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Moorish Sevilla
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Sevilla was one of the earliest
Moorish conquests
(in 712) and, as part of the caliphate of Cordoba, became the second city of
al-Andalus
. When the caliphate broke up in the early eleventh century it was by far the most powerful of the independent states (or
taifas
) to emerge, extending its power over the Algarve and eventually over Jaen, Murcia and Cordoba itself. This period, under a series of three Arabic rulers from the Abbadid dynasty (1023-91), was something of a golden age. The city's court was unrivalled in wealth and luxury and was sophisticated too, developing a strong chivalric element and a flair for poetry - one of the most skilled exponents being the last ruler, al-Mu'tamid, the "poet-king". But with sophistication came decadence and in 1091 Abbadid rule was usurped by a new force, the
Almoravids
, a tribe of fanatical Berber Muslims from North Africa, to whom the Andalucians had appealed for help against the rising threat from the northern Christian kingdoms.
Despite initial military successes, the Almoravids failed to consolidate their gains in
al-Andalus
and attempted to rule through military governors from Marrakesh. In the middle of the twelfth century they were in turn supplanted by a new Berber incursion, the
Almohads
, who by about 1170 had recaptured virtually all the former territories. Sevilla had accepted Almohad rule in 1147 and became the capital of this last real empire of the Moors in Spain. Almohad power was sustained until their disastrous defeat in 1212 by the combined Christian armies of the north, at Las Navas de Tolosa. In this brief and precarious period Sevilla underwent a renaissance of public building, characterized by a new vigour and fluidity of style. The Almohads rebuilt the
Alcazar
, enlarged the principal
mosque
- later demolished to make room for the Christian cathedral - and erected a new and brilliant minaret, a tower over 100m tall, topped with four copper spheres that could be seen for miles round: the
Giralda
. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Spain,
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