In 711 AD an army of Arabs and Berbers crossed from Northern Africa into Spain and defeated the Christian forces of the Visigoths. The province was added to the Umayyad Caliphate, but it remained in the Caliphate for less than four decades. When the Abbasids rebelled against the Umayyads in 749 AD, one prince, 'Abd al-Rahman I, survived and took control of Spain as an independent state. In 929 AD, when the Abbasid Caliphate's power was waning, the Spanish ruler 'Abd al-Rahman III took the title of Caliph for himself and his successors. But the new Caliphate lasted just a century, and collapsed very rapidly around 1030 AD.

The resulting power vacuum allowed the establishment of a couple dozen small states ruled by the "Party Kings" or "Muluk al-Tawa'if". Forty years later, most of these states were swept away by a group of Moslem Berbers who, ironically, had been invited to cross from Africa into Spain to help defend the Party Kings from their Christian neighbors. Less than a century later (in the 1150's), these Berbers, known as Murabits or Almoravids, were displaced by yet another invader from Africa, a Shiite sect, the Muwahhids or Almohads

The coins of the Spanish Umayyads follow the pattern set by the earlier Umayyads. Little copper was struck in Spain, and the silver dirhams developed a distinctive and ornate caligraphy. Most of the "Party Kings" issued coins, but their dirhams are scarce and of exceptionally poor quality. Only three of these states are represented here, the Hammudids of Malaga, the Zirids of Granada, and the Sumadihids of Almeria. A related group from Tunisia is also included, the Zirids of Qairuwan. The Almoravids introduced a new coin, the qirat, a small undated silver piece. Their successors, the Muwahhids, produced another oddity, a square dirham that lacked every type of identifying mark and bore nothing other than religious phrases (and just occasionally a mintname). These square coins became extremely popular and were copied by the neighboring Christians, the small Islamic state of Granada, and several states in Northern Africa including the Hafsids of Tunisia and the Marinids of Morocco.

TO SUMMARIZE...


Spanish Umayyads

Spanish Umayyads

Successors to the Umayyads

Hammudids of Malaga
Zirids of Granada
Sumadihids of Almeria
Zirids of Qairuwan
Almoravids

Post-Almoravid

Muwahhids
Spanish Christians
Nasrids of Granada
Hafsids of Tunisis
Marinids of Morocco