Sevilla was one of the
earliest
Moorish
conquests (in 712) and,
as part of the caliphate of
Córdoba, 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 Jaén,
Murcia and Córdoba 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 Alcázar ,
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.
