Deborah. Thank you for your presentation of Islamic battles and
leaders in each. Of course no one can expect more than that to
present that number of battles within a short time. Muslims
conquering the known world. It will be interesting to know how and
why such battles took place. It will be interesting to know the
strategies taken to win such battles. So let us use your battle review
as an axiom. We have the following immediate theorems:
Theorem 1. All battles were necessary but not sufficient conditions
for the Expansion of Islam.
It is more interesting to know that regardless of these battles and
these conquests even when the Arab rule waned, Islam expanded.
Theorem 2. Regardless of all battles and countries conquered, and
regardless of direct or indirect Arab rule, Islam has remained the
social system of these countries by choice.
Simply stated these countries defend Islam.
Theorem 3. Islam is inherently a great social system.
Otherwise these conquered countries would have left Islam for better
systems. Even in the United States of America, Islam was ahead of the
laws of the United States of America in idividualism, learning, status
of women, and equality of humans. Islam is the system of choice.
Theorem 4. There is a glue binding Muslim countries and Muslims.
These counquered countries were never made slaves for Arab Muslims.
They became Muslims on equal footings with Arabs. Arabs intermarried
with conquered countries. They all became one family. No
exploitation. No expropriation. Now Spanish Arabs have dominated all
countries south of the United States of America and Canada is
accepting more people of Arab origin. The Hispanic communities heil
their origin to Muslims and respect their moral and ethical value
system. (I remember listening to one dissertation by a Hispanic where
he uses Muslim girls as his standard for the highest moral value among
women in the Hispanic communities. He did not use Christians or
Jews. His dissertation was about advanced education among Hispanics.)
(Read "Unlike the Muslims, the West is Imperialistic and Exploitive"
2002 National Conference, NAAAS,NAHLS, NANAS, IAAS) Arabs became
their students to learn their culture.
If I remember well, Lebanon does not teach in elementary and secondary
schools the history of Islam. In elementary school, they teach about
Lebanon. In high school, they teach about Europe. No mention is made
of what contributes to the personality and culture of Arabs, Lebanese
and non-Lebanese. On second thought if these Arab and Muslim
countries teach about Islamic conquests and Islamic contributions to
civilization they may unify as one front and attack their colonial
enemies. They would pride themselves on their origin much more than
their oral culture provides. AUB has a one year program on some
Islamic contributions, much more than any Lebanese would ever think
of.
Unless you copied the information from some place, I would think your
major is history and most probably your dissertation was only limited
to Islamic conquests. At that Ibn Khaldoun kicks in: Reporting of
history is a function of time, person, country, ethnic origin,
interest, politics and economics. Although you presented the battles,
you omitted the contributions. The contributions are the glue of
Muslims beside the Koran. There are large territories in China still
teaching the Arabic Encyclopedia of Medicine publishe about one
thousand years ago. Study of herbs is part of value of this
encyclopedia. I hope your omission was due to mere presentation of
conquests rather than a denigration of Arabs and Muslims.
On Dec 12, 2:18 pm, "***@gmail.com" <***@gmail.com> wrote:
> DRAFT
> ISLAM - THE FIRST MILLENNIUM
>
> 622
> 16th July - Traditional date of the Hijrah and beginning of Muslim
> calendar
>
> 622-630
> Muhammad's wars against Mecca and Medina - at the time, considerable
> centres
> of commerce and culture, with marked Christian Greek and Jewish
> influence
>
> 622
> Pact of Medina between Muhammad and indigenous Ansar and Jewish tribes
> of
> Medina
> Muhammad's forces attack Meccan caravans
> 624
> March - Battle of Badr, Muhammad's forces defeat Meccans and Banu
> Quraysh,
> expel Banu Qaynuqa
> 625
> Battle of Uhud, Meccans defeat Muhammad; in retaliation, Muhammad
> expels the
> Banu Nadhir from Medina
> 627
> Battle of Khandaq; Muhammad has 900 Jewish prisoners of the Banu
> Qurayza
> beheaded and enslaves the women and children
> 628
> Muhammad's sham treaty with the Banu Quraysh
> 629
> May - Battle of Khaybar; to raise his prestige after the hudna of
> Hudaybiyya, Muhammad attacks the Khaybar Jews, massacres a peace
> delegation
> led by Usayr ibn Zorim of the Banu Nahdir. Muhammad massacres the
> Khaybar
> prisoners; orders the torture and murder of Kinana ibn al-Rabi;
> marries
> Saffiya, the 17-year-old daughter of Huyayy, the Banu Nahdir chief,
> and
> widow of Kinana ibn al-Rabi; takes as a jarya (slave concubine)
> Kaihana,
> survivor of the massacre of the Qurayza Jews. Muhammad allows the
> Khaybar
> survivors to remain on their lands, so long as they pay him 50% of
> their
> produce. The battle greatly raises Muhammad's prestige; the beduin
> swear
> allegiance and convert to Islam, the Jewish tribes of Fadattr, Tedma,
> and
> Magne capitulate and are permitted to keep their religion and their
> lands in
> exchange for 50% of their produce
>
> 630
> Augmented by weapons won from the Khaybar Jews, Muhammad's forces
> conquer
> Mecca; Muhammad dedicates the sacred pagan Black Rock, a meteorite
> fragment
> housed in the eastern wall of Ka'aba, to Islam; Meccans vow allegiance
> to
> Muhammad and convert to Islam
>
> 632
> Death of Muhammad, supposedly poisoned by Saffiya bint Huyayy in
> revenge for
> the massacre of the Khaybar Jews; Abdu'llah ibn Abi Quhafah (Abu
> Bakr),
> first of the Rightly Guided Caliphs (khulafa ar-rashidin), caliph
>
> 632-634
> Wars of apostasy (riddah) begin: Muslims defeat "false prophets"
> Tulayha
> and Musaylima, force capitulation of Jewish tribes of Fadattr, Tedma,
> and
> Magne, laying the foundations for the future laws of the dhimma
>
> 633
> Muslim invasions and conquests outside Arabia begin; Muslim forces
> under
> Khalid ibn al-Walid invade Syria
>
> 634
> 30th July, battle of Ajnadayn between Gaza and Jerusalem, Khalid ibn
> al-Walid's forces defeat Byzantine forces under Theodoros, the
> emperor's
> brother
> 23rd August, death of Abu Bakr; 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, second of the
> Khulafa
> ar-Rashidin, caliph 634-644.
>
> [N.B.: 'Umar assumes the title Amir al-Mu'minin; imposes the primacy
> of Arab
> Muslims over non-Arab Muslims, and permanent legal disabilities on
> Jews and
> Christians ("People of the Book"); re-appoints Shifa bint 'abd Allah,
> a
> woman whom Muhammad had appointed, comptroller of the markets of
> Medina;
> eradicates the Christian and Jewish communities of Arabia]
>
> 635-637
> Muslims invade Mesopotamia and Iran (635-642)
>
> 635
> Battle of Marj al Saffar near Damascus; Muslim forces under Khalid ibn
> al-Walid defeat Byzantines
> Battle of Buwayb, Muslims defeat Iranians
>
> [N.B.: In shame over his failure to protect them from Muslim assault,
> Khalid
> ibn al-Walid returned their taxes to the Christians of Homs]
>
> 636
> 20 August, Battle of the Yarmuk, Muslims under Khalid ibn al-Walid
> rout
> Byzantine forces
> Battle of Qadisiyah, Muslims under Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas defeat Iranian
> forces
>
> 637
> Battle of Jalula, Muslims defeat Iranians, seize Ctesiphon.
> Muslims destroy Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Jerusalem
> capitulates to Umar
>
> 638-650
> Muslims ravage Iran, eradicate indigenous Zoroastrian religion;
> Iranians
> request aid against the Muslims from T'ai Tsung, emperor of China (d
> 649)
>
> [N.B.: T'ai Tsung's military conquests had established contacts with
> Iranian
> and Indian civilizations. He received Alopen, an Iranian Christian
> (Nestorian) in 638, granting him the freedom of the empire and leave
> to
> build an imperial church in the capital.
>
> 639
> Muslim subjugation of Mesopotamia begins
> Muslims invade Armenia
> Muslim forces under Amr ibn al-'As invade Egypt
> 'Umar expels all Jews and Christians from Arabia
>
> 640
> Subjugation of Caesarea; code of Umar imposed on Palestinian Jews and
> Christians [Jews and Christians enjoined to pray quietly; prohibition
> on
> building new synagogues or churches, holding judicial or civil posts,
> riding
> horses; Jews ordered to wear yellow badges on their clothes]
> Muslims take Pelusium, defeat Byzantines at Heliopolis
>
> 642
> Cyrus, patriarch of Alexandria, tenders surrender and capitulation of
> Egypt
> Battle of Nehawand, Muslims defeat Iranians
>
> 642-643
> Muslims invade and occupy Barqa and the Pentapolis
>
> 644
> 'Umar assassinated by his Iranian slave, Abu-Luluah; Uthman ibn Affan
> of the
> Banu Umayya of Mecca, third of the khulafa ar-rashidin, caliph 644-656
>
> 645
> Muslim assault crushes Christian revolt in Alexandria, sarcophagus of
> Alexander lost
>
> 649
> Muslims conquer Cyprus and Aradus (650)
>
> 655
> Muslim fleet annihilates Byzantine navy off Lycian coast at Dhat al-
> Sawari
>
> 656
> Egyptian rebels assassinate the caliph Uthman; succession of Ali ibn
> Abi
> Talib, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, as caliph disputed, igniting
> the:
>
> FIRST ISLAMIC CIVIL WAR 656-661
> Revolt against Ali launched by 'Aisha, Muhammad's favorite wife
> Battle of the Camel (656) between the armies of Ali and 'Aisha; 'Ali
> defeats
> 'Aisha's forces, captures 'Aisha and sends her back to Medina
> In revenge for the assassination of the caliph Uthman, his kinsman,
> Mua'wiya
> ibn Sufyan, governor general of Syria, spearheads revolt against the
> caliph
> Ali
>
> [N.B.: 'Aisha bint Abu Bakr served as an imam during daily prayer, as
> did
> other women in early Islam, lecturing men on their duties to the
> Prophet.
> She authored many ahadith, and was considered a scholar]
>
> 657
> Battle of Siffin, Mu'awiya ibn Sufyan proclaims himself caliph
>
> 658
> Ali massacres the Khawarij. Egypt conquered for Mu'awiya ibn Sufyan
>
> 659
> Ali opposes arbitration with Mu'awiya at Adruh
>
> 661
> Ali stabbed to death by a Kharijis in revenge for his massacre of the
> Khawarij. Buried in An Najaf, which becomes a shrine. Ali's son,
> Husayn,
> proclaimed caliph, but declares his abdication when Mua'wiya's forces
> advance into Mesopotamia
>
> UMAYYAD CALIPHATE OF DAMASCUS 661-750
>
> 664
> Muslims invade Afghanistan, seize Kabul
>
> 669
> Chalcedon taken; Muslims besiege of Constantinople
>
> 669-670
> Conquest of North Africa begins under Oqba ibn Nafi (killed 683)
>
> 670
> Muslims invade Sind and the lower Indus
>
> 673-678
> Blockade of Constantinople
>
> 674
> Conquest of Bukhara and Marakanda (676). Muslim forces advance to the
> Jaxartes
>
> 680
> Death of Mua'wiya; his son, Yazid, second Umayyad caliph 680-682.
> Kufans in
> Iraq proclaim Husayn ibn Ali caliph, which ignites the:
>
> SECOND ISLAMIC CIVIL WAR 680-682
>
> Battle of Kerbela (680), Husayn killed and his army defeated [origin
> of
> annual Shi'ite celebration of the martyrdom of Husayn, in the month
> of
> Muharram). Mecca and Medina proclaim Abdallah ibn Zubayr, 'Aisha's
> nephew,
> caliph. Battle on the Harra near Medina, siege of Mecca; Meccans and
> Medinans defeated, the Ka'aba shrine burned
>
> 682
> Death of Yazid I, followed by death of Yazid's successor, Mua'wiya II.
> Marwan ibn al Hakam proclaimed caliph in Syria, but rejected by
> Muslims in
> Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Qais tribe in Syria, who proclaim
> Abdallah ibn Zubayr caliph
>
> 684
> Battle of Marj Rhait, north of Damascus; defeat and slaughter of the
> Qais of
> Syria, beginning disastrous blood feud between "northern" and
> "southern"
> Arabs, which contributes to the fall of the Umeya
>
> 685
> Death of Marwan I; his son Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan caliph 685-705
> Arabic established as Islam's official language, superseding Greek and
> Persian
> Shi'ites and Khawarij in Iran and Arabia revolt against rival caliph
> Abdallah ibn Zubayr
>
> 690
> Battle on the Tigris; Mus'ab, ibn Zubayr's brother and governor of
> Mesopotamia, defeated and killed by Abd al-Malik
>
> 691-692
> Siege and capture of Medina by abd al-Malik's general Hajaj, later
> governor
> of Iraq
> Abdallah ibn Zubayr assassinated
>
> [Construction begins on the Qubbat As-Sakhrah shrine in Jerusalem, on
> the
> site of the Jewish Temple destroyed by Rome, by Byzantine craftsmen
> sent
> from Constantinople by the emperor at Abd al-Malik's request. Abd al-
> Malik
> propagandizes Jerusalem as the Quranic Farthest Mosque (al-Masjid al-
> Aqsa),
> site of Muhammad's ascent into Paradise with the angel Gabriel and his
> magical mare al-Buraq, who had the face of a woman, the body of a
> lion, and
> the tail of a peacock, and who conveyed him in three leaps from Mecca
> to
> al-Masjid al-Aqsa, and back again in one night. Hence, Jerusalem as
> the
> third holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina, and the only place
> outside Mecca and Medina where Muslims can make pilgrimage.
>
> "Abd al-Malik, seeing the greatness of the martyrium [the Holy
> Sepulchre]
> and its magnificence, was moved lest it should dazzle the minds of the
> Muslims and hence erected above the rock the Dome which is now seen
> there."
> Al-Muqaddasi
>
> 'The very first monument of the new faith, the Dome of the Rock in
> Jerusalem, was a patently competitive enterprise. It rose on the
> grounds
> of the Jewish temple, over the rock of Mount Moriah that had been
> variously identified in the past as the place of Adam's creation and
> death, and of Isaac's sacrifice. In substance, the building was a
> close
> copy of the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre.'
> Spiro Kostof, A History of Architecture: Settings and
> Rituals, p 286]
>
> "These damned Syrians pretend that Allah put his foot
> on the Rock in Jerusalem, though only one man ever
> put his foot on the Rock, namely Ibrahim."
> Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyah (638-700)
>
> 693
> Khariji revolts crushed in Iraq and Persia. Battle of Sebastopolis,
> emperor
> Justinian II defeated
>
> 694
> Iranian exiles introduce Manichaeism into China
> The Visigothic king Ergica, on rumors that Jews are conspiring with
> North
> African Muslims, forces Jews to give all land, slaves and buildings
> bought
> from Christians, to his treasury, and declares that all Jewish
> children over
> the age of seven should be taken from their homes and raised as
> Christians.
> Forced conversions began under his predecessor, King Earwig.
>
> 698
> Muslims take Carthage
>
> 699
> Ibn al Ash'ath proclaimed caliph in the east, rebellion crushed
>
> 705
> Death of Abd al-Malik; his son, Walid, caliph 705-715
> Under al-Walid, construction begins on the Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa ("the
> Farthest
> Mosque") in Jerusalem
>
> 708
> Musa ibn Nusayr, Arab governor general of North Africa, begins
> pacification
> and subjugation of the Berbers
> Muslim forces under Muhammad ibn Qasim invade Sind and parts of the
> Punjab
>
> 710
> Muslims invade and subjugate Cilicia and (714) Galatia
> Muslim forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad, freed Berber slave of Musa ibn
> Nusayr,
> seize Tangiers and raid Baetica in Visigothic Hispania
>
> 711
> Tariq ibn Ziyad lands in Spain at Jebel Tariq [Gibraltar] with a mixed
> Berber-Arab force
> July - Battle of Guadalete, Christian forces under the Visigoth king
> Roderick defeated. Muslims take Ecija, Cordoba, and Toledo, the
> Visigoth
> capital
>
> 712
> Musa ibn Nusayr invades from Africa with a mixed army of Berbers,
> Iranian,
> Yemenites, and Arabs, takes Medina Sidonia, Carmona, Seville, Merida,
> and
> (713) Zaragoza
>
> 713
> Muslims invade China as far as Kashgar
>
> 715
> Death of Walid I; his brother, Suleiman ibn al-Malik, caliph 715-717
> Most of southern Spain in the hands of Muslms. Musa ibn Nusayr,
> governor
> general of North Afirca, appoints his son, Abd al-Aziz, governor of
> Al-Andalus [The West] in Spain.
>
> [N.B.: Abd al-Aziz married Egilona, widow of the Visigoth king
> Roderick.
> When Egilona encouraged his conversion to Christianity, the caliph
> Suleiman
> ordered his assassination and appointed Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khalani
> governor general of Al-Andalus]
>
> 716
> Muslims under Yazid ibn Muhallib conquer Hyrcania and Tabaristan
>
> 717
> Death of Suleiman; his cousin, Omar ibn Abd al-Aziz, caliph 717-720,
> grants
> tax exemption to all Muslims
>
> 717-719
> Second siege of Constantinople by forces under the caliph's brother,
> Maslama
> Muslims reach the Pyrenees, driving Christians of Hispania into the
> northern
> and western mountains; invade Septimania and establish themselves in
> Languedoc
> Pelayo, successor (718-737) to the Visigothic king Roderick,
> establishes the
> Christian kingdom of the Asturias, a theocratic monarchy
> Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khalani invades France, attacks Narbonne,
> Beziers,
> Agde, Lodeve, Montpellier, and Nimes
>
> 720
> Death of Omar; Yazid II, Abd al-Malik's third son, caliph 720-724
> Muslims capture Barcelona
>
> [N.B.: The rapidity of the Islamic conquest of the Hispanic peninsula
> was
> due partly to the strife between the Visigothic overlords, and partly
> to
> the preference of the natives for the Muslims. For the natives -- a
> conglomerate of Germanic Suevi, Vandals, Russian Alani, Byzantines,
> Romans,
> Jews, Phoenicians, Celtiberians, and Basques -- the invading
> conglomerate of
> Muslim Berbers, Iranians, Yemenites, and Arabs had more in common than
> their
> recent Visigothic rulers with the faded civilization of the western
> Roman
> empire's richest province -- especially for the centuries-old Jewish
> communities, whom the Visigoths persecuted., e.g., in 681, the Council
> of
> Toledo ordered the burning of the Talmud, and in 682, the new
> Visigothic
> king, Earwig, opened his reign by passing 28 laws against Jews and
> pressing
> for the "utter
> extirpation of the pest of the Jews"]
>
> 721
> 10th June, Battle of Toulouse. Aquitainians and Franks under duke Eudo
> of
> Aquitainia annilihate al-Khalani's forces
>
> 722-724
> Revolt of Yazid ibn Muhallib in Mesopotamia; battle of Akra, defeat
> and
> death of Yazid
> War between southern Arabs (Yememites) and northern Arabs (Qais)
> throughout
> Muslim lands, esp in Khorasan and Transoxania, where propaganda for
> Abbasids
> begins
> Battle of Covado, Pelayo of Asturias defeats Muslim forces, beginning
> the
> Christian Reconquista of Spain
>
> 724
> Death of Yazid II; his brother, Hisham, caliph 724-743
>
> 725
> Muslims raid Gaul as far as Autun
>
> 727-733
> Conquest of Georgia. Muslims defeat the Khazars
>
> 732
> Muslim forces under Abd ar-Rahman al-Ghafiqi, governor-general of
> al-Andalus, invade France, defeat Aquitainians near Bordeaux
> China condemns Manichaeism as a perverse doctrine, but the emperor
> HsuanTang
> permits it to Iranian exiles, as foreigners, for their competency in
> astrology and astronomy
> 10th October, battle of Tours (Poitiers); Charles Martel defeats al-
> Ghafiqi,
> halting the Muslim advance into western Europe
>
> [N.B.: Chinese artists, borrowing freely from Iranian forms since the
> arrival of Alopen, and adapting them, produce the first true porcelain
> under
> the emperor Hsuan Tang 721-756]
>
> 737
> Muslim forces seize Avignon
>
> 738
> Khawarij revolt in Mesopotamia
> Sogdians, supported by Turkomans of Transoxania, revolt in Khorasan;
> crushed
> by Khalid ibn Abdallah al-Kasri, governor-general of Khorasan
>
> 739
> Berber Muslims revolt in North Africa and Spain against the primacy of
> Arab
> Muslims, defeat Muslim forces sent from Syria
> Battle of Akroinon, Byzantines defeat Muslims in Anatolia
>
> 740
> Shi'ites revolt in Mesopotamia; defeat and death of Zayd, grandson of
> Husayn
> ibn Ali
> Non-Arab Muslims revolt in Al-Andalus against the exclusivity of Arab
> Muslims, refuse to pay taxes
>
> 741-742
> Revolt of Khawarij and Berbers in North Africa, crushed by Hanzala,
> governor
> general of North Africa
> Muslim civil war in Spain between Muslim Syrian forces under Talaba
> ibn
> Salama and non-Arab African and native Spanish Muslims (Musta'rib -
> Mozarabe)
>
> 743-744
> Death of Hisham; his nephew, Walid II, caliph 743, killed in a revolt
> led by
> his cousin, Yazid III, who succeeds Walid II as caliph; Yazid III dies
> a few
> months later and Marwan II, grandson of Marwan I, becomes caliph
>
> 744
> Syrian Muslims revolt (Homs)
>
> 745-747
> Khawarij revolt in Mesopotamia. Revolt in Arabia, rebels seize Mecca
> and
> Medina
> Shi'ites and Khawarij revolt in Mesopotamia and Persia under Abdallah,
> grandson of Ja'far, brother of the caliph Ali
> Abbasid revolts in Khorasan, led by Abu Muslim. Nasir, Marwan's
> governor of
> Khorsan, defeated at Nishapur and Jurjan by Abu Muslim's general,
> Kahtaba,
> who routs Umayyad forces at Nehawand and Kerbela
> Emperor Constantine V Copronymos carries war into Syria
>
> [746 - epidemic of plague in the eastern Empire]
>
> 748
> Byzantines destroy the Muslim fleet off Cyprus
>
> ABBASID CALIPHATE 750-1258
>
> 750
> Abu-l-Abbas proclaimed caliph; Umayyad revolts against the Abbasids in
> Syria
> and Mesopotamia
> Battle of the Zab, defeat of Marwan, who flees to Egypt and is
> murdered at
> Busir
> Slaughter of Umayyad princes begins
> Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham (b 731), grandson of the caliph
> Hisham, escapes the Abbasid slaughter of his kindred and flees to his
> mother's Berber relatives in North Africa
>
> 751
> Battle of Talis; Muslims defeat Chinese forces under Kao Hsien-chih
> and
> seize Turkestan from China
>
> 751-790
> Buddhist monk Wu-k'ung begins a pilgrimage throughout Central Asia to
> India
> in protest of the suppression of Buddhism by Islam
>
> 754
> Death of Abu-l-Abbas; his brother, Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad
> Al-Mansur, caliph
> Revolt of Abdallah, al-Mansur's uncle and governor general of Syria,
> crushed
> by Abu Muslim
> Al-Mansur orders Abu Muslim's assassination, moves the Islamic capital
> from
> Damascus to Baghdad [Madinat al-Salaam = city of peace]
>
> 755
> Revolt of Abu Muslim's adherents in Khorasan
> Yusuf al-Fahri, governor-general of al-Andalus, attacks, and is
> defeated in
> battle by, the Umayyad prince Abd ar-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya
>
> 756
> Abd ar-Rahman captures Seville (March) and Cordoba (May); proclaims
> himself
> Abd ar-Rahman I "al-Dakhil" (the Immigrant), first Umayyad Amir-al
> Qurtubi.
> Christians and Jews tolerated in return for payment of one gold dinar
> per
> annum
>
> UMAYYAD EMIRATE OF CORDOBA 756-1031
>
> 758
> Byzantine invasions repulsed with great slaughter. Muslims reoccupy
> Cappadocia, Melitene, Mopsuestia, other cities rebuilt and refortified
> against Byzantines
>
> 759
> Muslims subjugate and annex Tabaristan. Pepin the Short drives Muslims
> from
> Narbonne
>
> 762
> Shi'ites revolt under the Hasanids in Mesopotamia and Medina. Khazar
> invasion of Georgia repulsed. Al Mansur laid the foundations of his
> Round
> City in Baghdad.
>
> [N.B. A mile and a half in diameter, walled and moated, it contained
> government offices, mosques, prisons, baths, houses for officials and
> servants, and shops. At the centre of the circle was the Palace of the
> Golden Gate, built of mud bricks and surmounted by the statue of a
> mounted
> warrior. A later saying: "A poor man in Baghdad is like a Quran in the
> house
> of an infidel."]
>
> 763, 769
> Abbasids, Pepin, and (769) Charlemagne support uprisings of Muslim
> Arabs in
> Cordoba against Abd ar-Rahman, over the emir's policies of toleration
> of
> Jews and Christians. Both uprisings crushed by the emir
>
> 765
> Shi'a Islam splits into two major sects, Imamiyya and the extremist
> Ismailiya
>
> 767
> Revolt of Ustad Sis in Khorastan and Sistan
>
> 768,776
> Umayyad columns harassed in Cordoba by forces of the Miknasa Berber
> Shakya;
> rebels occupy Merida
>
> 774
> Abd ar-Rahman crushes revolt of Syrians in Cordoba
>
> 775
> Death of Al-Mansur; his son, Muhammad ibn Mansur al-Mahdi, caliph
> 775-785
> Al-Mahdi establishes a form of Inquisition to root out Muslim heretics
>
> 775-778
> Revolt of Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet, in Khorasan. Persecution of
> Iranian
> Manichaeans
> Rise of the Zanadiqa [dualists] in Khorasan, western Iran, and
> Mesopotamia
>
> 776-778
> Zaragossa's Muslim governor conspires with Abbasids against Abd ar-
> Rahman
> the emir. An appeal to Charlemagne results in Charlemagne's invasion
> (777)
> of Spain, checked by the Muslims' heroic defence of Zaragossa.
> Rebellion in
> Saxony forces Charlemagne to withdraw his forces (778). Crossing the
> Pyrenees, the rear guard is cut up and the baggage train looted by
> Basques
> (resulting in the epic Song of Roland)
>
> 778
> Battle of Germanikeia, Byzantines defeat Muslims and expel them from
> Anatolia (779)
>
> 781
> Insurrection against Muslim rule in Zaragossa continues
>
> c782
> The Iranian Sufi Geber (Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan) separates alchemy
> from
> the study of chemistry and lays the foundations for study of the
> latter
>
> 783-785
> Muslim advances and attacks on Constantinople under the generalship of
> al-Mahdi's younger son, later Haroun al-Rashid
> The empress Irene sues the caliph al-Mahdi for peace, begins indemnity
> payments to the caliph
>
> 785
> Death of al-Mahdi; his son, Abu Abdallah Musa ibn Madi al-Hadi, son
> al-Khayzuran, a Yemenite slave kidnapped by bedouin and sold to al-
> Mahdi,
> caliph 785-786
> Abd ar-Rahman of Cordoba purchases the Christian half of the church of
> St
> Vincent, razes it, and begins construction begins on the Great Mosque
> (originally the Aljama Mosque to honor his wife)
>
> 786
> Death of al-Hadi; his younger brother, Haroun al-Rashid, also a son of
> al-Khayzuran, caliph 786-809
>
> [NB: The reigns of Haroun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun, Haroun's son by a
> Persian
> slave, famed in Persian tales which became the Thousand and One
> Nights, were
> the greatest of the Abbasid caliphate. Baghdad became a centre of
> education,
> attracting immigrants from all over the world, including Jews and
> Christians; and, for a time, the largest city in the world. While
> Haroun and
> Ma'mun fostered science, math, literature, and poetry, Charlemagne's
> lords
> "were reportedly dabbling in the art of writing their names."]
>
> 787
> Haroun annexes Kabul and Sanhar
>
> 788
> Death of Abd ar-Rahman I of Cordoba; his son Hisham I (b 756) emir of
> Cordoba 788-796
> Campaigns against the Christians of Asturias; introduction of liberal
> doctrines, contested by Arab notables
>
> 791-809
> War with the Byzantine empire
> Battle of Heraclea (Dorylaeum), defeat of the emperor, peace concluded
> (798). Khazar invasion of Armenia repulsed (799). Muslim invasion of
> Asia
> Minor; Muslim fleet ravaged Cyprus (805) and Rhodes (807); captured
> Tyana
> (806). Muslims advance to Ancyra, capture Iconium and Ephesus in
> Lydia,
> reduce Sideropolis, Andrasus, and Nicaea; storm Heraclea Pontica on
> the
> Black Sea
>
> 792
> Hisham of Cordoba proclaims jihad against the Christians of Spain and
> France
> Muslim forces from North Africa and Syria arrive in Al-Andalus
>
> 794
> Battle of Lutas; Muslims defeated by Asturians under Alfonso II,
> grandson of
> Alfonso I by a Muslim Arab woman
>
> 796
> Death of Hisham I; his son al-Hakam al-Rabdi (b 771) emir of Cordoba
> 796-822
>
> [N.B.: Himself a poet, Hakam was interested in science and literature.
> He
> continued the liberal doctrines of his father, but was troubled by
> violence
> from non-Arab Muslims, who objected to the primacy of Arab Muslims, as
> well
> as revolts by Arab notables in Cordoba (805, 817) and Toledo (814)
> against
> the government's toleration of Christians and Jews]
>
> 797
> Day of the Ditch. Hakam I of Corboba invited leaders of the dissidents
> to a
> banquet, had them seized, beheaded, and their heads thrown from the
> walls
>
> 798
> The empress Irene again buys peace from the caliph Haroun al-Rashid
>
> 799
> Basques revolt and murder Muslim governor of Pamplona
> Khazar invasion of Armenia repulsed
>
> MEDIEVAL WARM PERIOD c800-1300
>
> 800
> Charlemagne crowed Holy Roman Emperor in the west, proposes marriage
> to
> Irene to re-united the Roman empire
> Christian revolts against Muslim rule in Toledo, Merida, Lisbon
> brutally
> suppressed after ten years
>
> 801
> Charlemagne's forces take Barcelona from Muslims, establish frontier
> between
> Christian France and Muslim Spain
> Aghlabid dynasty of Tunis, founded by Ibraihim ibn Aghlab, Haroun's
> governor
> of North Africa; conquered Sicily, took Malta and Sardinia, invaded
> southern
> Italy (827-878); destroyed by the Fatimids of Egypt (909)
>
> 802
> Isaac the Jew, Charlemagne's emissary to Haroun, arrives in Aachen
> with
> Haroun's ambassadors, the caliph's assurances that Christians in the
> Holy
> Land will be well treated
>
> [N.B.: presents from the caliph: silks, vials of rare perfume, jars of
> costly salves, a vast tent with as many apartments as a palace and
> curtains
> of "byssos silk dyed in many colours", a brass water clock which
> dropped
> bronze balls on a bowl beneath to mark the hours and twelve knights
> who
> emerged from twelve windows whose motion caused the windows to shut
> behind
> them, and an elephant named Abu l'Abbas after the founder of the
> Abbasid
> dynasty. Abu l'Abbas was a great hit and accompanied the emperor on
> all his
> travels]
>
> 803
> Bani Qasi revolt in Tudela against Hakam I of Cordoba Nicephoros I,
> who
> deposed Irene (802), refuses to pay tribute
>
> [N.B.: By emissaries to to Haroun al-Rashid, his most dangerous enemy
> after
> Charlemagne: "The queen considered you a rook and herself a pawn. That
> pusillanimous female submitted to pay a tribute the double of which
> she
> should have exacted from you barbarians. Restore, therefore, the
> fruits of
> your injustice." Haroun smiled, drew his famous scimitar, and 'cut
> asunder
> the feeble arms of the Greeks.' His response: "In the name of the most
> merciful God, Haroun al-Rashid, Commander of the Faithful, to
> Nicephoros the
> Roman dog: I have read your letter, O son of an unbelieving mother.
> You
> shall not hear -- you shall behold my reply." Whereupon Haroun's
> armies
> scourged Imperial lands, and Nicephoros was forced to buy uneasy peace
> at a
> greater price than the pusillanimous female Irene had paid]
>
> 805
> Revolt of the Suburb in Cordoba and Merida, spearheaded by Muslim
> religious
> leaders conspiring to assassinate the emir. Royal troops surrounded
> the
> district; the leaders were captured and executed, the inhabitants
> massacred,
> and the district razed; then rebuilding commenced, with a new
> population
>
> 806
> Franks take Pamplona. Christians revolt in Toledo against Muslim rule;
> Muslims behead 700 men,
> women, and children
>
> 808
> Revolt in Khorasan; invasion of Byzantines under Nicephora
>
> 809
> Death of Haroun; his son (by his cousin Zubayda bint Ja'far ibn
> Mansur),
> Muhammad ibn Haroun, Abbasid caliph 809-813. Al-Amin's brother, Abu
> Jafar
> al-Ma'mun ibn Harun, proclaimed caliph in Iran; revolt in Iran
>
> 810
> Iranian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarazmi begins study of
> Hindu
> equations, invents algebra
>
> 811
> Charlemagne conquers Catalonia
> Christians revolt in Toledo against Muslim rule
>
> 813
> Siege of Baghdad by Tahir ibn Husayn, al-Ma'mun's general. Al-Amin
> surrenders to his brother, al-Ma'mun, who has him beheaded
> Abu Jafar al-Ma'mun ibn Harun, Haroun al-Rashid's by an Iranian slave,
> caliph 83-833
>
> [NB: Liberal religious attitudes flourish under al-Ma'mun.
> Mu'tazilitism
> (which maintained the free will of man, and that justice and reason
> control
> God's actions towards men) made the established faith; orthodox
> Ash'arites
> reject the liberal Mu'tazilite doctrines. Ma'mun establishes the House
> of
> Wisdom in Baghdad under the direction of Hunayn ibn Ishaq, a Christian
> scholar. Greek, Syriac, Persian, and Sanskrit philosophical,
> scientific, and
> literary works are translated into Arabic. Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809-877)
> tr
> works of Hippocrates, Galen, and some of Ptolemy; al-Farghani (d 850)
> set up
> an astronomical observatory, his work was continued by al-Battani
> (858-929)
> and Thabit ibn Qarra (826-901), who tr Greek mathematical and physics
> texts
> of Apollonius, Ptolemy, and Euclid; the Iranian mathematician al-
> Khwarizimi
> introduced Hindu numerals and calculation methods; al-Rhazi (Razes,
> 865-925), chief physician of the Baghdad hospital, and encyclopaedist,
> wrote
> texts on gynecology, obstetrics, ophthalmic surgery, and was the first
> to
> distinguish between smallpox and measles; the Iranian ibn Sina
> (Avicenna,
> 980-1037) canon of medicine remained compulsory reading for medical
> students
> in European universities until the 17th century]
>
> 817
> Shi'a Muslims revolt in Mesopotamia and Arabia. Ali al-Ridha,
> descendant of
> the caliph Ali, proclaimed al-Ma'mun's heir
>
> 818
> Christians revolt in Cordoba. Hakam looses his troops for three days
> of
> pillage and massacre, crucifies some 300 Christian notables, and
> expels
> 20,000 Christians
>
> 819
> Muslim revolt against Christian rule in Pamplona
>
> 820
> Revolt of the Tahirids of Khorasan begins
>
> 822
> Death of Hakam I of Cordoba; his son, Abd ar-Rahman II (b 792) al-
> Mutawasit
> emir of Cordoba 822-852.
> A patron of the arts and literature, Rahman II suppressed all
> rebellion
> during his reign, warred against the Asturians and the Franks, whom he
> drove
> back from Catalan
> First appearance of Viking raiders along the coasts
>
> 824
> Insurrection in Pamplona crushed. Basques annihilate a Frankish army
> at
> Roncesvalles
>
> 825
> Arabs expelled from Cordoba invade and seize Crete, plunder the Greek
> islands
> Muslims invade Christian territory from Coimbra and Viseu
>
> 827
> Abd ar-Rahman II financed Christian revolt against Christian rule in
> Barcelona
>
> 828
> Major revolts of Berber Muslims and Spanish muwali ("neo-Muslims") in
> Merida, brutally crushed by Abd ar-Rahman II
>
> 829-833
> Byzantine invasions in support of Babek the Magian, leader of the
> Kurramites
> of Azerbaijan
>
> 833
> Death of al-Ma'mun; his brother, Abu Ishaq al-Mu'tasim ibn Haroun,
> caliph
> 833-842
> Formation under al-Mu'tasim of standing army composed of slave-
> soldiers
> (ghilman) seized as children from conquered regions
>
> 834
> Revolt of the Jat (Gypsies) on the lower Tigris against Muslim rule
> supressed
>
> 837-838
> Abd ar-Rahman II suppresses revolt of Christians and Jews in Toldeo
> and
> sacks Marseilles
> Babek the Magian defeated in Azerbaijan and put to death
>
> 837-842
> War with the Byzantine empire. Battle of Anzen on the Halys,
> Byzantines
> defeated. Muslims destroy Ankara. Amorium taken (838) and preparations
> made
> for siege of Constantinople. Storm destroys Muslim fleet
>
> 838
> Bishop Bodo (823-786), palace deacon and confessor to Holy Roman
> Emperor
> Louis the Pious, converts to Judaism while on a pilgrimage to Rome,
> takes
> the Jewish name Eleazar, marries a Jewish lady, travels to Umayyad
> Spain
> (839)
>
> 840
> In Zaragoza, ex-bishop Bodo, now Eleazar, encourages Muslims and Jews
> to
> resist Christians; begins correspondence with Pablo Alvaro, a
> Christian
> knight of Cordoba. Bodo-Eleazar encourages Alvaro to return to
> Judaism,
> while Alvaro, a Jewish convert, encourages Bodo-Eleazar to return to
> Christianity
>
> 842
> Death of al-Mu'tasim; his son, al-Wathiq ibn Mu'tasim, caliph 842-847
> Byzantines and Muslims exchange prisoners
> Under al-Wathiq, the Abbasid caliphate begins its decline
>
> 844
> Vikings raid Galicia and Lisbon, plunder Seville, and are annihilated
> by a
> combined Muslim-Jewish-Christian army from Cordoba
> [Source of the legendary battle of Clavijo, where St James aids
> Christians
> against Muslims]
>
> 846
> Muslims sack Rome, vandalize the Vatican
>
> 847
> Death of al-Wathiq; his brother, al-Mutawakkil 'Ala Allah Ja'far ibn
> al-Mu'tasim, caliph 847-861. Byzantines retake Damietta and ravage
> Cilicia.
>
> [N.B.: Under al-Mutawakkil, liberal Mu'tazilite doctrines were abjured
> and
> replaced by orthodox Muslim dogma. Persecution of Mu'tazilite
> professors and
> scholars, Jews, Christians, and Shi'ites. Shi'ite mausoleum of Husayn
> the
> Martyr destroyed]
>
> 850
> Martyrs of Cordoba -- 48 Christians (Baeto-Romans, Visigoths,
> Septimanians,
> Arabs, and Greeks -- executed for insults to Muhammad or blasphemy
> against
> Islam
> 27 September - Adolphus and John, sons of a Christian woman by a
> Muslim
> father, are beheaded for insults against Muhammad
> Arabs invent coffee
>
> 851
> 18th April, Easter Sunday -- Perfectus refuses to retract the insults
> he
> made against Muhammad and is beheaded
> 5th June -- Sanctius, a Septimanian prisoner of war, beheaded for
> refusing
> to convert to Islam
> 7th June - Peter, Walabonsus, Sabinian, Wistremundus, and Habentius,
> Spanish
> churchmen, are beheaded for publicly denouncing Muhammad; Jeremiah, an
> old
> man, is beaten to death
> 16th July -- Sisenandus of Estremadura, deacon of church of St
> Acisclus in
> Cordoba, beheaded
> 20th July -- Paul, deacon of St Zoilus, behaded
> 25th July -- Theodemir, a monk, beheaded
> 22 October-- Alodia and Nunilo, daughters of a Christian mother and a
> Muslim
> father; their Muslim stepfather persecuted them, had them imprisoned,
> and
> their were beheaded
> 24th November-- Flora and Maria, daughters of Christian-Muslim
> marriages,
> denounced Islam in court; Flora, daughter of a Muslim father, was
> executed
> for apostasy, and Maria, sister of the Walabonsus executed in June,
> executed
> for blasphemy
>
> 852
> 13th January - Gusemindus, a priest, and Servusdei, a monk, executed
> in
> Cordoba
> 3 June-- Isaac, a Muslim notary, resigns and becomes a monk; denounces
> Islam
> and Muhammad, and is executed
> 27th July - Giorgias, a Palestinian monk, Aurelius and Felix and their
> wives
> Natalia and Liliosa, denounced Islam and were executed
> 20th August-- Leovigild, a priest, and Christopher, a monk, executed
> in
> Cordoba
> 15th September-- Emilas and Jeremiah imprisoned then beheaded for
> insults to
> Muhammad
>
> Death of Abd ar-Rahman II; his son, Muhammad I, emir of Cordoba
> 852-886;
> suppressed Christian (Mozarab) rebellion in Cordoba (852); begins
> extensive
> military operations against the Christian kingdoms of Leon, Galicia,
> and
> Navarre
> Bishop Reccared of Corboda preaches tolerance of Islam and submission
> to
> Muslim authorities
>
> 16th September-- Rogellus and Servus-Dei executed for entering a
> mosque and
> denouncing Islam
>
> 853
> 13th June -- Fandilas abbot of Penalmaria near Cordoba beheaded for
> insults
> to Muhammad
> 14th June -- Anastasius deacon of Acliscus, Felix a Berber convert,
> and
> Digna, a nun, executed
> 15th June -- Benilidis, inpsired by Anastasius, denounces Islam, is
> executed
> and her ashes thrown into the Guadalaquivir
> 17th September -- Columba, a nun, denounces the authorities for
> closing her
> convent in 852, insults Muhammad, and is beheaded
> 19th September -- Pomposa, a nun from Penamelaria, insults Muhammad to
> the
> court and is beheaded
>
> 854
> 11th July -- Abundius, parish priest of Ananelos, near Cordoba, is
> beheaded
> and his body thrown to dogs
> Rebellion of Muslims and Mozarabs in Toledo, aided by Ordono I of
> Asturias,
> crushed by Muhammad I
>
> 855
> 30th April -- Amator, a priest, Peter, a monk, and Ludovicus executed
> for
> blaspheming Islam
> Witisind, a convert to Islam who recanted, executed for apostasy
> 3rd September -- Sandila
>
> 856
> 17th April -- Elias, a priest, and his two young students, Paul and
> Isidore,
> executed
> 28th June -- Argymirus, the emir's censor, deprived of his office
> because of
> his religion, becomes a monk; accused of publicly insulting Muhammad
> and
> proclaiming the divinity of Jesus, offered mercy if he recanted,
> refuses and
> is executed
> 19th July -- Aura, a Muslim, denounced by Muslims relatives for
> becoming a
> Christian and a nun, forced to renounce Christianity, continues to
> practice
> it in secret; brought by her family before the court, refuses to
> recant
> again and is executed
>
> 857
> 13th March -- Solomon and Roderick, a priest, accused of apostasy by
> his
> Muslim brother and executed
>
> 859
> Vikings raid the Iberian coast, capture and ransom the king of
> Pamplona
> 11 March -- Eulogius, a priest who encouraged the Martyrs of Cordoba,
> executed for proselytizing Christianity and protecting Leocritia, a
> Muslim
> girl who converted from Islam
> 18th March -- Leocritia, a girl converted from Islam by a Christian
> relative, executed for apostasy
>
> 861
> Al-Mutawakkil assassinated by his Turkoman guards; his son, al-
> Muntasir,
> caliph 961-862
>
> 862-869
> Al-Muntasir deposed by his Turkoman guards; his cousin, al-Musta'in,
> grandson of al-Mu'tasim, caliph 866. Al-Mu'tasim forced to abdicate,
> then
> murdered by al-Mu'tazz, caliph 866-869
>
> 863
> Abdallah, second son of the Cordoban emir, is married to Oneca of
> Navarre,
> daughter of Fortun Garces by his Muslim queen Aurea bint Lope
>
> 864
> 19th October -- Laura, a Muslim widow who converted to Christianity
> and
> became a nun, executed for apostasy by being thrown into a vat of
> molten
> lead
>
> 868
> Revolt against Muslims in Merida. Southern Syria (Palestine) annexed
> to
> Egypt
>
> 869
> Al-Mu'tazz murdered by his troops; al-Muhtadi, son of al-Wathiq,
> caliph
> 869-870
>
> 869-884
> Revolts of the Zenj [black slaves] in Chaldaea, which devastated the
> region,
> begin
>
> 870
> Al-Muhtadi forced to abdicate by his Turkoman guards; al-Mu'tamid,
> oldest
> surviving son of al-Mutawakkil, caliph 870-892
>
> 872
> Samanids succeed the Tahirids in Transoxania; stamp out the Saffrids,
> and
> rule the territory from Baghdad to India, from the Great Desert to the
> Persian Gulf, until 999. Under the Samanids, Bokhara became the
> intellectual
> centre of Islam. Their power was broken in 999 by the Ilak khans of
> Turkestan, who ruled Transoxania, Kashar, and eastern Tatary 999-1165
>
> 878
> Aghlabids from North Africa invade Sicily and take Palermo (831);
> Byzantines
> retain only Taormina and Syracuse
>
> 879
> "Neo-Muslims" of Cordoba, headed by Umar ibn Hafsun, revolt against
> the Arab
> elite and the primacy of Arab Muslims
>
> 879
> Yaqub ibn Layth of the Saffrids drives the Tahirids from Khorasan,
> establishes himself in Sistan, eventually masters all Iran
>
> 883
> Byzantine forces invade Syria; driven back by the Tulunid governor of
> Tarsus
>
> 886
> Death of Muhammad I of Cordoba; his son, al Mundhir (b 842), emir
> 886-888;
> al Mundhir succeeded by brother, Abdallah I the Pious (b 848), emir
> 888-912,
> under whom repeated rebellions erupted.
>
> [N.B. Scholar, poet, and linguist, Abdallah was the most pious of the
> Umayyad emirs, hence the sobriquet. His wife was Oneca, daughter of
> the
> Christian king of Navarre by his Muslim wife Aurea bint Lope ibn Musa
> of the
> Banu Qasi. Their favorite grandson was Abd ar-Rahman, greatest of the
> Umayyad caliphs, son of their son Muhammad (b 876) by a Frankish or
> Basque
> jarya named Maria. Under Abdullah's reign, rebellions erupted
> repeatedly. In
> legend, Abdallah had the plains around Cordoba thickly planted with
> almond
> trees, so that their flowering might appease his wife's homesickness
> by
> reminding her of the mountain snows of her homeland]
>
> ["Among the Abbasids only three Khulafa were sons of a hurra, and
> among the
> Umayyads of Andalusia not a single son of a free woman succeeded in
> becoming
> khalifa." Ibn Hazm]
>
> 891-906
> Carmathian revolt against Muslim rule; rebels overrun and ravage
> Syria,
> Iraq, and Arabia; seize Mecca and carry off the sacred Black Stone
>
> 892
> Death of al-Mu'tamid; al-Mutadid, caliph 892-902. Wars with Islamic
> Egypt
> begin
>
> 902
> Death of al-Mu'tadid; al-Muqtafi, caliph 902-908. Egypt brought under
> the
> caliph's direct control. Byzantines repulsed. Carmathian revolt
> crushed
> (906)
>
> 908
> Death of al-Muqtafi; his brother, al-Muqtadir, caliph 908-932
> Conquest of North Africa by the Fatimid Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi Billah,
> who
> drove the last Aghlabite, Ziyada-tullah, out of Egypt
>
> 909
> Ubayd-Allah, son of the Ismailian (Shi'ite) Hidden Imam, founder of
> the
> Fatimid dynasty, who claimed descent from the caliph Ali and Fatima,
> proclaimed caliph, imam, and mahdi in Qairowan.
>
> FATIMID CALIPHATE OF EGYPT 909-1256
>
> 912
> Death of Abdallah the Pious of Cordoba; his favorite grandson, Abd ar-
> Rahman
> III (b 7 Jan 891), first caliph of Islamic Spain, greatest and most
> gifted
> of the Spanish Umayyads; Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, the emir's
> physician
> and chief minister
>
> [N.B.: Under Rahman III and his son, Cordoba reached its zenith as the
> greatest capital of Islam, as well as of the Christian West; for a
> time, it
> was the most populous city in the world, as well as the most literate,
> and
> the first urban European economu since the Roman Empire. The
> contributions
> of Abd ar-Rahman and his son to Europe can hardly be over-estimated --
> this
> in the face of continuing wars against Christians as well as against
> fellow
> Muslims
>
> Under Hakam II, the caliphate of Cordoba reached an apogee as a world
> centre
> of science, culture, and the arts. A semi-invalid, one of his major
> accomplishments was the amassing and annotating of 4,000 books of his
> personal library; the great library of Cordoba he founded contained
> almost
> half a million volumes. Widespread toleration of Christians and Jews,
> industrial progress, agricultural advances, development of huge paper
> mills.
> The aristocracy was almost extinguished, and replaced by a large, well-
> to-do
> middle class. Pacification of country, centralization of government,
> naval
> activity. Cordoba the capital, whose population was appx 500,000, was
> the
> greatest intellectual centre in the Islamic world, certainly of
> Europe, and,
> at the time, the largest city in the world; its schools of medicine,
> mathematics, science, and philosophy were pre-eminent, as well as
> poetry and
> music. Height of Islamic learning was achieved by Isn Rushd
> (Averroes),
> phiopsopher, physician, commentator on Plato and Aristotle, and master
> of
> Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars who traveled from Europe and
> the
> Middle East to study]
>
> Sons of Abd ar Rahman: Hakam II (914 - 976), Abd al-Jabbar (b 916),
> Suleiman (b 918), Abd al-Malik (b 920), Ubayd Allah (b 922)
>
> 916
> Battle of Valdejunquera, Abd ar-Rahman defeats Ordono II of Leon
>
> 917
> Battle of San Estevan de Gormaz, Ordono II of Leon defeats Abd ar-
> Rahman
>
> 918
> Battle of Talavera, Abd ar-Rahman defeats Ordono II of Leon
>
> 920
> Aleppo Codex, oldest existing manuscript of the Jewish bible
>
> 923
> Buwayhids -- Imad al-Dawla, Rukn al-Dawla, Mu'izz al-Dawla -- conquer
> Iran
> and Iraq, divide the territory between them. Mu'izz al-Dawla forces
> the
> Baghdadi caliph to grant him the title Amir al-Umara (945) Owing
> largely to
> internal divisions, the Buwayhid territories are eventually seized by
> the
> Ghaznavids, by the Kurdish Kakwayhids, and, ultimately, by the Seljuks
> (1007-1057)
>
> 924
> Abd ar-Rahman III defeats the Basque forces of his cousin Sancho
> Garces,
> king of Navarre; sacks Pamplona
>
> 927
> Battle of Melilla; Abd ar-Rahman III seizes the North African
> stronghold as
> an advance base for operations against the Fatimids of Egypt
>
> 928-1024
> Zayarids established themselves as independent rulers in Tabaristan,
> Jurjan,
> Isfahan, and Hamadan; patrons and supporters of the Iranian Buwayhids
>
> 929
> Abd ar-Rahman proclaims himself Khalifa, Amir al-Mu'minim, Amir al-
> Quiturbi,
> asserting his supremacy over rival Fatimid caliphs in Cairo, and
> especially
> over Baghdadi Abbasid caliphs, slaughters of his great-grandfather's
> kindred
>
> 929
> Hamdanids, descendants of the Arab clan of Taghlib, seize power in in
> Mosul
> and Aleppo. Sayf al-Dawla takes Aleppo from the Ikhshidids of Egypt
> (944);
> wara against the Byzantine empire. The court of Sayf becomes a
> brilliant
> Islamic centre, residence of the great poet Mutannabi. Hamdanid
> dominions
> are eventually seized by the Fatimids and Buwayhids (1003)
>
> 931
> Abd ar Rahman seizes the North African stronghold of Ceuta; begins
> intrigues
> with Fernan Gonzalez, Count of Burgos, via which Burgos expands at the
> expense of neighboring Christian kingdoms. Subsequently, Burgos
> achieves
> autonomy as the kingdom of Castile
>
> 933
> Battle of Osma, Fernan Gonzalez defeats the caliph's forces
>
> 934
> Death of Ubayd-Allah; his son, Abu Al-Qasim Muhammad al-Qaim, Fatimid
> caliph
> 934-945
> Al-Qaim continued Fatimid expansionism, but his forces were repeatedly
> defeated, and he was ultimately besieged in his capital by Khariji
> forces
> under Abu Yazid Makhlad
>
> 939
> Battle of Alhandega, the caliph's forces defeated. Battle of Shant
> Markas,
> Ramiro II of Leon defeats the caliph. Christians recapture Madrid
>
> 945
> Death of Al-Qaim; his son, Ismail al-Mansur, Fatimid caliph and mahdi
> 945-952, defeated Abu Yazid Makhlad (947), conquered North Africa,
> Sicily,
> and Calabria for the Fatimids, but lost Morocco to Abd ar Rahman,
> caliph of
> Cordoba
>
> 950
> Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor, exchanges ambassadors with Abd
> ar-Rahman, caliph of Cordoba
>
> 952
> Death of al-Mansur; his son, Ma'ad al-Mu'izz li'ni Il'h, Abbasid
> caliph
> 952-975
>
> 955
> Treaty between Abd ar-Rahman of Cordoba and Ordono III of Leon. The
> caliph
> recognizes the independence of Leon and Navarre, the latter
> acknowledges the
> caliph's suzerainty and begins indemnity payments
>
> 957
> Treaty of 955 between Abd ar-Rahman and Ordono of Leon broken by the
> king's
> brother and successor, Sancho, who, after his defeat by Muslim forces,
> is
> deposed and expelled from Leon
>
> 959
> Abd ar-Rahman III executes one of his sons for conspiracy against him;
> restores Sancho of Leon to check the expansion of Count Fernan
> Gonzalez of
> Burgos (the kingdom of Castile since 946)
> Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, the caliph's physician and foreign
> affairs
> minister, corresponds with Joseph, ruler of the Jewish kingdom of the
> Khazars
>
> 961
> Death of Abd ar-Rahman III; his son, al Hakam II (b 914) al Mustansir
> Cordoba caliph 961-976; al-Hakam continues his father's intrigues
> against
> the Christian kingdoms, eventually forcing their rulers to sue for
> peace. At
> the same time, his forces wage successful war against the Fatimids in
> Morocco and North Africa
>
> 966
> Riots in Jerusalem. Muslims torch the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
> Ma'ad al-Mu'izz drives Byzantine forces out of Sicily
> Vikings raid Galicia, routed by Bishop Rudesind of Santiago de
> Compostela,
> who kills the Viking chief Gundred
>
> 968
> Fatimids under Al-Mu'izz subdue Egypt, attack southern Syria
> (Palestine) and
> the Hijaz. Fatimid seat of government transferred to al-Mansureya
> (972),
> which al-Mu'izz renames Al-Qahira (The Subduer), as it was founded in
> the
> month of Mars (Qahir). Foundation in al-Qahira (Cairo) of Al-Azhar
> mosque
>
> 970
> Hakam of Cordoba receives embassies from the king of Navarre, the
> regent of
> Leon, and the counts of Burgos (later Castille), Galicia, and
> Barcelona, who
> render formal homage and pay tribute
> Death of Hasdai ben Isaac ibn Shaprut, court physician and chief
> minister
> under Abd ar-Rahman III, patron of Jewish scholars under Moses ben
> Enoch,
> rabbi of Cordoba, the centre of Talmudic study
>
> 971
> Vikings raid Galicia
>
> 973
> Hakam's forces defeat Fatimid forces in Morocco, and replace their
> dynasts
> with Umayya rule
>
> 974
> Ibn Tumlus rebels in Seville, crushed by the caliph's forces from
> Cordoba
>
> 975
> Al-Mu'izz's successor, Abu al-Mansur Nizar al-Aziz, son of al-Mansur,
> defeats Tayyids in southern Syria (Palestine) (982), invades northern
> Syria
> and attacks the Hamdanids of Aleppo, Byzantine vassals, thereby
> provoking
> war with the Byzantine empire.
>
> [N.B.: Al-Aziz formed the first units of Mamelukes -- slave-soldiers,
> kidnapped as children from Christian families in southern Russia and
> the
> Black Sea area, and forcibly converted to Islam. Egyptian state
> finances
> regularized by Yaqub ibn Yusuf ibn Killis (930-991), a Baghdadi Jew,
> al-Aziz's Grand Vizer after 979, founder (988) of Al-Azhar University
> in
> Cairo]
>
> 976
> Death of Hakam II of Cordoba; his son (by his Basque wife Aura) Hisham
> II
> al-Mu'ayyad (b 964) caliph 976-1008
>
> [N.B.: As a boy of 12, Hisham was governed by regents, from whom the
> hayib
> (chamberlain) Muhammad ibn Abi 'Amir, seized power. Under Hakam II,
> the
> former law student became manager of Hisham's estates. From this
> humble
> beginning ibn Abi 'Amir worked his way up the political ladder and was
> instrumental in securing Hakam's succession]
>
> 977
> Subaktagin, Turkish slave of Alptagin, himself a slave and Samanid
> commander
> in Khorasan, defeated the Rajputs, received Khorasan from the
> Samanids, and
> founded the Ghaznivid (Yamini) dynasty (fl. 977-1186). He extended his
> rule
> from the Oxus to the Indus and broke the power of a Hindu confederacy
> of
> Jaipal king of Bhatinda, the Gurjara-Prathihara king of Kanagu, and
> the
> Chandella king of Dhanga (997)
>
> 978
> Muhammad ibn Abi 'Amir, manager of Hakam's estates, becomes
> chamberlain to
> the caliph Hisham II
>
> 981
> Battle of Atienza, ibn Abi 'Amir of Cordoba, with a force of Berbers,
> Christians, and Zaragozans, and his chief rival and father-in-law,
> Ghalib
> al-Nasiri, with a force of Andalusian Muslims and Christians from
> Castile
> under Garcia Fernandez I
> [Ibn Abi'Amir assumes the title Al-Mansur bi'Allah al-Hayib (Allah's
> Victorious Chamberlain -Almanzor).
> The brilliant reforming minister carried on successful campaigns
> against the
> Christian kingdoms and the Fatimids in North Africa, and tried to halt
> the
> ethno-religious separatism which would bring to an end the Golden Age
> of
> Islamic Spain]
> Battle of Rueda, Almanzor crushes Ramirez II of Leon and forces the
> king to
> pay tribute to the caliph
>
> 985
> Almanzor sacks Barcelona; burns the monastery of San Cugat de Valles
> (986);
> wastes Coimbra (987); 997
> sacks Santiago di Campostela in Galicia, steals the bells of the
> sanctuary
> to humiliate Christians, and destroys the city (987); sacks Leon,
> Zamaro
> and Sahagun (988) and Osma (989)
> Abu Abdallah al-Muqaddasi writes the Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma'rifat al-
> Aqalim
> (Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Climes)
>
> 990
> Abu-l Ali ibn Marwan the Kurd establishes the Marwanid dynasty of
> Diyar-Bakr, which rules over Aleppo, Amid, and Mayarfariquen until
> 1096; his
> domains eventually fell to the Seljuks
>
> 994
> Muslims destroy the monastery of Monte Cassino
>
> 995
> House of Science established in Cairo under the Fatimids. Al Hazen
> (965-1038) worked on optics. Al Mushudi (d 957) compiled an
> encyclopaedia of
> natural history. Ibn al Nafis (1210-1288) described the lesser
> circulation
> of the blood
>
> 996
> Hamza ibn Ali establishes the basis of Druze Islam
> Death of al-Aziz; his son, Tariqu al-Hakim bi-Amr al-Lah, Fatimid
> caliph
> 996-1021
>
> [N.B.: Al-Hakim struggled with the Baghdadi Abbasids and the
> Carmathians of
> Bahrain, both of whom opposed Ismailiyya Shia Islam, which Hakim tried
> to
> make the official religion of Egypt. Persecution of Jews, Christians,
> and
> non-Shia Muslims in Egypt and Syria. Laws passed by Al-Hakim included
> proscription of chess, and preparing or consuming the Egyptian
> vegetable
> dish Molokheya (Jew's Mallow); and punished merchants who cheated by
> having
> them publicly sodomized by his slaves. For proclaiming himself Allah,
> Al
> Hakim was known as the Mad Caliph]
>
> 996
> 'Uquaylids of Mosul, of the Banu K'ab, succeeded the Hamdanids in
> Mosul,
> expanded their dominions under Muslim ibn Quraysh, drove the Mirdasids
> from
> Aleppo, and ruled from Baghdad to Aleppo. Their territories were
> ultimately
> conquered and absorbed by the Seljuks (1096)
>
> 998
> Slavic general Wadih captures Fez for the caliph of Cordoba
> Mahmud I of Ghazni "the Idol-Breaker", Subaktagin's successor,
> mastered
> Khorasan and made 17 plundering raids of great destruction into the
> Punjab
> (defeating king Jaipal 1001) to Kangra (1009), Mathura, Kanaug
> (1018-1019),
> Gwalior (1022), and Somnath (1024-1026). Pillage and destruction of
> immensely rich Hindu temples (including Saiva temple of Somanatha) and
> wholesale slaughter of Hindus. His court was reknowned for its
> scholars and
> poets. The Ghaznavids were ultimately overthrown by the Seljuks (1930)
>
> 1002
> Battle of Calatanazor, defeat of Almanzor, who dies from his wounds in
> the
> village of Salem. Almanzor was succeeded by his son, Abd al-Malik
> al-Mazaffar (1002-1008), who carried out several successful campaigns
> against the Christian kingdoms. Al-Malik was succeeded by his half-
> brother,
> Abd ar-Rahman (Shanjoul or Sanchuelo -- Little Sancho -- grandson of
> Sancho
> Garces, king of Navarre). When Little Sancho forced the
> caliph to proclaim him his heir, the Umayyad prince Muhammad al Mahdi,
> cousin of the caliph, proclaimed himself caliph in 1008
>
> 1003
> Muslims sack Leon
>
> 1004
> Muslims sack Pisa
>
> 1008
> Little Sancho forces the caliph to proclaim him his heir. The Umayyad
> prince, Muhammad al-Mahdi, great-grandson of Abd ar-Rahman, proclaims
> himself caliph, forces his cousin Hisham II to abdicate, executes
> Little
> Sancho, and expels Berbers from Cordoba
>
> 1009
> 18th October -- Hakim the Mad orders the destruction of the Church of
> the
> Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
>
> 1009-1027
> Dynastic struggles amongst the Umeya of Cordoba and period of anarchy.
> Berbers proclaim Suleiman al-Mustain, another great-grandson of Abd
> ar-Rahman, caliph (1008-1010). Hisham II restored as caliph in 1010.
> Suleiman seeks aid from Sancho Garces I of Castile. Muhammad II
> defeated
> Sack of Cordoba by Berbers and Castilians. Muhammad II obtains aid
> from the
> count of Barcelona; a Christian Catalan army defeats Suleiman at
> Aqabat
> al-Baqar Guardio. Muhammad assassinatd (1010), HIsham II restored as
> caliph
> by Berber troops under the Slavic general Wadih
>
> 1010
> Hakim the Mad abrogates Christian protectorate over Holy Places agreed
> upon
> between Haroun al-Rashid and Charlemagne
>
> 1012
> The Sedaqa, fourth ruler of the Hilla Mazaydids of the Banu Asid, one
> of the
> great Arab heroes. His domains were absorbed by the Zangids (1050)
> Berbers seize Cordoba, massacre half the population, and restore
> Suleiman II
> as khalifa al-Qurturbi (to 1017).
>
> 1013
> Berbers assassinated the caliph Hisham II and expel Jews from the
> caliphate.
> Shmuel haLevi flees to Malaga, becomes wazir to the emir of Granada
>
> 1014
> Hakim the Mad decrees the destruction of all churches and synagogues
> in
> Egypt and Syria (Palestine)
> Zahwi ibn Ziri of the Sanhaja Berbers, emir of Granada from 1016
> onward
>
> 1016
> Normans invade Galicia
> Emir Ali ibn Hammud of Ceuta proclaims himself caliph of Cordoba.
> Berbers
> execute Suleiman
>
> 1018
> Ali ibn Hammud assassinated in Cordoba. Al-Qasim caliph 1018-1021.
> Zirids of
> Granada defeat Abd ar Rahman IV, who proclaims himself caliph (1021)
> of
> Cordoba
>
> 1021
> Hakim the Mad disappears while on a journey. His son, Ali az-Zahir,
> Fatimid
> caliph 1021-1036; first under the regency of his aunt, the Sitt al-
> Mulk,
> after the Sitt's death, a group of her favorites ruled
>
> 1021
> Yahya caliph of Cordoba to 1022
>
> 1022
> Al Qasim restored as caliph of Cordoba 1022-1023. Abd ar-Rahman V
> caliph
> 1023-1024. Muhammad III caliph 1024-1025. Yahya restored as caliph
> 1025-1029. HIsham III restored as caliph 1027-1031
>
> 1023
> Mirdasids of Aleppo, of the Banu Kilab, war with the Fatimids and
> Buwayhids
> until overthrown and conquered by the 'Uquaylids (1079)
>
> 1024-1029
> Revolt in Syria against the Fatimids. Persecution of Druze in Egypt
>
> *1027 Shmuel haNasi, Jewish vizier of Granada
>
> 1030
> Muslims defeat the emperor Romanus III in Syria
>
> 1031
> Death of Hisham III, last caliph of Cordoba; end of the caliphate
> [N.B.: As a result of the dynastic wars of the Umeya and their
> successors,
> the petty Muluk al Tawa'if rise on the ruins of the caliphate. Upon
> the
> death of Hisham III, the Yahwarids seized power in Cordoba (1031), the
> Abbadids in Sevilla (1031), the Hudids in Zaragossa, the Dhul-Nunids
> in
> Toledo (1035), the Hammudids of Malaga, which they had ruled since
> 1016, in
> Algeciras (1039), the Zayrids of Grenada*. Most of the petty kingdoms
> are
> absorbed by the Abbadids of Sevilla, who summonto their aid the
> fanatic
> North African sect of the Almoravids]
>
> 1032
> Byzantine fleet under Harold Haadraade of Norway defeats Muslims off
> the
> coast of Anatolia, ravages the North African coast
>
> 1036-1094
> Ma'ad Abu Tamim al-Mustansir-billah, son of az-Zahir, Fatimid caliph.
> Civil
> war between Turkish and Sudanese soldiers, lower Egypt ravaged by
> Berbers
>
> 1037
> Seljuks, a sept of the Ghazz Turks, invade Khorasan, defeat the
> Ghaznavid
> armies, then conquer Balkh, Jurjan, Tabaristan, and Khwarezem
>
> 1046
> Nair i-Khusra, a Persian visiting Egypt, finds it the only haven of
> peace
> and prosperity in eastern Islam. In Cairo, the sultan owned 20,000
> brick
> houses and 20,000 shops, and his palace had 12,000 slaves. Some
> streets were
> light by lamps. Soldiers rode horses, citizens had donkeys and asses,
> and
> crime was punished so severely that merchants could secure their shops
> at
> night with only a cord across the entrance
>
> 1047
> Mecca and Medina disclaim allegiance to the Fatimid caliphs
>
> 1048
> Battle of Stragna, the empress's armies defeat the Seljuks
>
> 1050
> Castille and Aragon ally against Spanish Mulsim emirates
>
> 1053
> Al Mutadid, emir of Seville, expels Berber Muslims from Arcos, Moron,
> Ronda,
> Algeciras (1055) and Carmona (1957)
>
> 1054
> Almoravid dynasty, founded by Abdallah ibn Tashfin, conquer Morocco
> and
> parts of Algeria
>
> 1055
> Seljuks under Tughril Bey seize Baghdad. Tughril Bey proclaimed sultan
> and
> King of the East and the West. Suljuks invaded Cappadocia and Phrygia.
> Al-Mutadid emir of Sevilla drives Berbers from Algeciras
>
> 1060
> Almoravids crush "heretical" Berghouta Berbers and conquer their taifa
> in
> Ceuta
>
> 1062
> Ferdinand of Leon forces annual tribute from al-Muktadir ibn Hud, emir
> of
> Zaragoza; invades Toledo and Badajoz, exacts tribute from emir al-
> Ma'mun,
> who becomes a tributary of Castile, and al-Mutadid of Seville
>
> 1063
> Death of the Seljuk Tughril, self-proclaimed Sultan and King of the
> East and
> the West; succeeded by his nephew, Alp Arslan, who conquers Georgia
> and
> Armenia
>
> 1065
> Battle of Graus, emir Muktadir of Zaragoza, with aid from a Castilian
> force,
> defeat Ramiro I of Aragon. The pope sends and international force
> (Italians,
> Normans, French, Spaniards); Muslims defeated
> Muslims take Barbastro, massacre French and Spanish garrison
>
> 1066
> The pope blesses the Norman invasion of England
> Yosef HaNagid, Jewish vizier of Granada, invites emir Mutasim of
> Almeria to
> rule in Granada. Zirids of Sanhaja massacre 5,000 Jews of Granada,
> crucify
> Yosef HaNagid, raze the Jewish quarter
>
> 1067
> Zaragoza besieged by Sancho II of Castile and Rodrigo Diaz (El Cid -
> Al
> Sayyid)
>
> 1070
> Rashi completes his commentaries
>
> 1071
> Battle of Malaz Kard (Manzikert). Seljuks under Arslan defeated the
> Byzantine emperor, Romanus IV Diogenes, breaking Byzantine power in
> Asia
> Minor
> Robert Guiscard captures Bari, ending Byzantine rule in Italy
> Emperor Michael VII Parapinakes appeals to pope Gregory VII for aid
> against
> Seljuks
> Seljuks capture Jerusalem
>
> [In the 11th century, there had been 117 unidsturbed Christian
> pilgrimages
> to the Holy Land, until the advent of the Seljuks]
>
> 1072
> Robert Guiscard takes Palermo, beginning the Norman conquest of Sicily
> and
> southern Italy from Muslim rule
>
> 1073
> Death of Arslan; his son, Malik Shah, succeeds. Malik Shah's vizier,
> Nizam
> al Mulk was one of the ablest of the Seljuk administrators and a
> patron of
> learning
>
> 1074
> Treaty between Seljuks and Byzantines, so Michael VII can secure
> military
> aid against his uncle; Seljuks defeat until, overrun Anatolia
>
> 1076
> Almoravids sack Kumbi, capital of the Empire of Ghana
>
> 1077
> Alfonso VI of Castile proclaims himself Emperor of All Spains
> Seljuks seize Nicaea from Christians
>
> 1078
> Revolt of Nicephoros Bataniates with Seljuk aid; forces Michael's
> abdication
>
> 1079
> Rodrigo Diaz Bivar, the Cid Campeador, fights for Sancho II of Castile
> Battle of Cabra, defeats Abdallah emir of Granada and Count Garcia
> Ordinez
> of Castile
> Battle of Cora, Alfonso VI of Castile defeats al-Mutawakkil emir of
> Badajoz,
> exiles El Cid (1081) who enters the service of emir al-Mu'tamin of
> Zaragoza
>
> 1082
> Battle of Pharsalus; Normans defeat Byzantines and seize Macedonia
> Battle of Almenar; army of al-Mutamin of Zaragoza, led by El Cid,
> defeats
> the armies of al-Mundahir of Valencia, al-Hayib of Lerida, Sancho of
> Aragon,
> and Berenguer Ramon II of Barcelona
>
> 1083
> Normans under Robert Guiscard expel the Holy Roman Emperor from Rome,
> seize
> the pope, and sack the city
> Almoravids take Ceuta and murder its ruler, al-Mu'izz ibn Suqut
>
> 1084
> El Cid defeats Aragon. Alfonso begins the siege of Toledo
>
> 1085
> Seljuks take Antioch from Christians
> Alfonso VI of Castile captures Toledo from the Dhul-Nunids, alarming
> the
> Abbasids of Sevilla, who appeal for aid to the fanatic Almoravids
> under
> Yusuf ibn Tashfin. Alfonso appoints his physician, Joseph Terruziel,
> Nasi of
> all the Jews in his kingdom
>
> 1085-1140 Yehuda HaLevi
>
> 1086
> Almoravids under Yusuf ibn Tashfin (d 1106) land at Algeciras and
> rampage
> through the south, slaughtering Christians, Jews, and "decadent"
> Muslims.
> Alfonso calls off the siege of Zaragoza
> 23 October - Battle of Zallaka, Almoravids defeat Alfonso of Castile
>
> 1087
> Genoese capture Mahdiya in North Africa and take command of the
> western
> Mediterranean from Muslims
>
> 1090
> Hassan Sabbah, a former schoolmate of the Seljuk vizier al-Mulk,
> establishes
> the cult of the Hashshashin (Assassins) of the Nizari sect of the
> Ismailiyya
> sect of Shi'a Islam
> Almoravids sieze Oranda and Malaga. Emir al-Mutawakkil of Badajoz
> cedes
> Lisbon, Sintra, and Santarem to Christians for protection against the
> Almoravids
>
> 1091
> After the failure of two expeditions against the Assassins, Nizam al-
> Mulk is
> murdered by an emissary of his old schoolmate, Hassan Sabbah, head of
> the
> Assassin cult
> Almoravids sieze Cordoba, defeat Castilians allied with the emir of
> Seville;
> seize Seville, Aledo, Almiraca and Ronda, Mertola; execute al-Rodi,
> son of
> the emir of Seville
>
> 1094
> Jan -Death of Al-Mustansir; civil war between his sons, Ahmad and
> Nizar
> Ahmad al-Musta'li defeats his brother, then executes him, and is
> chosen
> caliph by the regent Malik al-Afdal
> May - Rodrigo Diaz takes Valencia
> Almoravids seize Badajoz and Lisvbon, lay siege to Valenica; take
> Santarem
> (1095); Yusuf ibn Tashfin's puritanical reforms strengthen Spanish
> Muslims;
> Islamic Spain is brought into an integral relation with his North
> African
> Empire (which, after his death in 1106, falls apart). Jews,
> Christians, and
> Muslims leave Almoravid domains for Toledo, and 40,000 Jews fight for
> Alfonso VI of Castile against the Almoravids
> Death of Malik Shah ends Muslim unity in Asia Minor. Civil war between
> his
> son, Rukn al-Din (Barkyaruk), and his brother Muhammad over control of
> Iranand Khorasan
>
> 1095
> Synod of Clermont; pope receives plea from the Byzantine emperor
> Alexius I
> Comnenus for aid against the Seljuks; proclaims first crusade
>
> FIRST CRUSADE 1096-1099
>
> Pope Urban II, under a revived and regenerated papacy, transforms
> military
> assistance to Constantinople into holy war, or ecclesiastical
> imperialism.
> - The People's (Paupers') Crusade - leaves Cologne April 1096; a
> majority
> are captured and sold into slavery by Balkan Slavs; a section under
> Walter
> the Penniless reaches Constantinople in July, lands in Anatolia in
> August,
> enter Seljuk territory and are massacred October 1096
> - The German Crusade: pogroms begin in the Rhine Valley, massacring
> thousands of Jews
> "Just at that time, there appeared a certain soldier, Emico, Count of
> the
> lands around the Rhine, a man long of very ill repute on account of
> his
> tyrannical mode of life. Called by divine revelation, like another
> Saul, as
> he maintained, to the practice of religion of this kind, he usurped to
> himself the command of almost twelve thousand cross bearers. As they
> were
> led through the cities of the Rhine and the Main and also the Danube,
> they
> either utterly destroyed the execrable race of the Jews wherever they
> found
> them (being even in this matter zealously devoted to the Christian
> religion)" Ekkehard of Aura
> "Emico and the rest of his band held a council and, after sunrise,
> attacked
> the Jews in the hall with arrows and lances. Breaking the bolts and
> doors,
> they killed the Jews, about seven hundred in number, who in vain
> resisted
> the force and attack of so many thousands. They killed the women,
> also, and
> with their swords pierced tender children of whatever age and sex. The
> Jews,
> seeing that their Christian enemies were attacking them and their
> children,
> and that they were sparing no age, likewise fell upon one another,
> brother,
> children, wives, and sisters, and thus they perished at each other's
> hands.
> Horrible to say, mothers cut the throats of nursing children with
> knives
> and stabbed others, preferring them to perish thus by their own hands
> rather than to be killed by the weapons of the uncircumcised. From
> this cruel slaughter of the Jews a few escaped" Albert of Aix
> - The Barons' Crusade: French under Godfrey of Bouillon and his
> brother
> Baldwin, and Raymond of Toulouse, Normans under Bohemond of Otranto,
> reach
> Constantinople December 1096; the emperor withholds food and supplies
> until
> the leaders swear fealty to him
>
> 1097
> July -- battle of Doryaleum, Crusaders defeat Seljuks, take Nicaea,
> the
> Seljuk capital October -- siege of Antioch begins
> Battle of Bairen, El Cid defeats the Almoravids
> Battle of Consuegra, Almoravids defeat Alfonso of Castile, kill Diego,
> son
> of El Cid
> Battle of Cuenca, Almoravids defeat Castilians; Yusuf ibn Tashfin
> proclaims
> himself Amir al-Muslimin
>
> 1098
> May -- Fall of Antioch; Muslims reinvest the city, but are driven off
> Fatimids seize Jerusalem from the Seljuks
>
> 1099
> May - Crusaders reach Jerusalem
> July -- Fall of Jerusalem, massacre of Jews and Muslims
> "..from the archbishop of Pisa, duke Godfrey, now, by the grace of
> God,
> defender of the church of the Holy Sepuchre, Raymond, count of St.
> Gilles,
> and the whole army of God, which is in the land of Israel, greeting...
> And
> if you desire to know what was done with the enemy who were found
> there,
> know that in Solomon's Porch and in his temple our men rode in the
> blood
> of the Saracens up to the knees of their horses."
>
> "Saracens, Arabs, and Ethiopians took refuge in the tower of David,
> others
> fled to the temples of the Lord and of Solomon. A great fight took
> place in
> the court and porch of the temples, where they were unable to escape
> from
> our gladiators. Many fled to the roof of the temple of Solomon, and
> were
> shot with arrows, so that they fell to the ground dead. In this temple
> almost ten thousand were killed. Indeed, if you had been there you
> would
> have seen our feet colored to our ankles with the blood of the slain.
> But
> what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women
> nor
> children were spared." Fulk of Chartres
>
> Death of the papal legate leaves organization to feudal magnates.
> Godfrey
> Of Bouillon elected king of Jerusalem, refuses the crown, is named
> Defender
> of
> the Holy Sepulchre; his brother Baldwin, Count of Edessa and King of
> Jerusalem. Crusaders begin to re-establish Christian rule throughout
> Syria
> and Lebanon; Assizes of Jerusalem, most complete feudal code extant:
> County of Edessa (Baldwin), Principality of Antioch (Bohemund), County
> of Tripoli(Raymond of Toulouse) fiefs of Jerusalem. Genoa, Pisa, and
> Venice profit by commerce through their ports; extend trading
> influence
> south to the Red Sea
>
> 1100
> After the death of El Cid, the Almoravids attack Valencia, occupy
> Spain as
> far as Zaragoza, seize Valencia (1102)
>
> 1101
> Death of al-Musta'li; his son, Al-Amir, caliph 1101-1130
>
> 1106
> Death of Yusuf ibn Tumart; his son, Ali, succeeds. The Almohades,
> founded by
> ibn Tumart as a religious movement to purify Islam, initiate riots and
> persecute Jews, Christians, and disagreeing Muslims
>
> 1108
> Battle near Toledo, Almoravids defeat Castilians, incl Sancho, son and
> heir
> of Alfonso of Castile by his Muslim wife, Zaida
> 2nd May - Solomon ibn Ferusal, Jewish wazir (nasi), murdered by
> Muslims
>
> 1109
> Caesarea, Tripoli Tyre, Sidon in Crusader hands; constant warfare
> between
> Crusaders and Muslim Burids, Fatimids, Ortugids, and Zangids
>
> 1110-1113
> War between Henry of Portugal and Alfonso I of Aragon against
> Alfonso's wife
> Urraca, queen of Castile. Teresa Countess of Portugal seizes power and
> styles herself Queen of Portugal
> Byzantines war against the Seljuks (to 1117)
>
> 1111
> Almoravids occupy Lisbon and Santarem
>
> 1116
> Teresa of Portugal wars against Urraca of Castile
> Battle of Philomelion; Byzantines defeat Seljuks, forcing the latter
> to make
> peace at Akroinon (1117) and abandon most of western Anatolia. Burids
> and
> Ortugids overthrow the Seljuks in Syria
>
> 1120
> Spanish Jews fleeing Muslim persecution settle in Byzantium
> Successful Byzantine campaign against Seljuks, southwest Anatolia
> recovered
>
> 1125
> Rise of the Berber sect of the Almohades (al-Muwahhidun -- "the
> monotheists), founded by the Abu Abd-Allah Muhammad ibn Tumart
> (1080-1130)
> of the Moroccan Banu Masmuda
>
> 1130
> Rise of the fanatic Almohades under Abd al-Mu'min, ibn Tumart's
> successor,
> who expand their power across North Africa, annihilate the Almoravid
> army
> (1144), conquer Morocco (1146), subjugate Algeria (1152), drive the
> Normans
> from Tunis (1158)
> Alfonso VII of Castile founds school for the sciences in Toledo
>
> 1135
> Muslims riot against Jews in Cordoba, "stormed their houses, plundered
> their
> possessions, and killed a number of them."
> John of Seville (1135-1153) translates Arabic texts on math,
> astronomy, and
> philosophy into Latin and the vernacular
>
> 1144
> Atabegs of Mosul complete Muslim reunification of Syria; capture
> Edessa
> Gerard of Cremona (1114-1187) studies under Ibn Ghalib, native
> Christian
> scholar, translates Ptolemy's Almagest, Euclid, Galen, and the
> Hippocratic
> corpus; his translation remained the standard text on astronomy until
> Copernicus. Gerard and ibn Ezra introduce the use of the zero, known
> in
> Baghdad since 770
>
> 1147-1149 SECOND CRUSADE
> Triggered by the Seljuks' capture of Edessa, Bernard of Clairvaux,
> persuaded
> by the pope, reluctantly preaches a new crusade. Normans of Sicily
> seize the
> Greek islands and attack Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. English
> crusaders
> capture Lisbon, Portugal
> Crusaders massacre Jews in the Rhineland, Cologne, Mainz, Worms, and
> Speyer,
> over the vehement opposition of the Archbishops of Mainz and Cologne
>
> 1148
> Almohades seize Cordoba and offer the Jewish community the choice
> between
> conversion or death. The family of Maimonides (1135-1204), like many
> Jews,
> choose exile. Jewish property is confiscated, women and children sold
> as
> slaves, synagogues destroyed. Muslim as well as Jewish scholars flee
> the
> Almohades to Toledo
>
> 1160-1173
> Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela travels extensively through the Middle East,
> central Asia, and China; his records have little influence on Europe
> due to
> his religion. The same reasons hold for the great geographical works
> of
> Yaqut, and, later, the Moroccan traveler ibn Battuta
>
> 1163
> Asad ad-Din Shirkuh bin Shadhi Shirkuh ("Lion Mountain"), an Armenian
> Kurd,
> general of the Zangid ruler Nur al-Din of Damascus, enters Egypt to
> aid the
> penultimate Fatimid caliph, Al-Adid (1160-1171), in a civil
> war over the Egyptian vizierate. Shirkuh was appointed vizier (1169),
> but
> dies two months later, and is succeeded by his nephew, Salah ad-Din
>
> 1165
> Yemeni Jews are given the choice between conversion to Islam or death
>
> 1169-1193
> Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, son of the Kurdi governor of Baalbek,
> and
> nephew of the Zangid ruler of Damascus, vizer and sultan of Egypt,
> founder
> of the Ayyub dynasty (1169-1250) of Egypt
>
> 1171
> Saladin proclaimed al-Mustaddi, Abbasid caliph of Baghad, caliph in
> Egypt.
> He ruled Egypt as Nur al-Din's viceroy until the latter's death in
> 1173,
> then asserted his independence, and consolidated his power over Egypt,
> Nubia, the Hejaz, Syria, and the Yemen
>
> SECOND RESTORATION OF ISLAMIC UNITY - 1172
> Islamic Spain declared a province of the Almohade empire, reducing
> Arab
> influence to only Granada
> Saladin drives the Normans out of Tripoli
>
> 1174
> Saladin invades Syria (1174), seizes Damascus and Aleppo (1183), Mosul
> (1185), and reduces Mesopotamia (1185-1186)
>
> 1175-1206
> Muhammad of Ghor, Mu'izz-ud-Din, conquered Hindustan for his brother,
> Ghiyas
> ud-Din Muhammad, whom he succeeded as ruler of Ghor (1203). Battle of
> Tararori crushed a new Hindu uprising led by the king of Ajmer and
> Delhi.
> Muslims occupied Delhi 1193; conquered Bihar and massacred the
> Buddhist
> community (1197). Bengal taken 1199, and Chandella state in
> Bundelkhand
>
> 1176
> Battle of Myriocephalon; Seljuks defeat Byzantines
>
> 1177
> Battle in Bithynia; Byzantines defeat Seljuks
>
> 1187
> Saladin's jihad, provoked by Christian attack on caravan said to be
> carrying
> his sister.
> July 4th - Battle of the Horns of Hittin. Saladin destroys the army of
> the
> kingdom of Jerusalem
> October 2nd - Saladin's entry into enters Jerusalem is a virtually
> bloodless
> conquest in marked contrast to the massacres perpetrated by crusaders
>
> 1188
> Saladin attacks Tyre, Tripoli and Antioch
>
> THIRD CRUSADE 1189- 1122
> A completely royal affair, precipitated by the fall of Jerusalem to
> Saladin,
> led by the Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa, Philip II of
> France, and
> Richard the Lionheart. The latter financed his crusade by inciting
> pogroms
> against the Jews of England and seizing their property along with the
> property of Christians who protected them; Jews were massacred in
> London and
> York on rumours that Richard I instigated it, attacked in Lincoln,
> Stamford,
> Lynn, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Thetford. En route to the Holy Land,
> Richard
> seized Christian Cyprus, which he sold to Guy of Lusignan
>
> 1191
> July - Fall of Akko
> August - Richard executes 3,000 Saracen prisoners of war (actually
> Christians) before Saladin's army
> September -- battle of Arsluf, north of Jaffa; Richard defeats
> Saladin,
> takes Jaffa
>
> 1192
> Truce between Richard and Saladin; the coastal plain between Jaffa and
> Akko
> returned to Christians, with an access corridor from the coast to
> Jerusalem
>
> 1195
> Battle of Alarcos. Almoravids defeat Alfonso VIII of Castille,
> whereupon the
> kings of Leon and Navarre promptly invade Castile
> Muhammad of Ghor appointed his Turkestan slave, Kutb-ud-din Aibak, as
> his
> viceroy; Aibak, killed playing polo in 1210, founded a dynasty which
> ruled
> from Delhi until 1526
> Maimonides completes Guide to the Perplexed
>
> FOURTH CRUSADE 1202 - 1204
> Pope Innocent III issues call to European monarchs, ignored by the
> kings of
> France and England
> Venetians sack the Christian city of Zara
> Pope excommunicates the Crusaders
>
> 1204
> Crusaders sack Constantinople with unparalleled horrors, replace the
> Byzantine emperor with the Latin Empire of the East (Romania). Assizes
> of
> Romania copied from the Assizes of Jerusalem. Venice acquires 3/4ths
> of
> Constantinople, plus Adrianople, Gallipoli, Naxos, Andros, Euboea,
> Crete,
> and Ionia
>
> 1211
> French and English Jews settle in Palestine
>
> 1211-1236
> Shams ud-Din Iltutmish, slave and son-in-law of Aibak, succeedes him
> in the
> Ganges valley only, conquers the upper Punjab (1217), Bengal (1225),
> lower
> Punjab and Sind (1228), Gwalior (1232), and sacked Ujjain (1234).
> Shams was
> invested as sultan of India by Al-Mustansir, the Baghdadi (Abbasid)
> caliph,
> in 1229
>
> 1212
> Children's Crusade -- preached by Stephen of Vendome and Nicholas of
> Cologne; reaches Marseilles, children sold as slaves to Muslims
> Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, defeat of Almohades. Their power
> declined in
> Spain, and they were eventually expelled from Spain, leaving only the
> Nasrid
> dynasty of Granada to stand against the Reconquista
>
> FIFTH CRUSADE 1218-1221
> Preached at the Fourth Lateran Council, which adopted portions of the
> Muslim
> Code of Umar against European Jews
>
> 1219
> Crusaders capture Damietta; Sultan offers Jerusalem for Damietta, but
> his
> offer rejected
> Mongols overrun Azerbaijan, Georgia, and northern Persia; invade
> Transoxania, take Bokhara, Marakanda (1220); devastate Khorasan,
> destroy
> Merv and Mishapur, and capture Herat
>
> 1221
> Crusaders march on Cairo fails; treaty between Sultan and Crusaders,
> Egypt
> retakes Damietta
>
> SIXTH CRUSADE 1228-1229
> Emperor Frederick (the "Antichrist"), excommunicated by the pope, who
> calls
> for a crusade against Frederick's Italian domains, negotiates a treaty
> with
> Malik al-Kamil, Saladin's nephew; peace for ten years, granted
> Jerusalem,
> Nazareth, Bethlehem, etc, with a corridor for Christians from the
> coast to
> Jerusalem. Crowns himself king of Jerusalem, as the Patriarch of
> Jerusalem
> refused to crown him; the pope renews the sentence of excommuniciation
>
> 1230
> Work on the Alhambra begun
>
> 1232
> Muslims massacre the Jewish community of Marrakech
>
> 1235
> Ziyanid dynasty takes Algeria from the Almohades, eventually absorbed
> by the
> Marinids of Morocco (1339)
>
> 1236
> Castillians take Cordoba from the Almohades
>
> 1240-1241
> Crusade of Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England,
> forbidden
> by the pope
>
> 1241
> Mongols seize the Punjab from Muslims
>
> 1243
> Battle of Kosedagh; Mongols defeat the Seljuks, overrun Anatolia
>
> 1244
> Muslim mercenaries capture Jerusalem from Christians
>
> 1245-1253
> Mongols ravage Mesopotamia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia
>
> SEVENTH CRUSADE 1248-1251
> Louis IX of France takes Damietta, marches on Cairo (1249); army
> routed,
> Louis captured, Muslims slaughter 30,000 prisoners, Damietta lost.
> Louis
> ransomed, spends 1251-54 on pilgrimage to Jerusalem
>
> 1256
> Hulugu, grandson of Jenghiz Khan, stamps out the cult of the Assassins
>
> 1258
> Hafsids conquer Tunis from the Almohades
> Mongols under Hulugu capture and sack Baghdad, execute the caliph,
> Musta'im,
> massacre 80,000, put the city to the torch; then invade Syria and
> seize
> Aleppo
>
> ['Among the Turks and the Tatars their wives enjoy a very high
> position;
> indeed, when they issue an order they say in it, "By command of the
> Sultan
> and the Khatun."' Ibn Battuta
> Dokuz Khatan, Hulugu's favorite wife, herself a Nestorian Christian,
> favored
> Christians and influenced her husband to place them in posts of
> responsibility.]
>
> 1260
> Battle of Ain Jalut; Egyptian Mameluks under Baybars destroy Mongol
> army
> Baybars revives the caliphate, invites the Abbasid Ahmad Abu al-Qasim
> to
> Caior, and knowledges him caliph as Mustansir l'Jlla
>
> 1261-1310
> Ottoman Turks conquer the Aegean coast, drive out the Byzantines,
> establish
> Turkish principalities
>
> 1263
> Destruction of Christian churches, shrines, and monasteries throughout
> Palestine, including the church of the Annunciation in Nazareth
> (permission
> to rebuild the church not granted to Christians until 1730)
>
> 1269
> The Polo brothers arrive in Akko with letters to the pope from Kublai
> Khan.
> They set out again for the east in 1271 with their nephew, Marco
>
> EIGHTH CRUSADE 1270
> Louis IX of France and Edward I of England attack Tunis. Louis dies,
> Crusade
> ends
>
> 1275
> The (Nestorian Christian) patriarch of Baghdad creates the
> archbishopric of
> Beijing
> Moroccan Jews ordered to choose between conversion to Islam or death
>
> 1281
> Mar Yabalaka, pilgrim from Beijing to Jerusalem, first patriarch of
> Beijing;
> churches built in Chen-kiang, Yang-chou, and Hangchow; the emperor
> creates a
> special bureau (1289) for Christian affairs in Beijing; the patriarch
> of
> Beijing and the pope negotiate an entente between the Nestorian and
> Roman
> Catholic faiths
>
> 1290
> Edward I expels English Jews; Mameluks seize Akko, last Christian
> stronghold
> in Palestine (1291)
>
> 1291
> Akko falls to Muslim Mamluks of Egypt
>
> 1293
> Decree issued ordering the destruction of synagogues in Egypt and
> Syria
>
> 1296
> Marinids of Morocco seize the Moroccan capital from the Almohades
> (dynasty
> to 1470)
>
> 1297-1316
> Ala ud-Din, nephew and murderer of Firuz, successor of Balban's son,
> sultan;
> launched a surprise attack on Devagiri in Maharashtra, counquered and
> despoiled Gujarat and its rich port of Cambay; instituted a program of
> repression, which included espionage; confiscation of Hindu wealth,
> endowments, and tax exempt lands; prohibition of liquor and all Hindu
> social
> gatherings
>
> [NB: From 1229 onward, Islamic architects introduced a tradition of
> spacious, light and airy prayer chambers covered by arch, vault, and
> dome,
> erected with concrete and mortar, and ornamented with colour and flat,
> linear, conventional decoration, a formula applied with recognition of
> Hindu
> structural styles and the excellence of Hindu ornamentation; e.g.,
> Aibak's
> mosque at Delhi was an Islamic screen of arches framed with Hindu
> carving
> and ornamented with the plunder of 27 Hindu temples]
>
> 1301
> Battle of Baphaeon. Ottoman Turks defeat the Greeks; seize Ephesus
> (1304);
> destruction of synagogues in Egypt and Syria
>
> 1307
> John of Montecorvino baptizes 5,000 Chinese and is named Roman
> Catholic
> archbishop of Beijing
>
> GREAT FAMINE IN EUROPE 1315-1317
>
> 1317
> Siege of Bursa begins; Muslims starve town into submission 6th April
> 1326
>
> 1320
> Tughluk dynasty, founded by Ghiyas ud-Din Tughluk, who encourages
> agriculture and corrected abuses by tax collectors. Ghiyas murdered by
> his
> son Muhammad, who succeeds him (1325-1351). Muhammad raises taxes to
> exhorbitant levels to encourage rebellion, which he then put down with
> great
> brutality and seizure of property. Tughluk dynasty survives to 1413
>
> 1325
> "I left Tangier, my birthplace, on Thursday, 2nd Rajab 725 [14th June
> 1325],
> being at that time [twenty-one] years of age, with the intention of
> making
> the Pilgrimage to [ Mecca] and [Medina]. I set out alone, finding no
> companion to cheer the way with friendly intercourse, and no party of
> travellers with whom to associate myself. Swayed by an overmastering
> impulse
> within me, and a long-cherished desire to visit those glorious
> sanctuaries,
> I resolved to quit all my friends and tear myself away from my home.
> As my
> parents were still alive, it weighed grievously upon me to part from
> them,
> and both they and I were afflicted with sorrow."
> Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta of Morocco
>
> 1326
> Orkhan I, sultan of the Ghazis (d 1362), expands his dominions from
> Ankara
> to Thrace
>
> July: "No one is allowed to pass into Syria without a passport from
> Egypt,
> nor into Egypt without a passport from Syria, for the protection of
> the
> property of the subjects and as a measure of precaution against spies
> from
> Iraq. The responsibility of guarding this road has been entrusted to
> the
> Badawin. At nightfall they smooth down the sand so that no track is
> left on
> it, then in the morning the governor comes and looks at the sand. If
> he
> finds any track on it he commands the Arabs to bring the person who
> made it,
> and they set out in pursuit and never fail to catch him. He is then
> brought
> to the governor, who punishes him as he sees fit. The governor at the
> time
> of my passage treated me as a guest and showed me great kindness, and
> allowed all those who were with me to pass. From here we went on to
> Gaza,
> which is the first city of Syria on the side next the Egyptian
> frontier."
> "From Gaza I travelled to the city of Abraham [Hebron], the mosque of
> which
> is of elegant, but substantial construction, imposing and lofty, and
> built
> of squared stones At one angle of it there is a stone, one of whose
> faces
> measures twenty-seven spans. It is said that Solomon commanded the
> jinn to
> build it. Inside it is the sacred cave containing the graves of
> Abraham,
> Isaac, and Jacob, opposite which are three graves, which are those of
> their
> wives. I questioned the imam, a man of great piety and learning, on
> the
> authenticity of these graves, and he replied: "All the scholars whom I
> have
> met hold these graves to be the very graves of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob
> and
> their wives. No one questions this except introducers of false
> doctrines; i
> is a tradition which has passed from father to son for generations and
> admits of no doubt." Ibn Battuta
>
> 1329-1335
> Battle of Palekanon, Ottomans defeat Byzantines under the emperor
> Andonicus
> III. Nicaea taken 2nd march 1331. Ottomans defeat Greeks at Pelekanon,
> seize
> Nicomedia (1335)
>
> 1330
> "We went on to the town of Ta'izz, the capital of the king of Yemen,
> and one
> of the finest and largest towns in that country. Its people are
> overbearing,
> insolent, and rude, as is generally the case in towns where
> kings reside." Ibn Battuta
>
> 1333
> Baghdadi Jews ordered to choose between conversion to Islam or death
>
> 1334
> Madura revolts against Muslim rule
>
> 1340
> Muslim invasion and conquest of Kashmir
>
> 1344
> Destruction of Iraqi synagogues. The Tughluk sultan Muhammad ibn
> Ghiyas
> massacres tax collectors for failure to meet tax quotas
>
> 1345
> Ottomans cross into Europe at the invitation of the emperor John
> Cantacuzene
> to support his claims against the empress Anna; again in 1352
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> THE GREAT MORTALITY 1347-1353
>
> Pandemic of bubonic, pneumonic, and septicaemic plague throughout Asia
> Minor, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, India, and China
>
> "Plague attacked almost all the seacoasts of the world, and killed
> most of
> the people. For it swept not only through Pontos and Thrace and
> Macedonia,
> but even Greece, Italy and all the Islands, Egypt, Libya, Judea, and
> Syria."
> Emperor John Cantacuzenos
>
> 1347
> Outbreaks of plague in the Crimea, Trebizond, Constantinople, Messina,
> Genoa, Venice, and Alexandria
>
> 1348
> April - in Tunis, Marinid rulers attempting to conquer Tunis were
> defeated
> by the plague (ibn Khaldun). Plague in Gaza (10,000 reported dead),
> Ashqelon, Jerusalem, Sidon, Damascus (1,000/day in September/October),
> Homs,
> Aleppo, and Antioch. Half a million reported dead in Syria, entire
> areas of
> Palestine depopulated. Plague in Pisa, Genoa, Venice, Marseilles,
> Barcelona,
> Florence (April), England (June), Spain, Portugal, France, England,
> the Low
> Countries
>
> Arab armies in Spain considered adopting Christianity as a
> preventative,
> until Christians, including Alfonso VIII, began dying
>
> "Kinsfolk held aloof, brother was forsaken by brother, oftentimes
> husband by
> wife; nay, what is more, and scarcely to be believed, fathers and
> mothers
> were found to abandon their own children to their fate, untended,
> unvisited,
> as if they had been strangers." Boccaccio
> "And so they died. And no one could be found to bury the dead...I, Anolo
> di
> Tura, buried my five children with my own hands, and so did many
> likewise."
> Agnolo di Tura
> "Men and women wandered around as if mad... no one had any inclination
> to
> concern themselves with the future."
> "Charity was dead." Guy de Chauliac, physician to Clement VI
> "No one knew where to turn for help." Henry Knighton of Leicester
> "God is deaf nowadays, and deigneth not to hear us;
> And prayers have no power the Plague to stay." William Langland
>
> 1348
> Ibn Battuta: "...July 1348. The viceroy Arghun Shah ordered a crier to
> proclaim through Damascus that all the people should fast for three
> days and
> that no one should cook anything eatable in the market during the
> daytime.
> For most of the people there eat no food but what has been prepared in
> the
> market. So the people fasted for three successive days, the last of
> which
> was a Thursday, then they assembled in the Great Mosque, amirs,
> sharifs,
> qadis, theologians, and all the other classes of the people, until the
> place
> was filled to overflowing, and there they spent the Thursday night in
> prayers and litanies. After the dawn prayer next morning they all went
> out
> together on foot, holding Korans in their hands, and the amirs
> barefooted.
> The procession was joined by the entire population of the town, men
> and
> women, small and large; the Jews came with their Book of the Law and
> the
> Christians with their Gospel, all of them with their women and
> children. The
> whole concourse, weeping and supplicating and seeking the favour of
> God
> through His Books and His Prophets, made their way to the Mosque of
> the
> Footprints, and there they remained in supplication and invocation
> until
> near midday. They then returned to the city and held the Friday
> service, and
> Allah lightened their affliction; for the number of deaths in a single
> day
> at Damascus did not attain two thousand, while in Cairo and Old Cairo
> it
> reached the figure of twenty-four thousand a day."
>
> 1349
> Plague in Mecca, Medina Mosul, Baghdad, Ireland, Scotland, Scandanavia
>
> 1350
> Plague reaches Yemen and (in 1351) northwestern Russia, killing the
> Grand
> Duke of Moscow and the Patriarch of the Russian Church
>
> 1353-54
> Plague in the Chinese and Mongol empires kills an estimated 25
> millions
>
> Arab physicians of Cordoba and Granada concur with the verdict of the
> University of Paris medical faculty, requested by the king to report
> on the
> "great affliction", called the "black plague" in a Welsh lament of the
> time;
> it's ascribed to a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars in
> Aquarius on 20th March 1345, plus "effects whose cause is hidden from
> even
> the most highly trained intellects."
>
> Beginning of the slaughter of European Jews, accused of collusion with
> Muslims in conspiracy to destroy Christianity; thousands massacred,
> more
> than 200 Jewish communities destroyed; survivors flee to Poland,
> Russia, and
> Muslim lands
>
> The deaths of an estimated 75 million worldwide precipitate
> substantial
> socio-economic changes
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> 1354-61
> Ottomans seize Gallipoli, advance rapidly over Thrace, conquer Ankara
> (1359)
> and Adrianople (1361)
>
> 1362
> Murad I, sultan (d 1389(. Organization of Janissary corps from
> prisoners of
> war, alter from forced levies of Christian children converted to Islam
>
> 1366
> Ottomans move their capital from Bursa to Adrianiople
>
> 1371
> Battle of Chermanon, Ottomans defeat allied Serb princes of Macedon.
> Byzantine, Bulgarian, and Macedonian rulers acknowledge Ottoman
> sultan's
> suzerainty
>
> 1377-1386
> Ottomans expand into central Anatolia, capture Sofia (1385), defeat
> Albanian
> lords at battle of Voissa, capture Nish (1386) Thessalonika (1387),
> and
> invade Bulgaria (1388)
>
> 1380-1387
> Timur the Lame, vizier of the Mongol Chagatay Khan Suyurghatmish,
> overruns
> Khorasan, Jurjan, Mazandaran, Sijistan, Afghanistan, Persia,
> Azerbaijan, and
> Kurdistan
>
> 1389
> 15th June - Battle of Kosovo, Ottomans defeat Serbs and Bosnians.
> Murad
> assassinated by a Serb.
>
> 1389-1402
> Bayazid I, Ottoman sultan, had his brother Yukub strangled and Lazar
> of
> Serbia executed; re-established Ottoman authority in Anatolia, raided
> Albania, occupied Bulgaria, executed the tsar, invaded Hungary,
> commenced
> the blockade of Constantinople
>
> 1393
> Timur the Lame seizes Baghdad, then reduces Mesopotamia
>
> 1395
> Battle of Nicopolis. Hungarians and Balkan forces, supported by
> French,
> English, and German knights and by both popes, defeated by Ottomans
>
> 1397-1399
> Siege of Constantinople. Further Ottoman conquests in Greece, Ottomans
> annex
> entire area west of the Euphrates, which incurs the hostility of Egypt
>
> 1397
> Timur the Lame marched against Anatolia and defeated the Ottomans at
> Ankara.
> The empire of the Timurids (until 1500), however, was soon reduced to
> Transoxania and eastern Persia
>
> 1398
> After ravaging Persia, Afghanistan, and Mesopotamia, Timur the Lame
> invades
> India, ravages the kingdom of Delhi, massacres 100,000 Hindu prisoners
> (12th
> December 1398) and sacks Delhi (17th December)
>
> 1400
> Timur the Lame sacks Damascus
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> LITTLE ICE AGE c1400 - c1850
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> 1402
> Battle of Ankara 28th July. Bayazid defeated by Mongols under Timur
> the
> Lame; dies in captivity 1403
>
> 1402, 1408, 1427
> Ethiopian embassies to Venice to seek aid and establish Christian
> alliances
> against Muslim Mamluks of Egypt
>
> 1403-1413
> Civil war between Bayazid's sons, Issa, Suleiman, Mehmed, and Musa.
>
> 1413-1421
> Mehmed I Kirishdji (the Restorer), sultan
>
> 1414-1526
> Kingdom of Delhi reduced to Jumna valley with tenuous control over the
> Punjab; ruled by Sayyid dynasty with nebulous claims to Arab descent
> from
> the Prophet
>
> 1415-1416
> Socio-religious insurrection led by Sheikh Bedreddin, crushed with
> difficulty. First Ottoman war with Venice. Ottoman fleet destroyed off
> Gallipoli
>
> 1417
> Ottoman invasion of Wallachia, in punishment for latter's support of
> Mehmed's brother, Mustafa, and Bedreddin
>
> 1421-1451
> Murad II, sultan. His brother Mustafa, supported by the Byzantines,
> proclaimed sultan in Adrianople
>
> 1422
> Mustafa attacked Bursa, was captured and executed
>
> 1439
> Ottomans annex Serbia. Siege of Belgrade (1440)
>
> 1441-1443
> Two Ottomans armies defeated in Transylvania, battle of Zlatica
> (Izladi)
>
> 1444
> Battle of Varna, Hungarians and Wallachians defeated, Vladislav king
> of
> Hungary and Poland kllled
>
> 1448
> 2nd battle of Kosovo, Ottomans defeat John Hunyadi, governor of
> Transylvania
>
> 1451-1481
> Muhammad II the Conqueror, sultan. Reasserted Ottoman authority in
> Anatolia,
> drove out Hungarians and Venetians, patronized Muslim, Greek, and
> Italian
> scholars
>
> 1452
> War between the sultan and the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine
> Ethiopian embassy to the pope, and embassy to Ethiopia from the pope
> (1453),
> for aid against Egyptian Mamluks and Ottoman Turks
>
> 1453
> 29th May - Fall of Constantinople. The emperor killed. Ottoman sultan,
> Mehmet Fahti (d 1481) proclaims himself eastern Roman emperor
>
> 1455-1463
> Ottomans annex southern Serbia. Genoese colonies on the Black Sea
> submitted
> and made Ottoman tributaries. Remainder of Serbia annexed. Conquest of
> the
> Morea, the principality of Kastmandou, and the empire of Trebizond.
> Invasion
> of Bosnia and Herzegovina
>
> 1463-1479
> Great war between Ottomans and Venice over Ottoman interference with
> Venetian-Levantine trade
>
> 1465
> Massacre of Moroccan Jews in Fez
>
> 1477
> Ottoman armies reach the outskirts of Venice
>
> 1481
> Death of Muhammad II; his son, Bayazid II, sultan 1481-1512. Younger
> brother
> Djem proclaims himself sultan at Bursa, proposes division of the
> empire.
> Bayazit: "Empire is a bride whose favours cannot be shared." Civil
> war.
>
> 1484-1489
> Ottomans war with Egypt for control of Cilicia
>
> 1487
> Spanish Inquisition burns to death sixteen Spanish Jews; by 1492, the
> Inquistion burns appx 2,000 Spanish Jews to death
>
> 1489
> Djem turned over to the pope, who uses him to extort money and support
> from
> Bayazit against France
>
> 1492
> The last emir of Granada, Abu-Abdallah, descendant of Spanish
> Christians,
> surrenders to Isabella and Ferdinand, descendants of Muslim caliphs.
> Abu-Abdallah flees "disguised as a woman from the city he lacked the
> manhood
> to defend" to his kinsmen in Fez, where, for losing Granada, his eyes
> are
> put out
> 175,000 Jews expelled from Spain, an act which deprives Spain of its
> most
> cultured and economically active subjects; the Ottoman sultan welcomes
> them
> to the Ottoman empire, commenting: "The Christian king Ferdinand was
> wrongly
> considered wise, since he impoverished his realm by his expulsion of
> the
> Jews and enriched ours."
> Spanish Muslims appeal to Ferdinand for permission to convert to
> Christianity and turn their mosques back into churches
> Columbus discovers the Bahamas
>
> 1493
> David and Shmuel ibn Nahmias, expelled from Spain, establish a public
> printing press in Istanbul
>
> 1496
> Jews expelled from Portugal. Astronomer-historian Abraham Zacuto,
> creator of
> the tables used by
> Columbus, who fled from Spain to Portugal, where he developed the
> metal
> astrolab used by Vasco
> Da Gama, flees Portgual for Tunis
>
> 1499-1503
> Ottoman war against Venice. Ottoman fleet defeats Venetians, while
> Ottoman
> cavalry raids as far as Vicenza
>
> 1500-1502
> Muslims riot in Granada
>
> 1501
> Is'mail proclaims himself Hidden Imam and Shah of Iran (1387-1524).
> Isma'iliyya Shi'a Islam becomes Iran's state religion
>
> 1504
> Muslims expelled from Spain for violating the terms of their surrender
>
> 1509
> Portuguese destroy an Egyptian-Indian fleet off Diu; acquire Goa
> (1510) as
> their headquarters
>
> 1511
> Is'mail shah of Iran incites uprisings of Anatolian Shi'ites against
> the
> Ottomans
>
> 1512
> Civil war between Bayazid's sons, Selim, Ahmed, and Corcud
> Death of Bayazid, after his son Selim forces his abdication
> Selim I the Grim sultan 1512-1520
>
> 1513
> Selim defeats his brother Ahmed in Anatolia and executes him
>
> 1514
> Selim massacres 40,000 Ottoman Shi'ites. War against Iran.
> 23rd August -- Battle of Chaldiran, Iranians defeated. Ottomans
> plunder
> Tabriz
>
> 1515
> Ottomans conquer eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan, prepare for second
> campaign
> against Iran
> 1510
> Sayyida al-Hurra of the Banu Rashid of Al-Andalus, manager of the
> affairs of
> her husband, who had declared a holy war against the Portuguese,
> prefect,
> later governor general, of Tetuan. Aided by the Turkish pirate
> Barbarossa,
> Sayyida assembled ships and began a career as a pirate in the western
> Mediterranean. Later, she married Ahmad al-Wattasi, king of Morocco
>
> 1516
> Invasion of Syria by Kansu al-Gauri, sultan of Egypt, ally of Iran.
> Battle
> of Marj Dabik 23rd August, Kansu defeated and killed. Aleppo and
> Damascussurrender to Ottomans, who conquer Syria and Egypt
>
> 1517
> 22 January-Ottomans seize and sack Cairo. Tuman Bey, sultan of Egypt,
> executed. The sheriff of Mecca and Medina surrenders. Ottomans seize
> the
> caliph Mutawakki and take him to Constantinople. Selim secures the
> Holy
> Places in Arabia and acquires Jerusalem
>
> 1520
> Death of Selim; his son, Suleiman the Magnificent, greatest of the
> Ottman
> sultans, 1520-1566. Suleiman, known as Kanuni (Lawgiver), oversees
> most
> detailed codification of sultanic and Koranic law in an Islamic state,
> comparable only to the work of Justinian. Suleiman constructs the
> walls of
> Jerusalem and has the Dome of the Rock faced with porcelain Iznik
> tiles and
> the Quranic surah Ya Sin inscribed across the top
>
> 1521
> Ottomans capture Belgrade and Rhodes (1522); regular raids in Hungary
> and
> Austria panic central Europe
>
> 1525
> Negotiations between Suleiman and Francis I of France against Holy
> Roman
> Emperor Charles V
>
> 1526
> Battle of Panipat Zahir ud-din Babar (Baybars), descendant of Timur
> the
> Lame, defeats Ibraihim Shah Lodi, takes Delhi and Agra. Battle of
> Khanua
> against Rana Sangra of Chitor and battle on the Gonga (1529) complete
> Babar's conquest of the sultanate of Delhi to the Bengal frontier
>
> ------------------------------------------------
> MOGUL EMPIRE OF INDIA 1526-1761 (1857)
> ------------------------------------------------
>
> 1527
>
> 1528-1532
> 29-30 August-Battle of Mohacs, Ottomans defeat Hungarians, king Louis
> of
> Hungary killed. Third campaign (1532) in Hungary, Suleiman forced to
> retire
> because of threat from Iran
>
> 1533
> Peace between Ottomans and Hungarians. Naval war in Mediterranean with
> Charles V continues. Ottoman admiral Khaireddin Pasha (a Greek from
> Mytilini) evacuates thouands of Spanish Muslims expelled by Ferdinand
> and
> Isabella, ravage the coast of Sicily and southern Italy
>
> 1534
> War between Ottomans and Shah Tahmasp of Iran, who was in negotiations
> with
> Charles V against Suleiman and Francis of France
>
> 1535
> Imperial expedition against Tunis. Khaireddin Pasha defeated off the
> coast.
> Horrible sack of three days
> Portuguese secure Bassein by treaty, fortify Diu and defend it against
> an
> Ottoman fleet and Gujarti army (1538)
>
> 1536
> Formal alliance between Suleiman and Francis of France against Charles
> V
>
> 1537-1540
> Ottomans war with Venice. Latter sues for peace, pays large indemnity
>
> 1538
> Ottomans take Yemen, Aden, coast of the Red Sea
>
> 1542
> Sayyida al-Hurra, Queen of the Pirates, deposed from Tetouan
>
> 1547
> Five-year truce between Suleiman and Ferdinand of Hungary, the latter
> paying
> tribute until renewal of war 1551-1562
>
> 1548
> Ottomans war with Iran, ravage the western part of the country. Peace
> made
> in 1555
>
> ---------------------------------------------------
> GLACIERS BEGIN EXPANDING c 1550
> Climatic minima reached mid-17th century
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> 1553
> Suleiman issues laws to stop the persecution of Jews via blood libels,
> decreeing that all accusations of the slaughter of Christian children
> by
> Jews be referred to the Imperial Divan where the courts would expose
> these
> lies. Peparation of the law included input of Moses Hamon, a favorite
> doctor
> and dentist of the Sultan.
> Suleiman had his eldest son, Mustafa, strangled, as a result of
> machinations
> of his wife, the former slave Roxelana (Anastasia Lisovska), and of
> the
> grand vizer, Rustem Pasha, Roxelana's son-in-law
>
> 1554-1556
> Ottoman armies conquer the North African coast
>
> 1556
> Death of Muhammad Humayun, son of Babar; his son, Jalah ud-din Akbar
> (b
> 1542), Mogul ruler. Under his guardian Bairam Khan, Akbar crushes
> Afghan
> army at Panipat
>
> 1559
> Rebellion of Bayazid, Suleiman's son by Roxelana. Battle of Konia;
> Bayazid
> defeated, flees to Iran. The Shah executes Bayazid and his young sons
> in
> exchange for a large monetary payment by Suleiman
>
> 1561
> Mogul "harem party" effects the conquest of Malawa
>
> 1564
> Akbar marries a Rajput princess, abolishes the jizya, marking anew
> policy of
> impartiality toward non-Muslim Mogul subjects
>
> 1566
> Death of Suleiman; his son by Roxelana, Selim II the Drunk, sultan
> 1566-1574
>
> Divided counsels of Mehmed Sokullu, a Serbian convert to Islam, grand
> vizer
> 1560-1579 -- who favored close relations with Venice and war against
> Spain
> -- and the Portuguese Joseph Nasi, who was hostile to Venice and
> France and
> was supported by Selim's Jewish wife Noor Banu Sultan, mother of Murad
> III
>
> 1568
> Akbar takes Chitor, massacre 30,000 Rajput Hindus Moriscos revolt in
> Granada
> after Philip II enacts legislation prohibiting displays of Muslim
> culture
>
> 1569-70
> Ottoman expedition against Russians (siege of Astrakhan 1570) end in
> peace
> treaty. Ottomans declare war on Venice
>
> 1571
> Moriscos revolt crushed by Don Juan of Austria, Philip's half-brother.
> Moriscos ordered deported
> Pope Pius organizes the Holy League against the Ottomans. Don Juan of
> Austria assembles a great Armada at Messina
> 7th October -- Battle of Lepanto, greatest naval battle since Actium,
> Ottomans defeated. But advantages of victory lost through Spanish and
> Venetian dissension; Ottomans rapidly rebuild their fleet, astounding
> Europe
>
> 1572-73
> Akbar conquers Gujarat, giving him access to the sea and new revenues; ...
>
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