nised the Caliph as suzerain, so that with the exception of Leon and part of Catalonia the whole of Spain had submitted to 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān III.
From 939 onwards the fortune of war turned somewhat against the Caliph. Carrying out his policy of humbling the great nobles, he had given all the highest civil and military posts to the slaves, who included Galicians, Franks, Lombards, Calabrians, and captives from the coast of the Black Sea; he had increased their number and compelled the Arab aristocracy to submit to them. In the campaign of 939, during which Najda the slave was in command, the nobles had their revenge on 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān. They allowed themselves to be beaten by Ramiro and Tota at Simancas, and they also were responsible for a terrible defeat at Alhandega, in which Najda was killed and 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān himself narrowly escaped. Their victory did not profit the Christians, however, since Castile, under its Count Fernan (Ferdinand) Gonzalez, the hero of the medieval epic, took advantage of the Caliph's inactivity to declare war on Ramiro II.
During this period Abu Yazīd of the Berber tribe of Iforen came forward to oppose the Fātimites in Africa. He declared himself a khārijī or nonconformist, and united all the Berbers. He recognised 'Abd-ar-Rahmān, to whom he gave military help, as the spiritual suzerain of the dominions which he had wrested from the Fātimites. But when Abu Yazīd discarded his ascetic sackcloth for more splendid silk, and fell out with the Sunnites (orthodox Muslims), he suffered defeat from the Fātimite Caliph Manṣūr, and the Fātimite dynasty recovered all the territory it had lost.
The civil war in the north among the Christians ended favourably to Ramiro II. He took Fernan Gonzalez prisoner, and only set him free on swearing fealty and obedience; and forced him further to give up his county and to marry his daughter Urraca to Ordoño, Ramiro's son. Ramiro thus lost the real loyalty of Castile, which henceforth was opposed to León. Ramiro II died in 951 and a war of succession broke out between his sons Ordoño III and Sancho, supported by the Navarrese and his uncle Fernan Gonzalez, who preferred his nephew to his son-in-law. Ordoño III, the final victor in the civil strife, sought peace with the Muslims, and 'Abd-ar-Rahmān was thus left free to fight the Fātimites, whose power was increasing every day. In 955 the fourth Fātimite Caliph Mu'izz was planning an invasion of Spain and sent a squadron to Almería, which set fire to all the vessels it encountered and plundered the coast. In 959 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān replied by an expedition against Ifrīḳiya (Tunis), but gained no advantage. To leave himself free for Africa he had made peace with Ordoño III; but owing to Ordoño's death in 957 and the accession of Sancho the Fat the calm was broken.
Sancho, who attempted to crush the nobles and to restore the
