PersonAD 891 – AD 961

Abd al-Rahman III

Umayyad ruler of al-Andalus (912–961) who proclaimed himself caliph in 929; under him Córdoba became the largest and most splendid city in western Europe

When he inherited the emirate from his grandfather, al-Andalus was split by rebellions, which he put down one by one to reunite the state. In 929 he proclaimed himself caliph in rivalry with the Fatimids of North Africa. He built the splendid palace city of Madinat al-Zahra outside Córdoba and received embassies from Byzantium, the Holy Roman Empire and others. Keeping the northern Christian kingdoms in check, he ruled for nearly fifty years.

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AD 756 – AD 929The Umayyads of Córdobamonarch
Abd al-Rahman I, an Umayyad who survived the Abbasid revolution, founded the Umayyad state of Córdoba in Iberia. In 929 Abd al-Rahman III proclaimed himself caliph.

People who appear alongside

Abd al-Rahman IAD 731 – AD 788
Founding emir of the Umayyads of Córdoba (756–788), who escaped the Abbasid massacre of his family and set up his own state at Córdoba in 756

Themes this person appears in

The Rise of the Islamic WorldAD 570 – 1055
From the revelation to Muhammad to the Seljuk entry into Baghdad — 450 years in which a new faith from Arabia built a civilisation stretching from Iberia to Central Asia and reached as far as Silla by sea