Muhammad al-Tawil of Huesca

Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Tawil (

In October 908, Muhammad al-Tawil launched a campaign against the County of Pallars. The castellan of Roda sent emissaries to sue for peace, offering tribute, but al-Tawil rejected them and destroyed the castle. He launched another attack on Monte Pedroso and Oliola, taking 300 prisoners whom he ransomed for 13,000 gold pieces.^[6] In 911, al-Tawil marched north, passing through the territory of his brother-in-law Count Galindo Aznárez II of Aragon. He then met up with Abd Allah, brother of Lubb ibn Muhammad al-Qasawi, for a strike against Pamplona. While the campaign experienced initial success, Sancho I of Pamplona eventually routed the southern troops and reasserted Pamplona's role as feudal lords over Galindo's Aragon.^[7] The next year saw Muhammad al-Tawil launch a campaign against Sunyer, Count of Barcelona, forcing him to flee the field of battle. However a second Barcelona campaign resulted in the death of Muhammad al-Tawil on 23 October 913.^[8]

Family and legacy

Muhammad al-Tawil married Sancha Aznarez, daughter of

• Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad succeeded his father in Huesca and Barbastro, giving Monzón to Amrus. Abd al-Malik faced two immediate challenges from Banu Shabrit kinsmen who entered Huesca intending to seize control, but the residents failed to support them and each was killed on the day they entered the city, Muhammad ibn Walid ibn Abd Allah ibn Shabrit on 8 August 915, and Zakariyya ibn Isa ibn Musa ibn Shabrit on 15 March 916. Abd al-Malik then had Asbag ibn Isa and Abd al-Malik ibn Isa, the brothers of Zakariyya, killed. His own brother Amrus was next to challenge him and Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad was captured and strangled on 25 December 918.[11]
• Amrus ibn Muhammad had been given Monzón by his brother in 914, but was rejected by the residents, who invited Muhammad ibn Lubb al-Qasawi to replace him.
  Abd-ar-Rahman III to appoint him governor there.^[13] He then enlisted the help of Sancho I of Pamplona and Bernard I Unifred of Ribagorza to reduce Monzón.^[14] He subsequently fought against his brother Furtun, the Banu Qasi, and the Banu Tujib, taking and ransoming several important hostages, but he found himself being captured and ransomed multiple times as well. He submitted to the Caliph in 933/4 and died 6 June 935.^[15]
• Furtun ibn Muhammad was nominated in Huesca in place of his brother Amrus.[16] In 931/2 he signed a pact with Muhammad ibn Hasim, rebel leader of the Banu Tujib, and in response Abd ar-Rahman punished Huesca by imprisoning many men. Huesca responded by expelling Furtun in 933. He initially fled to Las Peñas de San Miguel y Aman, but then went to Córdoba and humbled himself before the Caliph and was restored to Huesca in 936/7.^[17] However, at the Battle of Simancas he withheld his troops from the fight, and he was hunted down near Calatayud by Salama ibn Ahmad ibn Salama, taken to Córdoba and crucified in front of its Al-Qasr.^[18]
• Yahya ibn Muhammad received Huesca when Furtun fled in 933 and governed Mérida from 935. However, he fell under suspicion and was imprisoned. Following Furtun's fall he was returned to favor and given Barbastro. He died there 20 December 951.^[19] He was succeeded in Barbastro by his brother Lubb ibn Muhammad, who died suddenly at Córdoba in December 955.^[20] Other sources report a brief interlude by Walid ibn Muhammad.^[21]
• Musa Aznar ibn Muhammad was given
  Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona, dying 18 December 954.^[22] He was followed in Huesca by a son Abd al-Malik ibn Musa, who was later forced to share Huesca with his cousin, Yahya ibn Lubb, who had followed his father Lubb in Barbastro.^[23] The last identified member of the family was Walid ibn Abd al-Malik of the Banu Shabrit, who took part in a 974 tournament in Córdoba. Control of Huesca passed to the Banu Tujib.^[24]

While always nominally a vassal of Córdoba, the rebellious, semi-autonomous actions of the Banu al-Tawil along with those of their rivals the Banu Qasi set the stage for their Banu Tujib and Banu Hud successors to establish a fully independent taifa state in what had been the Upper March of the Caliphate.

Family tree

Sources

• Alberto Cañada Juste, "Los Banu Qasi (714-924)", in Principe de Viana, vol. 41 (1980), pp. 5–95 (1980)
• Francisco Codera, "Mohámed Atauil, Rey Moro de Huesca", Revista de Aragón, vol. 1 (1900), pp. 81–85
• Fernando de la Granja, "La Marca Superior en la Obra de al-'Udrí", Estudios de la Edad Media de la Corona de Aragón, vol. 8 (1967), pp. 457–545.
• Kosto, Adam J. (2017). "Aragon and the Catalan Counties Before the Union". In Sabaté, Flocel (ed.). The Crown of Aragon: A Singular Mediterranean Empire. Brill. pp. 70–91.
• Philippe Sénac, La frontière et le hommes, VIIIe-XIIe siècle: le peuplement musulman au nord de l'Èbre et les débuts de la reconquête aragonaise, Maisonneuve & Larose, 2000.

References