of the Franks, gave all
of it to Hatto (as in OT). This was because Hunold was accused of cowardice for
his failure to fight at Tours, when in reality he was rallying the Aquitanian
soldiers in the aftermath of a decisive defeat at he hands of Al-Rahman. Note:
This seems, at first glance, implausible to many. But historically, the Franks
did divide land up amongst brothers; situations like this happened dozens of
times throughout history. In fact, these brothers did rise up in revolt against
Charles Martel. Al-Rahman
agrees, and over the next several years the armies of Al-Andalus thunder into
Gaul. By 740, they have taken Aquitane, Provence, Burgundy, and raid to the
Rhine. The Frankish king Pepin makes a treaty with the new governor of Al-Andalus,
Abd Al-Malik. According to the treaty, the Frankish Kingdom is reduced to the
land across from the Seine. Malik agrees to this, because as every one knows,
what’s beyond the Rhine? Nothing but pagans and barren wastelands. Hatto
protests, but doesn’t have much choice. Mayor Pepin consents, losing much of
Burgundy, all of Provence, Aquitane, and
some of Nuestria itself, the heartland of the Franks. Now,
there are two possible ways at looking at what happens in the north. The first
is the idea of a rebound: The Franks, fleeing the Muslims, invade Germany faster
than in OTL. The other option depends on how badly the franks lose at Tours. If
they are badly defeated, as they were here, it’s possible their empire
collapses. Consensus seems to be that they would fight dozens of rebellions, as
in OTL, and probably collapse. Now,
the Muslims, under Malik have a problem. They’ve conquered tons of land, but
it is lightly populated. How to defend it? Malik
goes one step further With nobles in Aquitane and Burgundy swearing fealty and
becoming Muslims, he decides to reestablish the Roman military system. There are
now to be, in the west, the “Wali”; a military leader for a region. The
“Wali” will help to raise men from his region to raid the nearby lands,
provide soldiers for the jihad, and so on and so forth. The Walis receive the
caliph’s grudging approval, but over time the “Walis” will be very
valuable in subduing France, and raiding. Several comes are also established,
many of them Franksh Muslims. The Walis will work both ways, of course. In Gaul
and elsewhere, their rule will be rather chaotic. The
Caliph is not pleased; it has been a tradition of Islam to emphatically not
give soldiers their own land, but settle them in towns. But Malik is able to
convince the Caliph, via a series
of letters, that this is for the best, because it turns the new Muslims will now
fight to defend their land, and, more importantly, there’s not much the Caliph
can do about it, thousands of miles away.
The
conversion is fairly rapid, for materialistic reasons. If lands are conquered by
force, they become the property of the Muslims, and the proceeds from the
properties were to be used by the Museums as their ruler saw fit. If the lands
were taken peacefully, in what is known as sulhan, the lands were the property
of the inhabitants which would pass to Muslims only by inheritance of purchase.
In addition, taxation is much lower for Muslims (according to records form the
time, 70% of the government’s funds came from the poll tax on Christians and
Jews). What
follows shortly is a massive civil war in both the land of the Franks, and in
Al-Andalus. In
the land of the Franks, you see,
the new mayor of the Palace,
related to Charles, Pepin, rules. His sons, Pepin and Carloman, divided the
realms between them. But there was no king for the Franks.
This is combined with revolts in Alemannia (Western South German, and
Eastern France). The Duke of Bavaria is joined with the Duke of Friesland and
Saxony. To complicate things even more, the bastard of Pepin (the former Mayor,
not this Pepin) rallies men under “the true King”, Childeric III. The
brothes are able warriors, but the wars would continue until Pepin’s son,
Charlemagne, took over, and would rule only the core Frankish territories. While
such a situation would appear ripe for an attack by the Muslims, in reailty the
border is pushed back, with a no man’s land from the Rhine to the Loire. In
Al-Andalus, the Berbers of North Africa rose in revolt. This was primarily
caused by the imposition of a kharaj (land tax) on the Berbers and make them
second class citizens to help pay for the Syrian army which was the strength of
the Caliphate. Also helping, of course, is the fact that children, boys and
girls alike, are taken for the harems of the Umayyad elite. Eventually, the
whole North African coast (the Maghreb) slipped from the Caliphate’s hands. A
new army is raised in Syria to subdue the rebel Berbers, and thus, in 741 the
army reaches Morocco. The army is defeated by the Berbers, and the survivors
flee north to Ceuta. They appeal to the governor of Al-Andalus for help, but are
refused. Thus,
events continue. In 741, there are Berber uprisings in Al-Andalus, and the
armies of the Caliphate are driven out of the northwest. The Berbers march south
towards Cordoba and the governor was unable to resist them. Finally, the
governor of Al-Andalus, ‘Abd al-Malik, agrees to transport the army of Syrians
across the straits. In 742, they cross into Al-Andalus, and defeats the Berbers.
But after the battle, the Syrians do not want to leave, because
here they can “live like kings”. Relations between the army and Malik
broke down, and a coup occurred, leaving Balj, leader of the Syrian army, in
control. The Arab elite launched a counterattack, which also features some
Frankish infantry. The Franks switch sides to the Syrians for greater pay, and
the Syrians retain possession of Cordoba. In
743 a new governor is sent to Al-Andalus, one Abu’l-Khattar al-Husam. He was a
Yemeni aristocrat from Damascus, the capital of the caliphate, and tried to
solve the problems of the province. Abu’s
solution decides to settle the Syrians in Al-Andalus. Each jund was settled in a
different area, and the regions are Granada, Malaga, Archidona, Sidonia,
Seville, Niebla, Jaen, and the jund of Egypt, finally, receives Arles. They are
given a third of the revenue of the lands to support themselves, and paid the
government a fixed sum. In return, the Syrians wage war for the emir in Al-Andalus.
The
consequences are long-lasting. Al-Andalus and Al-Aquitane, the Arabic name for
their land in Gaul, are henceforth to have a greater Arabic population; in Gaul,
the Berbers are almost unknown. Also important is that many of the soldiers in
the junds had a long-standing loyalty to the Umayyad family. Unfortunately,
there were also difficulties. The introduction of the soldiers changed the
balance between the Qays and Yemen, two Muslim tribes from southern Arabia. The
two tribes have had a long and bitter conflict, and the enslavement of Yemenis
in the aftermath of the Berber revolt did not improve the situation.
The new governor favored the Yemenis, and the Qays could not afford this.
They chose a rival governor, Al-Sumayl, who was fanatically devoted to the Qays.
The Qays are joined by two former Yemeni tribes, the Lakhm and Judham. These two
tribes had long been settled in Syria, and felt that they had more in common
with the Qays. The coalition rose in revolt and in 745 defeated Abu, who was
taken prisoner. He’s rescued, but during the chaos several men from the Qays
and Lakhms try to become governor. Al-Sumayl, the leader of the Qays’s cause,
produces an outside candidate, Yusuf b. Abd Al- Rahman. Yusuf
b. Abd Al-Rahman was a good choice. He was old, and al-Sumayl could expect him
to be a useful tool. He was a descendent of a hero of the Muslim conquest of
North Africa, and was from the tribe of the Prophet. Yusuf defeats the Yemenis
with Al-Sumayl, assisted by some of the Frankish Muslim infantry. Yusuf begins
to feel increasingly secure, and the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate means
that Yusuf is the independent ruler of Al-Andalus. During
this period, the border with the northern Christian holdouts in Spain
stabilizes. Alfonso I, the Christian King, was able to establish outposts on the
Duero plain and raid further south. Yusuf
believes things are shaping up pretty well. Then
comes Ad Al-Rahman I, to establish the Umayyad Emirate. The
Coming of the Umayyads
For
half a century, the Umayyads ruled from Sind and Sarmarqand in the east to Al-Andalus
in the west, but there was always opposition. Apparently some Muslims were upset
with the idea of a hereditary monarchy based on a family who had been among
Mohammed’s early enemies. Starting in 747, the Abbasid dynasty took over the
Muslim world, which swept the Umayyads and their Syrian supporters from power.
Most of the Umayyads were killed, but a few were able to escape. An
example of one would be Abd Al-Rahman b. Mu’awiya (Al-Rahman is also a title,
by the way). He was a grandson of the Caliph Hisham, who died in 743. AFter
escaping to Tunis, in North Africa, he is forced to leave by the governor, and
flees to the Syrian Junds in Al-Andalus. When
he arrived in Al-Andalus, he tried to attract the support of Al-Sumayl, who
refused him. Abd. Al-Rahman then turned to the Yemenis, and by 756 had recruited
an army of walis from Gaul, jundis, and Umayyad citizen-soldiers, or mawali. The
last, of course, are the least important. Now,
I believe that it is important to note what Junds were. In Syria, they were
districts from which the Muslim armies were recruited; in Al-Andalus, they were
groups of soldiers who collected rent from their Christian serfs. The treasury,
the army, and taxation were decentralized, with most of the junds having their
own autonomous control over it. (Note:
Would it be more realistic to have the junds become like barons, or more like
the Byzantine soldiers and cataphracts? The latter would be much more
interesting (Mounted knights of The Caliph marching from Rome), but not
necessarily realistic). Abd-Al
Rahman defeats Al-Sumayl and Yusuf, and in June of 756, entered Cordoba, the
capital of the emirate. This was not the end of his attempt to gain power, but
only the beginning. After the first year, he removed the name of the Abbasid
Caliph from Friday prayers, a dramatic step, because it challenges their
authority to become caliph. (And before anyone asks, this did happen
historically). The
northern walis continue their usual raiding and pillaging, while the Franks from
Nuestria respond in kind, although Arles and Marseilles have begun to develop
into respectable ports. Conversion along the border towards Islam increases, as
the Franks lose ground in the East before the Saxons and Bavarians. Abd
Al-Rahman is followed by other Umayyads, and they build up a following. Abd Al-Rahman
began defeating rebels throughout Iberia, and lands were confiscated from the
Christians. But a good many Umayyads and their supporters are settled in Al-Aquitane,
Abd
Al-Rahman’s first problem was to destroy the power of his predecessors, Yusuf
and Al-Sumayl, who remained in the field. Yusuf escapes to Merida, where he
raises a large army of Berbers. He was finally defeated and murdered near
Toledo, by a Frank, in 659. Toledo
holds out for seven more years; and it is not until 764 that Al-Rahman can send
his army against the city. Other
threats appear as well. Jafar Al-Mansur (Jafar ever victorious), the Abbasid
Caliph, convinces Al-Ala b. Al-Mughith of Southern Portugal to fight against Abd
Al-Rahman. With covert support, Al-Ala raises an army, and clashes with the
emir. The battle took place in
Carmona, high on a hill. In the most desperate battle of his reign, the
caliph’s army is nearly defeated. The troops of the jund, however, turn the
tide, and the head of the defeated rebel is taken to Medina and left outside the
caliph’s tent. Al-Rahman’s troops array themselves in a square on the hill,
and “are like a wall of stone”. Things
still aren’t over. It is fortunate for Abd that the Franks are disunited
still, otherwise he might have lost
much of Gaul. Abd Al-Rahman has
decided to assert his power over the junds. The
junds in Al-Andalus, you see, have leaders who are chosen by their followers,
and could make war or alliances as they saw fit. The Walis and Junds are very
close, incidentally, and he has to step lightly in some areas. When he appoints
the Umayyad Abd Al-Malik b. Umar b. Marwan as the governor of Marseilles, this
was resented by the wali, who felt it was an enroachment on their power. Abd
Al-Rahman refuses to change his mind, and one Charles al-Matari, in Aquitane,
raises the banner of revolt. Several other walis join him, as do the junds near
Cordoba, who resent the emir’s confiscation of land and its transfer to the
Umayyads, not to themselves. A surprise attack takes Seville, and the Andalusi
revolution begins. I
think it’s time to take a little break from the TL. The Umayyad Emirate is at
a crossroads. In OTL, it became a strongly centralized, politically unstable
state when the junds were brought to heel. With no say, they did not keep up
their military strength (why bother?), and were replaced by Berber mercenaries. Here,
though, their revolt does not fail. They have the assistance of the walis from
Gaul and Al-Aquitane, who come south to join them. After all, if the Emir tries
to take over the power of taxation from the junds, then he will surely do the
same thing to them, at some point. The Emir’s city of Narbonne falls in 767,
and the Umayyad governor flees at night on horseback. Al-Rahman crushes the
revolt at Seville, and retakes the city in 678, but the rebellion continues.
A Berber, Shaqya ibn Abd Al-Wahid, claiming to be related to the Alids,
rose the banner of revolt near Cuenca. He dominates the sparsely inhabited
uplands. Zaragoza
is another rebellious region. The lords of Zaragoza and the Ebro valley resist
Umayyad attempts to take their city, as a tradition of local autonomy is well
established. Finally,
in 772, the Emir is forced to sign
a treaty. Upon the Koran, he swears to respect the rights and privileges of the
junds and walis, “and so it shall be for my sons, and the sons of my sons.”
After generous concessions in terms of privileges (the junds especially benefit,
in the form of additional revenues), the walis and junds become supporters of
their new emirate. They both agree that the greater threat comes from raids of
the Asturians, and the revolts of the Berbers. Also a key role is that while
they know they cannot defeat Al-Rahman, as things are, neither can Al-Rahman
gain control. Ultimately,
it will be the junds who slay Shaqya, in the bitter warfare of the north.
Meanwhile,
in the land of the Franks (The Christian ones), things are heating up. Another
round of civil war breaks out in 772, when Charles, Carloman’s son,
tries to take the lands of his father’s brother, Pepin. Pepin’s two
sons wage war against him. They rally support, and some of the Walis join them
as mercenaries. With
the destruction of the Alid revolt of Shayqa, Abd Al-Rahman finally can catch
his breath. Abd Al-Rahman would die
peacefully, on October 7, 788. The Umayyad emirate had weathered the storm, and
was a permanent force in the West. Al-Italiya
Primogeniture
had not yet been established in Firanji (The Muslim name for Europe), and Al-Andalus
was no exception. Abd Al-Rahman had made it clear that his son Hisham, who was
born in Cordoba in 757, should be his successor. Hisham has the support of the
Junds, and Suleyman of the Berbers, and according to legend, the Emir told his
chancellor to acknowledge whoever reached Cordoba first. Hisham won by several
days, and Suleyman fled to the Berber city of Grenada. In a battle near the
city, Suleyman was defeated, with the help of the junds, and is exiled to North
Africa, with sixty thousand dinars. Hisham
is distraught in the aftermath, especially at how close to civil war the country
came. He will make every effort to support his first born son, and in the
meantime he subdues a minor revolt in the marches with the Christians near
Zargaroza. Hisham
has greater plans. He is the first Umayyad to actively pursue the title of
Caliph. But
how to get the title? In OTL, the Emir of Al-Andalus claimed it in the 9th
century, but that was with resources on par with Byzantium and the other Muslim
empires. Here, that’s not the case. Hisham decides that he will put aside the
idea of Caliph until he has fulfilled the duties of a Caliph. One of those
duties is the jihad against the unbelievers. He
could try to invade across the Rhine, into the land of the Franks; but while
they are divided and weak, being pushed back by Saxon invasions, there isn’t
much glory for Allah in subduing them. And the climate is awful, although there
are a fair number of converts in Nuestria. Apparently the Franks are beginning
to realize that Christ is obviously only a prophet, or he would have not let
them lose so much land to the pagans. There
is another choice, however. The Christians still obey the Pope, who resides in
Rome, and has been encouraging the Lombards to invade Aquitane. If he were to
invade the Lombard Kingdom and principalities in Italy, and took Rome, no one
could deny that he is the Caliph. So
his reasoning goes, at any rate. And since Rome is under Lombard suzerainty
after its conquest in the 770’s, there is no one to stop him. The Byzantines,
perhaps; but they are preoccupied with wars against Muslims in the East. The
final provocation comes when the Lombard pirates, from Corsica, attack
Marseilles. This marks the beginning of the conquest of Al-Italiya. On
a chilly April day in 791, the war begins. Frank infantry, as well as cavalry,
some of whom use stirrups, from the lands in Gaul, invade from the north. The
Junds also join, hoping for land
for their many sons. Lombard resistance is crushed in a battle near Ravenna,
which had fallen to the Lombards several years earlier. Rome falls after a nine
months siege, and the Emir, in person, enters the city. The wadjis begin
converting the people of Italy through the time-tested methods, and a few
actually penetrate into the realms of the Maygars, which is largely pagan. Where
is the Byzantine Empire? The Emperor, Constantine, is but a child; his mother is
the real power behind the throne, and she is paying the Eastern Caliphate
Tribute. The Emperor gained full power in 790, but the Empire has threats close
to home. Irene prefers to give tribute to the Arabs and Bulgars, solidifying her
rule in the empire. She does this, to a great degree of success; the tribute she
gives Hisham lets him build the Emir’s palace, outside of Rome, but he does
not invade Sicily. The Umayyad
invasion fleet was destroyed in a battle using Greek fire in 799, and events at
home had caused problems for Emir Hisham
had died, you see, in 796. Historians remain divided over whether or not he was
truly preparing to become caliph; he was preparing for an announcement during
Ramadan, after all, and it was only a heart attack that prevented him from
making it. His firstborn son
succeeded him, who was known as Al-Hakam. Al-Hakam was accepted as the Emir but
the Abbasids were, naturally, against this, because Hakam was the more competent
of his sons. They support Hisham’s brother, Suleyman, in raising a revolt.
Suleyman spent four years wandering through Al-Andalus, building up support.
Suleyman was finally executed by a leader of the junds, in 800, outside of
Bordeaux. Despite
this glorious start, Al-Hakam found the emirates too unwieldy. He moved the
capital to Rome in 803, and in 805, there was an attempted coup against him,
inspired by Cordoban notables who feared a loss of influence. Al-Hakam
discovered the coup, and 72 of them were executed in what was known as “The
Day of the Moat”, because the bodies were tossed in the moat.
This horrified many of the walis and leaders of the junds, who were
aghast that their Emir would do this. The
Emir continues with his wars of conquest in the Mediterranean, taking Sardinia
and conquering the Balearic chain. But the reign of the Emir will be remembered
more for the effects of his acts. First, he declared that wine drinking is
permissible, as is all alcohol consumption, save for date wine. His reign also
witnesses the beginnings of the Commercial revolution, as the near-total
transformation of the Mediterranean into a Muslim lake brings about an amazing
increase in the volume of trade. Genoa, Barcelona, and eventually, Venezia will
be the chief Muslim ports for the western Caliphate. Part
III.5: Olaf, Prophet of Baldr. “They
stink… they drink meade, and eat pork. Nothing of value could ever come from
them.”- Ibn Hassan, speaking of the Norse traders in Bordeaux. Olaf
of Denmark was born in approximately 799 AD. His life was off to an uninspiring
start, and he joined with Grimir, King of Denmark, in their war against the
heathen Friesans. It was probably
during the raids of Grimir, who launched armadas numering over two hundred
ships, that Olaf began receiving his visions. Demographic
forces were propelling the Norsemen outward, looking for gold, slaves, and, most
importantly, land. The
Religion of the West “They
hold, on the other hand, however, that it is man who determines his own affairs,
without any interference on the part of Allah, either in these affairs of men or
of any of the deeds of animals. ... Furthermore, they agreed in the view that
nothing in the acts of his servants, which Allah did not command or forbid, was
willed by him” The
Muslim Historian Ibn- Rassan, writing of the Western Sect. Hisham
had begun, in the 790’s, to hire Mu'tazilite thinkers from the East,
especially Baghdad. This was part of his attempts to make the capital in Rome as
cultured as Baghdad, but it had interesting effects. Where
the Mu’tazilites of the East fell out of disfavor with the common people, the
great western thinker, Balj, was able to simplify the doctrine to the common
people, in essence by dumbing it down. According to the Baljites, “We (Allah)
showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his
will”. The Koran’ was created by those who had the influence of Allah, but
as it was made by humans, there was potential for error in the Koran. This
radical idea was ruthlessly suppressed by the wadjis, but continually rose up.
In different parts of Firanji. In
part because there was never any serious opposition to the Mu’tazilies/Baljites,
The Baljite school of thought would triumph in the west, and men would hold that
the route to Allah was through logic and reason. Al-Hakam’s reign would also see a war with the Bavarians. Their king, Pepin, sought to conquer Italy from the infidel, beginning the centuries of war between the Muslims and Christians. The war continues, on and off, with the Walis performing decently, and the junds establishing themselves in Al-Italiya., including in Milan and Firenze. Attempts to invade Bavaria are halted, thanks to the destruction of a Muslim army in the mountains. The caliph raises taxes to fund the conquest, but this angered many of the nobles. He was preparing for the invasion of Bavaria when War of Laws occurred. The
Caliph vs. The Walis “With
the aid of Allah governing Our Empire which was delivered to Us by His Celestial
Majesty, We carry on war successfully. We adorn peace and maintain the
Constitution of the State, and have such confidence in the protection of Allah
that We do not depend upon Our arms, or upon Our soldiers, or upon those who
conduct Our Wars, or upon Our own genius, but We solely, place Our reliance upon
the providence of the Architect of the Ages, from which are derived the elements
of the entire world and their disposition throughout the globe..” Al-Hakam
would earn the title “The Just”, despite the instability of his later reign.
To vie with Byzantium for control of the Balkans, and to asset his claims
against the Abbasids, Al-Hakam began implementing the Roman legal code, to help
prove that he is the successor to the Roman Empire. The Muslims never had the
fascination with he Roman Empire that others had, but they certainly viewed it
as important, especially the Mu’tazilites. Most
of his laws are a based on the Byzantine justice system under Justinian, the
Corpus Juris Civilis, with modifications for Islam. The death penalty, for
instance, is much more common, although polygamy is not a crime (obviously) This
infuriates the imams. While everyone acknowledges that the Byzantine Empire is a
cultural equal of the Sultanate of Rome, that’s the law of the infidel
Christians. Equally important is that this develops a class of scholars who are
not dependent on Islam. And, finally, Al-Hakam declares that he is the Caliph. So
who does support it? The merchants of the coastal cities do, surprisingly. The
system, for whatever its cons, has a greater uniformity than some of the
religious law, which isn’t technically Qu’ranic, either. The walis also do,
to a degree. They reason
(correctly) that they could use this system against him. But,
unfortunately, the Emirates have trouble digesting these changes.
Raising a navy is an expensive task, and the Caliph had been raising
taxes that were “UnKoranic”. In reality, these taxes had been being
collected by the walis, junds, and lords of the marches for a century, and they
wanted to keep them. Combined with the encouragement from the wadjis, this led
to a massive revolt against the Caliph, led by one
Bobo Al-Mansur, a wali from northern Gaul, in 818.
Bobo gains support from many of the imams, and marches off to face the
Caliph. The
Walis launch an invasion into Italiya, but pull back in the face of a threat
from the junds. The junds of Al-Andalus, and the ones in Al-Italiya, have joined
forces in support of the king. So has the small, yet rather impressive navy.
The civil war lasts six years, the longest single civil war in Andalusian
history. There were of course, longer periods of unrest, bout those were periods
of different civil wars. In
819, the armies of the Emir invade Provence. Many of the junds defect, when Bobo
and the nobles offer better terms, including land in Al-Italiya. This leads to
fighting in Catalonia, where Al-Hakam’s army is defeated. The
destruction of his field army causes Hakam to turn a move he had long hoped to
avoid. He begins hiring Berber mercenaries. In
Southern France, the Berber mercenaries prove effective; initially. But they run
into the walls of the Franks, who stand, according to one survivor, “Like a
wall of steel”. In 820, the rebel
lords smash the Emir’s army at the battle of Arles, confirming that heavy
infantry are always superior to cavalry, provided they stand.
Disgusted, the Emir uses his money to hire armies of junds, who fight
against the Franks in eastern Iberia. At the battle of Tortosa, in 822, the
Emir’s jund army defeats the rebel, jund army. Coincidentally,
many of the defeated switch sides, a trait which is common in all battles of the
war. The walis and caliph both recruit from the defeated armies, or ransom the
captives. Finally,
more due to the distance involved than anything else, Al-Hakam realizes that he
cannot conquer everyone. If he does not come to a truce, he realizes that he
cannot be everywhere at once. He finally agrees to a peace, which comes about in
825, and meets with the leading walis in Genoa for Ramadan.
The Caliph is also worried about the strange Northerners who have started
burning the cities of his Caliphate. The
agreement states that in return for acknowledging Al-Hakam as the leader of
Dar-Al-Islam, spiritually, the Caliph’s is not infallible temporally. The
Caliph may control the minting of money, but he may only tax the Walis with
taxes that are based on the Qu’ran. The Walis are free to raise money however
they please. The rights of the cities to trade freely in the Empire are
protected, and they may not be subject to dues when traveling from one part of
the caliphate to another. The walis
maintain control over certain taxes. Al-Hakam is able to gain one benefit from
the agreement. He is guaranteed as the Caliph of Dar-Al-Islam. This
was a move that the Umayyads had been moving to for many years. Since their
consolidation in Rome, they had been styling themselves “The Sons of the
Romans and the Caliphs”., and Al-Hakam had become aware that in order to keep
the walis in line, he needed the title. Future historians would speculate that,
given what happened, he would have preferred to remain a son of a Caliph, but he
could not go back on his decision. The only ones who still protest are the walis,
notably Ali of Tortosa, but he would die of grief in his sleep, covered by his
pillows. Al-Hakam
is also able to get one more form of taxation in. The walis must raise their
levies in order to fight for the Caliplh, when needed; but they must be up to a
certain standard, devised by the Caliph and his administrators. If the men are
not, then the walis must pay a tax, so that the Caliph can raise the men on his
own. The
Northmen
"a
furare normannorum libera nos, Domine”
“From the rage of the northmen keep
us, Oh lord”- Christian prayer, 10th century “[They]
are the filthiest of God's creatures. They do not wash after discharging
their natural functions, neither do they wash their hands after meal. They drink
foul liquids, sacrifice to pagans, and are enemies of all that is good and pure.
The Vikings cannot be threatened with the promise of hell; they live there.”-Ibn
Fadlan, speaking of the Vikings Just
as things were looking dark for Christendom, the situation worsened. Beginning
in the 790’s, the men from Scandinavia known as the “Northmen”, or
Norsemen, began raiding Europe. In 807, they attacked Friesland with a fleet of
200 warships, led by the Danish king Godfrey. They proceed to raid Frankish
defenses along the coast, pillaging targets as they please. Monasteries and
churches, being the centers of art and wealth, are particularly hard hit. The
attacks are not confined to the lands of the Franks; in the British Isles, the
islands of Bangor and Downpatrick, off of Ireland, are faced with continual
attacks, and the monasteries on these islands eventually relocate, away from
shore. Northumbria is particularly hard hit, and records from this time refer to
“dragons” who pillage the countryside. The
reactions of the various lands attacked varies. The Franks suffered the most;
Friesa is lost to the Danes in the 850’s. Constant civil wars endanger
Nuestria, which is faced with assaults by sea and by land, as the walis, eager
for booty and land for their sons, advance north. The war of the Caliph, as the
civil war has come to be known, has devastated some of the most valuable estates
in the Caliphate; more land must be found, and with the warming trend, Nuestria
makes an attractive target. Strongholds fall, one by one, as the Franks come
under attack from both directions. The raids cease for a period in the 830’s,
as the Danes enter a civil war. Then things worsen, as Horik of Denmark begins
having his men attack in fleets. The Danish longboats raid in fleets of warships
numbering in the hundreds, attacking Frisia and
conquering it, placing it under the rule of Danish dukes. An attack on
Paris by a second fleet of Horik’s nearly sacks the city, but Clovis, the King
of the Franks, rallies his people, and they drive the Franks off.
Umar’s
origins are clouded in legend. Some say he was descended from Hakam the
lawgiver, and his blue eyes and blond hair (distinctive of the Caliphate) attest
to this. His opponents would claim he was but the bastard of a Christian, which
is also possible. What is known is that he joined a jund in 835, and rapidly
rose his way to the top. The
junds on the frontier were always the way for a young man in the Caliphate to
gain fame and fortune, but Umar took it to a new level. He won battle after
battle, and songs to his glory were composed by the troubadours of the
Caliphate. He represented the epitome of the holy warrior, conquering Christian
lands, and returning with slaves and booty. He finally became one of the Wali,
and was granted lands around Troyes, in 841. And it was thus that he was placed
to deliver the death blow to the Empire of the Franks. Round
after round of civil war had weakened the Empire, and their brief window of
opportunity to reconquer France had been lost forever when the Merovignians were
overthrown in 810. His army was the largest in the history of a single,
mercenary expedition, and with twenty thousand men (according to the
chronicles), he besieged, and took, Paris. According to legend, the Emperor
entered the Church and was taken up by the Archangel Gabriel, awaiting the day
when Paris becomes a Christian city once again. It
was thus that in the Year of 845 that Umar became the Emir of Francia, and the
Franks were conquered by their southern brethren. It
is only fair to compare these actions to those of the Caliphate. In 834,
Bordeaux is sacked, and we hear reports of the river Bayonne running red, but
essentially the country is intact. When the jarl Hastein led a fleet against
Andalusia, he sacked Lisboa, and Seville, both cities being unwalled. But at
Corboda he found the resistance too strong; four ships were captured, and five
hundred of his crew died. Some of the survivors were executed, but others became
farmers in the region, selling cheeses to the Sevillanos, and by and by
converting to Islam. (I kept this
in from OTL because it’s weird enough to deserve it. Conquering Vikings
becoming Muslim dairy farmers, after all, doesn’t happen every day). Despite
what Ibn-Rassan says, meanwhile, the Norse culture is very advanced militarily
and technology, and it begins colonizing regions near its homelands. In Ireland,
the cities of Cork and Dublin are founded. Trade flourishes in the north, and by
and by the Vikings attack the Muslims less often and focus on the other targets.
Bordeaux becomes a thriving port, with Irish and English slaves sold there for a
handsome profit, in return for Muslim goods.
England is gradually subdued by the Danes, more or less as in OTL. But
Umar is still having problems. With the Caliph’s attention focused on events
in the Mediterranean, where the vicious three-way power struggle is ensuing, He
is more or less on his own. And more to the point, he is getting old, and is
getting tired of defending his new lands from the Vikings. So it was that in
855, when Rainulf of Norway attacks his Emirate, he offers Rainulf a proposal.
He will give Rainulf land along the Seine, on the Sleeve, as the Channel is
called, in return for two conditions. 1)
Rainulf becomes a wali, paying homage to the Caliph and more to the
point, the Emir of Francia. 2)
Rainulf becomes Muslim. Rainulf
is obviously in an interesting position. The Muslims are strong, but his
reaction to some of their rituals is less than pleasing. But that is such a nice
land, and he’s confident his sons could take over the rest of the Emirate, in
due time…
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