Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir
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- This article is about the Andalusian Muslim general and statesman Al-Mansur. There is also an article on the Abbasid Caliph Al Mansur of Baghdad Al Mansur. They were both known as Almanzor in the West
Abu Aamir Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abi Aamir, Al-Hajib Al-Mansur أبو عامر محمد بن عبد الله بن أبي عامر الحاجب المنصور (c. 938-August 8, 1002) was the de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus in late 10th - early 11th centuries. His rule marked the peak of power for Moorish Iberia.
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[edit] Origins
He was born Muhammad Ibn Abi Aamir, into a noble Arab family from the area of Algeciras. He arrived at the Court of Cordoba as a student studying law and literature. He became manager of the estates of Prince Hisham.
In a few years he schemed his way from this humble position to considerable heights of influence, eliminating his political rivals in the process. Caliph Al-Hakam died in 976 and Ibn Abi Amir was instrumental in securing the succession of the young Hisham II, aged 12, to the throne. Two years later he became Hajib (a title similar to that of Grand Vizier in the Muslim East), or Prime Minister. During the following three years he consolidated his power, at the same time completely isolating the young Caliph from the outside world in his new palace of al-Madina az-Zahira.
[edit] Effective Ruler
In 981, upon his return to Cordoba from the battle in which he crushed his last remaining rival (and father-in-law, Ghalib Al-Nasiri), he assumed the title of Al-Mansur bi-llah, Victorious by Grace of God. In Christian Europe he was referred to as Almanzor.
His grip to power within Al-Andalus was now absolute. He dedicated himself to military campaigns against the Christian states of the peninsula. He organized and took part in 57 campaigns, and was victorious in all of them.
Although he mainly fought against León and the Castile, in 985 he sacked Barcelona and in 997 Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Although he spared the tomb of St. James the Apostle he destroyed the city and stole the bells from the shrine to humiliate the Christians. He also waged several campaigns against the Kingdom of Navarra.
He married Abda, daughter of Sancho Garcés king of Navarra, who bore him a son by the name of Abd al-Rahman. He was commonly known as Sanchuelo (Little Sancho, in Arabic: Shanjoul).
[edit] Consequences
The consequences of his victories in the north was to prompt the Christian rulers of the Peninsula into an alliance against him (ca. 1000). He spent his last years fighting this alliance. In 1002 after an attack on the monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla he was returning to Cordoba. He met Christain forces at the Battle of Calatañazor where he was defeated and fatally injured. Almanzor died and is burried in a tomb in the village of Salem, close to Medinaceli in modern Spanish Province of Soria.
He was succeeded by his son Abd al-Malik, who continued to rule Al-Andalus as Hajib until his death in 1008.
After Abd al-Malik, his ambitious half brother Sanchuelo took over. He however tried to take the Caliphate for himself from Hisham. This plunged the country into a civil war. The Caliphate disintegrating it into rival Taifa kingdoms. This proved disasterous for Muslim Spain as divided the the Christian Kingdoms were able to conquering the Taifa's one by one.
Almanzor peak in central Spain is named after him.
