absolute power of his predecessors, was deposed in 958, for reasons which included excessive corpulence, through a conspiracy headed by Fernan Gonzalez. Ordoño IV the Bad was elected king, while Sancho, who was supported by his grandmother, the aged and ambitious Tota of Navarre, sent ambassadors to ask the Caliph of Cordova for aid. The ambassador, whom 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān sent to Navarre, was an excellent Jewish physician who cured Sancho, while by his diplomatic ability he brought to Cordova the rulers of Navarre. They were welcomed there with a splendour that dazzled them. 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān had now at his feet not only the haughty Tota whose valour had guided her armies to victory, but also the son of his enemy, Ramiro II, the other victor of Simancas and Alhandega. To induce the Caliph to renew his attack on Leon, the unfortunate Sancho was obliged to hand over ten fortresses. With the help of the Arabs Sancho, who no longer could claim the name of Fat, took Zamora in 959 and Oviedo in 960. Afterwards he invaded Castile and took Count Fernan prisoner, while Ordoño IV fled to Burgos. At this point 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān fell ill and died on 16 October 961 at the age of seventy, after reigning for forty-nine years.
'Abd-ar-Raḥmān III was the greatest of the Umayyad princes. He saved Andalusia not only from the civil wars but also from the possible foreign domination in the north and south. He established order and prosperity at home and imposed respect and consideration abroad. He encouraged and developed agriculture, commerce, industry, art and science: he beautified Cordova, so that it bore comparison with Bagdad, and he built beside it the city of Az-Zahrā, called after his favourite wife. Outside his realm he contested the command of the Mediterranean with the Fātimites. The Eastern Emperor and the kings of Western Europe opened up a diplomatic friendship with him[1]. To quote the very words of Dozy, our indispensable guide throughout, "But when his glorious reign comes to be studied, it is the worker rather than the work that rouses our admiration. Nothing escaped that powerful comprehensive intellect, and its grasp of the smallest details proved to be as extraordinary as that of the loftiest conceptions. The sagacity and cleverness of this man who by his centralising policy firmly established the unity of the nation and the foundations of his own authority, who by his system of alliances set up a kind of balance of power, whose broad tolerance led him to summon to his council men of different religions, these characteristics are typical of the modern monarch rather than of the medieval caliph."
His successor, Hakam II, was pacific, but when Sancho and Garcia of Navarre failed to fulfil their treaties with his father and Fernan Gonzalez
- ↑ It was 'Abd-ar-Raḥmān's own ambassador at the Court of Oto the Great, Recemund, Bishop of Elvira, who suggested to Liudprand the composition of his history, the Antapodosis. This is a striking instance of the influence of the Caliphate of Cordova on the culture of the West.
