:Almanzor

Although there are doubts about the exact date of his birth, everything seems to indicate that it occurred around the year 939.{{sfn|Bariani|2003|p=52}}{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=33}}{{sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=372}}{{sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}} He was born into an Arab landowning family{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=91}} of Yemeni origin,{{sfn|Delgado Hernández|2010|p=127}}{{sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} belonging to the al-Ma'afir tribe.{{sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}}{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} They had been established since the conquest of Visigothic Iberia in Torrox, a farm by the mouth of the Guadiaro river,{{sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=372}}{{sfn|Cano Borrego|2004|p=}}{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=35}}{{sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=28}}{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} belonging to the cora (territorial subdivision) of al-Jazīrah (governed from al-Jazīrah al-Khaḍrāʾ الجزيرة الخضراء, the site of modern Algeciras).{{sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}}{{sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}} His family had received lands there from Tariq ibn Ziyad as reward to an ancestor, Abd al-Malik, who had distinguished itself in the taking of Carteia during the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.{{sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=372}}{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}}{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=35}}{{sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=28}}{{efn|The abundance of place names derived from Arabic Turrux in Andalusia- mainly in the provinces of Málaga and Granada – has led several cities to mistakenly be designated as the birthplace of the Al-Andalus general.{{sfn|Martínez Enamorado|Torremocha Silva|2003|p=59}}}}

Some of the family had served as Qadis and jurists.{{sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=91}}{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} The family's position improved significantly with the appointment of ibn Abi ʿĀmir's paternal grandfather as Qadi of Seville and his marriage to the daughter of a vizier, governor of Badajoz and doctor to Caliph Abd al-Rahman III.{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=38}} ibn Abi ʿĀmir's father, Abd Allah, was described as a pious, kind and ascetic man,{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=39}} who died in Tripoli{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} while returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca.{{sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=41}}{{sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=31}} His mother, Burayha, also belonged to an Arab family.{{sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}} Even so, the family was middle class, modest{{sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=109}} and provincial.{{sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}}

File:Die Gartenlaube (1875) b 213.jpg, in a nineteenth-century representation. After completing his studies as a faqīh, the young Almanzor had to adopt this profession due to the poor economic situation of his family after the death of his father.]]

Though still very young, Ibn Abi ʿAmir moved to Córdoba,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=30}} where he developed his studies in law and letters under the tutelage of his maternal uncle.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=398}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=39}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=54}} This training was intended to facilitate entering the state administration,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}} because the opportunities for advancement in the military were limited to Arabs.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=109}} Like many other youth from wealthy families, he received training in interpretation of the Quran, prophetic tradition and application of Sharia, thus completing his education as a faqīh,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=29}} with the intention of becoming a judge,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=30}} and from this time he retained his taste for literature.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=31}} Instructed by renowned masters of Islamic legal tradition and letters, he showed talent in these studies.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=399}}

The death of his father and the bad family situation led him to abandon his studies and take the profession of scrivener.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=42}} After occupying a modest position as a scribe along the alcázar and mosque of Córdoba – close to the offices of the Administration – to earn his livelihood,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}} the youth soon stood out for his talent and ambition{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=91}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}} and he began his political career as a clerk in the audience chamber of the capital's chief Qadi, Muhammed ibn al-Salim,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=42}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=399}} an important advisor to the Caliph Al-Hakam II despite the fact that his positions were exclusively religious and not political.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=42}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir soon caught the attention of Vizier Ja'far al-Mushafi,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}} head of the civil administration, who would introduce him to caliphal court, probably on the recommendation of Ibn al-Salim.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=400}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=43}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=32}} Already noted for his knowledge and professional competence, he began to accumulate positions in the Administration.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=33}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, in his thirties,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=54}} was one of the young functionaries who took part in a generational turnover of the court at the beginning of Al-Hakam's reign.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=43}}

File:Juan Gimenez Martin - In the Harem.jpg scene. Shortly after joining the caliphal Administration, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir forged a lasting alliance with the mother of the heir to the throne, the favorite Subh, which was only broken in 996 by Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's ambitions, which Subh considered a threat to her son Hisham.]]

In late February of 967,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=46}} he was given charge of Abd al-Rahman, son and heir of Al-Hakam II by his favorite,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=109}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=58}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=45}} the Basque{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=60}} Subh (Aurora),{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=91}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=78}} a slave with very diverse training, from singing to Islamic jurisprudence to poetry, who owed her power to her ascendancy over the caliph as the mother of his children.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=46}} With her, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir established a privileged relationship extremely beneficial for his career.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=400}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|pp=45–46}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=75}} Although his role was probably secondary,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}} his responsibility managing the estates of the heir to the throne and those of his mother granted Ibn Abi ʿĀmir close proximity to the reigning family,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=45}} and he quickly began to accumulate important positions.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=48}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=55}} Seven months after his first appointment, and thanks to the intercession of the royal favorite,{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=75}} he became director of the mint,{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=75}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=48}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=48}} and in December 968,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=48}} he was named treasurer of the vacant inheritances.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=400}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=48}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=49}}{{efn|According to the law, the goods of those who died intestate and lacking a male relative or clear heir passed to the public treasury. The position held by Ibn Abi ʿĀmir had responsibility for supervising this. Given the complexity of Islamic inheritance law, it required detailed knowledge.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=49}}}} The following year he was promoted to Qadi of Seville and Niebla,{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=75}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=49}} one of the most important in the state, and at the death of his charge Abd al-Rahman in 970,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}} he was placed in the same role for the young heir, Hisham.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=400}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=58}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=45}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=49}} By this time he had married the sister of the head of the caliphal guard, a client of the new heir,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=47}} and began to accumulate wealth. A residence was built in al-Rusafa,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}} near the former palace of Abd al-Rahman I, and he began to make sumptuous gifts to the Caliph's harem.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=64}} He was accused of embezzlement{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=75}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}} and removed from his post as head of the mint in March 972,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=50}} but was helped financially to cover the alleged embezzlement.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=64}} He obtained a police command{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}}{{efn|His charge was the 'middle police' (as-surta al-wusta), probably responsible for the punishment of crimes that did not have a clear penalty in the Quran and the sunnah, as well as the spy service.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|pp=52–53}}}} and he retained his responsibility for the heir and intestate estates.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=51}}

In 973, he undertook the logistical, administrative and diplomatic aspects of the caliphal campaign against the Idrisids in the Maghreb,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=63}} with the official position of High Qadi of the Umayyad possessions in North Africa.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}} The importance of the fleet in the campaign and its dependence on Seville, where Ibn Abi ʿĀmir was Qadi and therefore had responsibility for its facilities, and the confidence of the caliph himself and his chamberlain,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=58}} facilitated his acquisition of this appointment.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=63}} The commission brought with it authority over civilians and military personnel and, in practice, the supervision of the campaign.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|pp=55,58}} A primary responsibility of his role was to obtain the submission of the notables of the region by giving them formal gifts, the acceptance of which indicated their acceptance of the Caliph's authority and a promise of loyalty.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=58}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=51}} Along with military victories, this undermined the enemy's position.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=63}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=59}}

Achieving victory against the Idrisids, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir returned sick to the Cordoban court in September 974,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=51}} intending to recover and resume his duties.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=66}} He never returned to North Africa.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=51}} His experience as a supervisor of the enlisted troops for the Maghreb campaign gave him an appreciation for their possible political utility if he gained control.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=66}} It also allowed him to establish relations with the tribal leaders of the area{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=110}} and with his future powerful father-in-law, Ghalib ibn Abd al-Rahman,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}} who had led the military aspects of the operation.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=66}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=60}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|pp=50,51}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's ability to manage organizational and economic aspects of the campaign was widely recognized,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=60}} and rewarded months before with his reappointment as head of the mint,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=60}} and was the beginning of his political success.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=66}} In the last months of Al-Hakam's illness, he appointed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir inspector of professional troops,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=401}} which included the bulk of the Berbers brought from the Maghreb by the caliph to try to form a force loyal to his person, which guaranteed him access to the throne of the Caliph's young son.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=92}}

The death of Caliph Al-Hakam II on 1 October 976{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=110}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=113}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{efn|Bariani places the death of the Caliph on the night of 30 September.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=70}} The difference may be due to the fact that the Muslim day lasts from one evening to the next and thus does not coincide with the solar day.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=114}}}} and the proclamation of his son Hisham as his successor inaugurated a new period in the political career of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=85}} and also represented a pivotal event in the history of the Caliphate, which thereafter was marked by his tenure{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=45}} and by the gradual withdrawal of the third Caliph.{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=46}} Al-Andalus went through a serious succession crisis at this time, because the designated successor, Hisham, born in 965, was too young to rule.{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=45}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=91}} He had been only eight or nine years old in 974 when his father first introduced him to the process of government,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=80}} and was still a minor when his father died.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=79}}{{efn|There is disagreement over the precise age, with Ávila, Ballestín Navarro and Bariani{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=70}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=117}} giving a lower age than Kennedy, eleven years.}} This was an extraordinary situation because neither the emirate nor caliphate had previously been in the hands of a child.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=69}} Some schools of Islamic jurisprudence rejected the possibility of a minor becoming Caliph,{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=45}} but the Umayyad Al-Andalus tradition had secured the inheritance from parent to child,{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=61}} while the case of Abd al-Rahman III set a precedent for primogeniture.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=77}} Faced with this situation, and despite the efforts of Al-Hakam during the last years of his reign to ensure the succession of his son by associating him with the tasks of government,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=80}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=80}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=47}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=112}} there was division on the succession.{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=99}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=50}} Some favored the appointment of a regent, the chamberlain al-Mushafi, while others preferred to give the caliphal title to one of the brothers of the deceased Caliph, the twenty-seven-year-old al-Mughira,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=81}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=49}} who was the favorite younger son of Abd al-Rahman III.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=68}}

Two prominent Eastern European slaves (saqaliba) occupying important court positions – one, the uncle of the new Caliph{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=71}} – who were present at Al-Hakam's death decided to take action before this division was more widely known.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|pp=114–115}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}} They moved to place al-Mughira on the throne,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=70}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=72}} with the condition that he name his nephew Hisham as his heir,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=71}} and to remove the chamberlain, al-Mushafi,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=114}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=85}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=73}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=112}} thereby giving them ascendance at court over the faction supporting Hisham.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|pp=114–115}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}} The two, who would nonetheless occupy prominent places in the ceremony proclaiming Hisham once their plan was thwarted,{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=71}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=403}} had the support of the thousand saqalibas of the court and control of the palace guard.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=112}} The chamberlain, who was the real center of political power after the death of al-Hakam{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=117}} and even in the last years of his reign,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}} had pretended to support the conspirators, only to subvert them thanks to the support of Berber troops.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=71}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=112}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=115}} He quickly broke up the plot with the help of Subh, and instructed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=81}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=116}} then a senior official and member of the court with privileged access to the young Caliph and his mother, to murder the pretender.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=85}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=72}} The support of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, the right hand of Subh,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=83}} for the young caliph was crucial to his rise to power.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}}

A reluctant but obedient{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=117}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir surrounded al-Mughira's residence with a detachment of one hundred soldiers,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}} broke in and notified al-Mughira of the death of al-Hakam and the enthronement of Hisham II.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=73}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=74}} The young uncle of Hisham expressed his loyalty, and in the face of Almanzor's doubts, demanded compliance with the order for his own assassination.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=402}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=116}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=74}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=74}} Al-Mughira was then strangled in front of his family{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=403}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}} in the living room of his house, and hung on a beam of the roof of an adjacent structure as if he had committed suicide.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=74}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=74}} Al-Mushafi and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir thus fulfilled the wishes of their late master to ensure the accession of Hisham.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=116}} The young Caliph's supporters relied on the Berber guard, created by al-Hakam for his son,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=92}} to face the saqalibas, more than eight hundred of which were expelled from the palace as a result of the crisis.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=83}}

Hisham II was invested as caliph on or about Monday, 1 October 976,{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=81}}{{efn|Various authors give one of three consecutive days (October 1, 2 or 3) as the correct date for the proclamation ceremony of the new caliph.{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=81}}}} with the title of al-Mu'ayyad bi-llah,{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=45}} ("one who receives the assistance of God").{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=80}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir participated in the ceremony, recording in the minutes the oaths of fidelity the attendees made before the cadí.{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=73}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=403}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=80}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1980|p=82}} A week later, 8 October 976, Hisham named al-Mushafi hajib{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=113}} – chamberlain or prime minister – and made the 36-year-old Ibn Abi ʿĀmir the vizier{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=112}}{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=73}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=76}} and delegate of the hajib.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=85}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=403}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=82}} The latter thus maintained a position of singular importance as the link between the new Caliph's mother, in practice representing the government during the minority of Hisham, and the administration headed by al-Mushafi.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=82}} The power was effectively in the hands of a triumvirate formed by chamberlain al-Mushafi, the vizier Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and General Ghalib. Subh, who had been associated with them in the past and now ruled in a way on their behalf; this triumvirate reported all important matters to her and consulted her and acted with her permission. They knew very well that without her support they could not win and stay in power in the uncertain and dangerous political spiral of the court, so they tried very hard to please her.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=91}} To boost the popularity of the new Caliph among the population, and strengthen their own positions, they abolished the unpopular oil tax.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=403}}

File:Weeks Edwin Entering The Mosque 1885.jpg

While the alliance between Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and al-Mushafi had undermined the traditional power of the court slaves,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=83}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=404}} relations between the two soon deteriorated.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=86}} The Chamberlain's failure to address the loss of prestige due to the succession intrigue and Christian incursions{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=404}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=209}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=88}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=127}} that in 976 almost reached the capital{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}} allowed Ibn Abi ʿĀmir to gain control of army troops in the capital of the Caliphate{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=484}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=76}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=210}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=128}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=127}} after assuring Subh of his ability to restore that military prestige.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=404}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=86}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, unlike the chamberlain, was inclined towards the military response to Christian incursions and was willing to command a retaliatory strike.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=127}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=127}} Al-Mushafi, however, had advocated a defensive strategy,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=127}} that, despite Cordoban military power, had conceded the territories north of the Guadiana to the Christian states.{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=209}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=88}} At the same time, and also thanks to the influence of Subh, Ghalib obtained the government of the Lower March and command of the border armies.{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=76}}

In February 977,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=128}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=404}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=5}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=238}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=90}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir left the capital for his first campaigning season in Salamanca, following the strategy of containment of the Christian states maintained during the previous reign.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=86}} His appointment as warden – head of an army – of the capital's troops drew him into alliance with Ghalib – the warden of the border armies – and brought about the end of the triumvirate that the two had formed with al-Mushafi.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=90}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=87}} In his first campaign, lasting nearly two months,{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=5}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=405}} he plundered the outskirts of the baths at Baños de Ledesma.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=6}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=405}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=209}}{{efn|Castellanos Gómez disagrees with the identification of the targets of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's first two campaigns and indicates that the first attacked Baños de Montemayor and the second, La Muela, near Calatañazor.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|pp=67–68}}}} and brought two thousand captured prisoners to Córdoba, but failed to take any fortresses.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=485}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=90}} In autumn, he attacked Salamanca.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=7}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=239}}

Ibn Abi ʿĀmir won military prestige by repulsing Christian forces and attacking Cuéllar during a second 977 campaign,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=238}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=90}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=487}} and Salamanca in the autumn of the same year,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=68}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=8}} not for conquest, but to weaken the enemy and gain domestic popularity.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=487}} This new prestige allowed him to apply for the post of prefect of Córdoba, a role until then filled by a son of al-Mushafi.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=87}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=91}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=132}} The new military reputation of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, with the support of the harem and of Ghalib, allowed him to obtain the position without the chamberlain's consent.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=87}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=91}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=132}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=406}} This led to open confrontation between Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, hitherto an apparent faithful and efficient servant of the chamberlain, and al-Mushafi.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=133}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=406}} The latter owed his power to the support of the previous caliph,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=405}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=92}} and lacked firm support, being considered an upstart by the leading families in Córdoba's governing administration.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=113}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=405}} He tried to counter the alliance between the other two members of the triumvirate by marrying another of his sons to Ghalib's daughter, Asma.{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=76}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=87}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=91}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=133}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=449}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, who had won the favor of the cunning mother of the Caliph, of Ghalib, and of major families of the civil service,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=127}} skillfully intervened, using the intercession of Subh and directly addressing Ghalib to encourage him to withdraw his initial approval{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=76}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=133}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=92}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=450}} and instead allow Ibn Abi ʿĀmir himself to wed Ghalib's daughter.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=487}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=406}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=88}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=92}} The magnificent wedding{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=92}} was held in the spring of 978,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=134}} eight months after the signing of the marriage contract sealed the alliance between Ghalib and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and marked the decline of the power of the chamberlain.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=487}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=88}} A few days after the wedding, Ghalib and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir left for a new campaign targeting Salamanca.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=134}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=88}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=92}} Military successes increased the power of the two allies and further undermined the chamberlain at court.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=88}} The two wardens received new titles as reward for their victories, and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir was named 'double vizier',{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=92}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=69}} for Interior and Defense, the two most important vizierships.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=89}} Ghalib had been given the title of chamberlain at the end of 977 – an unprecedented situation as there had never been two chamberlains at the same time – depriving al-Mushafi of most of his duties,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=92}} and al-Mushafi was subsequently dismissed{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=487}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=450}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{efn|Ballestín Navarro indicates that the dismissal took place on March 26, 978, ten days after Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's wedding.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=134}} Lévi Provençal gives a similar date, March 29.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}}} and imprisoned.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=89}} His relatives and supporters in positions of the Administration were arrested and his possessions confiscated.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=89}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=135}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir succeeded the defeated al-Mushafi as a second chamberlain for the Caliphate.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=134}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=488}} The most important supporting positions were held by trusted people, in some cases family members.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=135}} The elimination of the old chamberlain reduced the visibility of the Caliph, and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir gradually became the intermediary between his lord and the rest of the world.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=97}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=135}} Aware that his power emanated from Hisham, Mansur was careful, however, to continue to maintain the appearance of the minor's sovereignty.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=98}}

Dissatisfaction with the royal minority and the regency fueled a new rebellion organized by prominent members of the court at the end of 978.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=90}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=100}} The conspirators intended to replace Hisham with one of his cousins,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=90}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=100}} a grandson of Abd al-Rahman III.{{Sfn|García Sanjuán|2008|p=74}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}} An improvised attempt to stab the Caliph to death failed{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=100}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}} and led to the brutal repression of the conspirators at the insistence of Subh and Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, not without overcoming the resistance of major legal advisors.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=101}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=91}}{{efn|The failed pretender was executed, though his son ended up becoming Caliph during the civil wars of the next century as Muhammad III.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=102}}}} This ended attempts to replace the Caliph with another member of the Umayyad dynasty,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=153}} resulting in the flight of any possible pretender from the capital,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=106}} the close surveillance of members of the Umayyad family, and the construction{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}} the following year{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=408}} of a new fortified residence for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, {{ill|Medina Alzahira|es}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=108}}{{efn|The city was completely destroyed during the uprising of Muhammad II al-Mahdi against Hisham at the beginning of the civil war in 1009.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=108}}}} (the "Resplendent City"),{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=93}} work that went on until 989.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=91}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=159}} This new residence, located east of Córdoba,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=408}} housed troops loyal to Ibn Abi ʿĀmir and the governmental administration{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=114}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=408}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=112}} and was the center of a sumptuous court.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=92}} In addition, to calm the malaise among the faqīh caused by the repression of the conspirators against Hisham's legitimacy, in which some had colluded, he established a commission to expunge Al-Hakam's library.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=104}}

As a chamberlain, in the summer he had directed a new campaign that lasted more than two months, this time in the northeast against Pamplona and Barcelona.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=488}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=70}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=375}} In the fall he made a new incursion into Ledesma lasting just over a month.{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=8}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=488}} In May the following year, he directed a new campaign in this region.{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=8}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=492}} The next incursion, during the summer, marched to Sepulveda.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=488}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=241}} In September 979,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=241}} he sent troops from Algeciras to the aid of Ceuta, threatened by the victorious campaign of Buluggin ibn Ziri, supported by the Fatimids, against Umayyad clients in the Western Maghreb.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=139}} Later, the city became the center of Algerian Maghreb politics.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=140}}

Having crushed the opposition at court, the two co-leaders soon clashed.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=92}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=113}} The old general resented prostrating before Ibn Abi ʿĀmir,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=494}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=411}} who had devoted himself to strengthening his power and controlling access to the caliph.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}} Ghalib believed the maneuvers of his ally, including the construction of his new palatial residence, the reinforcement of the Berber military units, and his increasing control over the Caliph,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=411}} would eventually damage the dynasty.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}} For his part, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir viewed his father-in-law's continued military prestige as obscuring his own military prowess, despite successive victorious campaigns.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=113}} After several joint raids into Christian lands, mainly led by the veteran Ghalib despite the growing military experience of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, a confrontation erupted in the spring of 980,{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=9}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=242}} over a campaign around Atienza.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=494}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=411}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=451}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=114}} Betrayed by Ghalib and wounded, his life only saved through the intercession of the Qadi of Medinaceli,{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=451}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir reacted by immediately attacking the fortress{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=494}}{{Sfn|Ávila|1981|p=452}} where his father-in-law's family was,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=242}} and looted it once taken.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=114}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=412}} Almanzor continued north, but the confrontation with Ghalib, fortified in Atienza, ended the larger campaign, intended to be his second against Castile since 975.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=494}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=9}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=242}} Ghalib was forced into exile in Christian territory.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=114}} In the fall, Mansur led a new offensive against 'Almunia', which is unidentified.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=495}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=10}} Then in 981, a year of great martial activity for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, he sent five military campaigns north, the first in February and March.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=495}}

After several clashes between the co-leaders that ended favorably for Ibn Abi ʿĀmir,{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=10}} in April of 981, Ghalib, allied with Castile and Pamplona, defeated him.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=93}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=114}} In May, Ibn Abi ʿĀmir counterattacked after having united Berber troops, his own Cordoban men, and some of the border units that his enemy had long commanded.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=114}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=412}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=94}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=497}} Ghalib, meanwhile, had the backing of another part of the Caliphate's border forces and his Castilian and Navarese allies.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=94}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=497}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=116}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=414}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=376}} On the verge of achieving victory over his son-in-law on in the Battle of Torrevicente on 10 July 981,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=244}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=116}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}} Ghalib was found dead in a ravine without signs of violence.{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=12}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=499}} He may have died of natural causes, being almost eighty years old.{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=376}} The troops of his rival, disconcerted by the death of their leader,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}} largely passed to Ibn Abi ʿĀmir's flag.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=116}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=499}} Ghalib's body was severely mutilated,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=414}} first by his own troops at the direction of Ibn Abi ʿĀmir, who wanted to prove his enemy's death,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=116}} and then exposed in Córdoba.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=121}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=377}} Several of his main allies were also killed in the battle,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}} which gave the winner the nickname, Almanzor,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=524}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=115}} ("the Victorious"{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=121}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=149}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=414}}) by which he is known to history.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=95}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=118}} The passing of Ghalib made him sole chamberlain and allowed him to eliminate any possible opponents at court,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=151}} although his legitimacy came only from his position as regent{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=151}} and the tolerance of the Caliph's mother.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=97}} With the elimination of Ghalib, the power of the Caliph became concentrated in his person.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=151}}{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=23}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=94}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=12}}

That same year, he looted Zamora and its surroundings in September.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=501}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=13}} A month later, he attacked Portuguese lands, probably Viseu.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=501}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=245}}

For twenty years, until the breakup of his alliance with the caliph's powerful mother in 996,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=117}} Ibn Abi ʿĀmir acted in part as her representative, advisor, treasurer, mediator, informant, and her commander of the armies and the police.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}} It was she who made most of the decisions, in consultation with her son's regents. She was aware of all the political developments of the government and the court and was a dominant force in factional struggles. Subh had a lot of trust and affection for Almanzor, and her support for him was so obvious to everyone that it caused rumors that they were in love. From the reign of Caliph Al-Hakam II to the new Caliph Hisham, it was Subh's patronage, apart from his own ability, that promoted him and removed his opponents from the court.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}}

Despite years of competition at court for power and administration by others, however, the Caliph, upon reaching his majority, made no move to assume control,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=100}} possibly due to some kind of illness or other inability to carry out the responsibilities of his position.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=101}} The historian, Al-Dhahabi, attributes Almanzor's locking up the Caliph to the latter being "feeble minded, believing what can't be true".{{Cite book |last=الذهبي |first=شمس الدين |url=https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1_%D8%A3%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1/%D9%87%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%8A%D8%AF_%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87 |title=سير اعلام النبلاء}} For example, someone brought him a piece of rock, saying it is from Jerusalem's site of the prophet's ascent to heaven. The Caliph rewarded him with a lot of gold. In another instance, someone presented him with a donkey's hoof, claiming it is Uzair's donkey, and he was also rewarded. Yet another person brought him hair, claiming it is the prophet's.{{Cite book |last=الذهبي |first=شمس الدين |url=https://islamweb.net/ar/library/index.php?page=bookcontents&ID=3755&bk_no=60&idfrom=3896&idto=3896 |title=سير اعلام النبلاء}}

Almanzor not only assumed the caliphal power, but also roles as guardian of the incapacitated Caliph and guarantor of dynastic power.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=101}} The fact that he merely controlled the administration and army on behalf of Hisham, however, made him expendable, so he took steps to strengthen his position.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=122}} The capital was placed in the hands of a cousin of his, who controlled it tightly,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=122}} and he elevated a series of supporters, generally unpopular and considered despotic,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=137}} who managed to gain control of various Taifas after the disintegration of the Caliphate.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=138}} He also allied himself with important border lords.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=137}}

In 988 and 989 he had to face a double threat: a long drought{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=157}} that caused famine and forced him to apply some social measures to alleviate the shortage (delivery of bread or rescission of taxes, among others) and the emergence of a new rebellion against him in which his eldest {{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=102}} son sought to replace him.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=115}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=518}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=147}} Almanzor managed to disrupt the conspiracy,{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} which had been joined by the governor of Zaragoza, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muhammad of the Banu Tujib,{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} and that of Toledo,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=147}} an Umayyad descendant of Caliph Al-Hakam I,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=152}} 'Abd Allah bin Abd al-'Aziz al-Marwanid{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}} also known as Abdullah Piedra Seca,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=115}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=517}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}} but his efforts to get his son to submit proved fruitless.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=148}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}} The latter took refuge with the Castilians after the arrest of his fellow conspirators.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=149}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=420}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}} Almanzor launched a successful campaign against Castile and took custody of his wayward son, who was tried and beheaded at dawn on 8 September 990.{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=518}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=116}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=150}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=101}} Almanzor, still reeling from his eldest son's betrayal, disowned him,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}} while also ordering those who had killed him at Almanzor's command to themselves be executed.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=152}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=103}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=519}} The governor of Zaragoza would be executed in his presence while he spared the life of Piedra Seca--perhaps because Almanzor did not want to stain his hands with Umayyad blood.{{Sfn|Ávila|Marín|1997|p=163}}

Almanzor also clashed with some of his enemy's satirical poets, including Abu Yafar al Mushafi (d. 982) and Yûsuf ibn Hârûn al-Ramâdî (d. 1012–3), known as Abû Ceniza. Persecuted and subsequently forgiven, Abû Ceniza went to Barcelona in 986. Ibrahim ibn Idrís al-Hassani also paid for his satire of Almanzor with exile in Africa. Almanzor threw the poet Abu Marwan al-Jaziri in prison, where he died in 1003.{{cite web|last1=Pérez Rosado|first1=Miguel|title=La época Omeya|url=http://www.spanisharts.com/books/literature/omeyas.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018081629/http://www.spanisharts.com/books/literature/omeyas.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=2018-10-18|work=Historia de las literaturas hispánicas}}

File:Salon Rico 4.jpg, the fortified residence built by Almanzor, where he luxuriously locked Caliph Hisham II after the failed attempt at rebellion by the Caliph's mother Subh, after long years of alliance between them.]]

With Ghalib eliminated and Hisham unable to perform his duties as Caliph, Almanzor began to weigh preparing for the succession, and even the possibility of officially taking power.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=112}} In 989, he tried unsuccessfully to have the faqīhs accept his home, Medina Alzahara, as a major mosque.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=159}} From 991 he positioned his son Abd al-Malik in a similar way as Al-Hakam had done with Hisham, appointing him chamberlain{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=524}} and supreme warden of the Caliphate's armies, although Almanzor did not step aside from those roles himself.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=112}} At the same time, he discreetly presented to the faqīhs who advised the senior Qadi the possibility that he himself might replace the Caliph{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=168}} because Hisham was incapable and no one else in the state could hold the position.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=112}} The regency, formerly founded on Hisham's minority, could no longer be justified by his mere inability to carry out his functions.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=112}} The opinion of the faqīhs, however, was negative:{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=168}} if not Hisham, according to the legal experts, power should devolve to another member of the tribe of Muhammad.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=113}} Almanzor reluctantly accepted the decision, and in the following years he gradually assumed even greater powers, corresponding to those of the Caliph: he confirmed the official appointments with his own seal rather than that of the Caliph, in spite of nominally acting on his behalf,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=166}} he appointed a new mint official, appropriated new titles{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=200}} and moved part of the administration to {{ill|Medina Alzahira|es}}.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=113}} He also had his name mentioned after that of the Caliph in Friday prayers and maintained a court parallel to that of the sovereign at al-Zahira.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}} In 991, under pressure from the chamberlain, the council of faqīhs changed their unfavorable opinion as to the conversion of Medina Alzahira into a major mosque,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=160}} although its use continued to be frowned upon by many notable Cordobans.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=162}}

His attempts to seize power ended the long alliance between Almanzor and Subh in 996.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=116}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=166}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=114}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=77}} After twenty years as a representative of Subh, Almanzor confronted the Caliph's mother and her supporters. After the collapse of the alliance, Subh tried with all her might to eliminate Almanzor and united with all his opponents and enemies and divided the court into two factions, a group supporting Almanzor and the survival of his power and another group supporting Subh whose goal was to take over the government by her son.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=114}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=77}} The clash between the two cliques was triggered by Subh withdrawing eighty thousand dinars from the royal treasury to finance an uprising against the chamberlain.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=165}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=196}} Almanzor discovered this thanks to his agents in the palace,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=114}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=175}} and he reacted by successfully petitioning the council of viziers and Faqīhs to transfer the treasury to his residence, {{ill|Medina Alzahira|es}}, characterizing Subh's theft as a robbery by the harem.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=114}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=176}} With Almanzor sick, Subh took over the palace and tried in vain to block the transfer.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=176}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=115}} Abd al-Malik, Almanzor's son, won the support of the viziers. The Caliph repudiated the rebellion of his mother in late May 996, and Abd al-Malik took custody of both him and the treasure.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=115}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=197}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|pp=176–177}} Though the rebellion she headed on the peninsula lost steam due to loss of funding and the rapid defeat of its few supporters,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=180}} the money she had previously taken allowed Subh to finance a rebellion in the Maghreb.{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=77}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=115}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=178}} Although Almanzor had not yet managed to quell this revolt by fall 997, it failed to gain any support on the peninsula.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=116}}

To reinforce his image and that of his son and successor, Almanzor organized a parade{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}} with the Caliph and his mother.{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=77}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=116}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=181}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=202}} The gesture served to dispel any doubts about the support of the Caliph for Almanzor, and thus refuted the allegations of Ziri ibn Atiyya, launched from the Maghreb.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=202}} After the procession, Hisham was locked up – with all the comforts but without power – in {{ill|Medina Alzahira|es}},{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=116}} where his mother was probably also imprisoned.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=117}} Having lost her confrontation with her former ally, she died shortly thereafter in 999.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=117}} Almanzor, who had renewed his oath of allegiance to the Caliph with the proviso that he delegate{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=415}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=200}} his powers to his family,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=182}} was strengthened. He sent his son to fight the North African rebellion,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=202}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=182}} and took charge of all administrative power.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=116}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=184}} He counted on the approval of the religious leadership who, fearing possible civil war, supported Almanzor's position as guarantor of stability and of the throne of the impotent Hisham.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=117}} State power was divided in two: with Almanzor blocking exercise of the symbolic and legitimate power of the Caliph, while that of the chamberlain and his successors, devoid of legitimacy for being Yemeni Mofarite and not of the Prophet's blood, controlled the Caliphate's policy.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=13}}

The separation between the temporal power, held by Almanzor, and the spiritual, in the hands of Hisham as Caliph, increased the importance of military force, a symbol – along with the new majesty of the chamberlain's court, rival of that of the caliph himself – of the power of Almanzor, and an instrument to guarantee the payment of taxes.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=119}}

Almanzor successfully continued the military reforms begun by Al-Hakam{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=37}} and his predecessors,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=117}} covering many aspects.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=128}} On one hand, he increased the professionalization of the regular army,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=117}} necessary both to guarantee his military power in the capital and to ensure the availability of forces for his numerous campaigns, one of the sources of his political legitimacy.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=128}} This policy de-emphasized levies and other non-professional troops, which he replaced with taxes used to support the professional troops—often saqalibas {{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=117}} or Maghrebis—which freed the natives of al-Andalus from military service.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=15}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=128}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=46}} Recruitment of saqalibas and Berbers was not new, but Almanzor expanded it.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=117}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=126}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=95}} On the other hand, he created new units, unlike the regular army of the Caliphate, that were faithful primarily to himself{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=126}} and served to control the capital.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=128}} Emir Abd al-Rahman I had already used Berbers and saqalibas for a permanent army of forty thousand to end the conflicts that hitherto had plagued the emirate.{{Sfn|Dozy|2010|p=239}} At the time of Emir Muhammad I, the army reached thirty-five to forty thousand combatants, half of them Syrian military contingents.{{Sfn|Cruz Hernández|1992|p=326}} This massive hiring of mercenaries and slaves meant that, according to Christian chroniclers, "ordinarily the Saracen armies amount to 30, 40, 50, or 60,000 men, even when in serious occasions they reach 100, 160, 300 and even 600,000 fighters." {{Sfn|Colmeiro y Penido|1863|p=172}} In fact, it has been argued that, in Almanzor's time, the Cordovan armies could muster six hundred thousand laborers and two hundred thousand horses "drawn from all provinces of the empire."{{Sfn|Colmeiro y Penido|1863|p=173}}

File:Mouwahidoune.jpg. The chamberlain carried out wide-ranging military reforms.]]

In order to eliminate a possible threat to his power and to improve military efficiency, Almanzor abolished the system of tribal units{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=131}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=45}} that had been in decline due to lack of Arabs and institution of pseudo-feudalism on the frontiers,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=130}} in which the different tribes each had their own commander and that had caused continuous clashes, and replaced it with mixed units{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=134}} without clear loyalty under orders from Administration officials.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=129}} The nucleus of the new army, however, was formed increasingly by Maghrebi Berber forces.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=46}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=95}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=130}} The ethnic rivalries among Arabs, Berbers and Slavs within the Andalusi army were skillfully used by Almanzor to maintain his own power{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=95}}--for example, by ordering that every unit of the army consist of diverse ethnic groups so that they would not unite against him;{{sfn|Vara|2012}} and thus preventing the emergence of possible rivals.{{Sfn|Russell|Carr|1982|p=70}} However, once their centralizing figure disappeared, these units were one of the main causes of the 11th-century civil war called the Fitna of al-Andalus.{{Sfn|Russell|Carr|1982|p=70}} Berber forces were also joined by contingents of well-paid Christian mercenaries,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=140}} who formed the bulk of Almanzor's personal guard and participated in his campaigns in Christian territories.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=133}} Almanzor's completion of this reform, begun by his predecessors, fundamentally divided the population into two unequal groups: a large mass of civilian taxpayers and a small professional military caste, generally from outside the peninsula.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}

The increase in military forces and their partial professionalization led to an increase in financial expenses to sustain them.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=117}} This represented an additional incentive to carry out campaigns, which produced loot and land with which to pay the troops.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=133}} These lands, when handed over to the soldiers as payment, were thereafter subject to tribute and ceased to operate under a system of border colonization.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=134}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=118}} The Caliphal army was funded by the taxpaying farmers in exchange for military exemptions, and consisted of local recruits as well as foreign mercenaries – Berber militias, Slav and Black slaves, mercenary Christian companies and jihadi volunteers.{{Sfn|Ríu Ríu|1988|p=72}} At that time al-Andalus was known as Dar Jihad, or "country of jihad", and attracted many volunteers, and though these were relatively few compared to the total army, their zeal in combat more than compensated for this.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}}

According to modern studies, these mercenary contingents made it possible to increase the total size of the Caliphal army from thirty or fifty thousand troops in the time of Abd al-Rahman III to fifty or ninety thousand.{{Sfn|Cruz Hernández|1992|p=326}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|1991|p=23}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=39}} Others, like Évariste Lévi-Provençal, argue that the Cordoban armies in the field with the Almanzor were between thirty-five thousand and seventy or seventy-five thousand soldiers.{{Sfn|Ríu Ríu|1988|p=72}}{{Sfn|Weiner|2001|p=15}} Contemporary figures are contradictory: some accounts claim that their armies numbered two hundred thousand horsemen and six hundred thousand foot soldiers, while others talk about twelve thousand horsemen, three thousand mounted Berbers and two thousand sūdān, African light infantry.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=138}} According to the chronicles, in the campaign that swept Astorga and León, Almanzor led twelve thousand African and five thousand Al Andalus horsemen, and forty thousand infantry.{{Sfn|Colmeiro y Penido|1863|p=173}} It is also said that, in his last campaigns, he mobilized forty-six thousand horsemen, while another six hundred guarded the train, twenty-six thousand infantry, two hundred scouts or 'police' and one hundred and thirty drummers.{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=125|ps=: "Normalmente participaban en sus aceifas doce mil hombres de a caballo, inscritos en la escalilla militar y a los que, además de la acostumbrada soldada, se les proporcionaban una caballería con sus arreos, armas, alojamiento, pagas y gratificaciones para diversos gastos, y forraje para las caballerías, según su categoría."}} or that the garrison of Cordoba consisted of 10,500 horsemen and many others kept the northern border in dispersed detachments.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=140}} However, it is much more likely that the leader's armies, even in their most ambitious campaigns, may not have exceeded twenty thousand men.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=140}} It can be argued that until the eleventh century no Muslim army on campaign exceeded thirty thousand troops, while during the eighth century the trans-Pyrenean expeditions totaled ten thousand men and those carried out against Christians in the north of the peninsula were even smaller.{{Sfn|Cruz Hernández|1992|p=326}}

In the time of Emir Al-Hakam I, a palatine guard of 3000 riders and 2000 infantry was created, all Slavic slaves.{{Sfn|Arié|1984|p=124}} This proportion between the two types of troops was maintained until Almanzor's reforms. The massive incorporation of North African horsemen relegated the infantry to sieges and fortress garrisons.{{Sfn|Arié|1984|p=137}} This reform led to entire tribes, particularly Berber riders, being moved to the peninsula.{{Sfn|González Batista|2007|p=116}}

The main weapon of the peninsular campaigns, which required speed and surprise, was the light cavalry.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=45}} To try to counteract them, the Castilians created the role of "villain knights" – ennobling those free men who were willing to keep a horse to increase the mounted units – through the Fuero de Castrojeriz of 974.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=45}} For similar reasons, the Barcelonan count Borrell II created the figure of the homes of paratge- who obtained privileged military status by fighting against the Cordobans armed on horseback – after losing their capital in the fall of 985.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=93}} In contrast to the prominent role the navy had played in previous decades under Abd al-Rahman III,{{Sfn|De Bordejé Morencos|1992|p=111}} under Almanzor it served only as a means of transporting ground troops,{{Sfn|De Bordejé Morencos|1992|p=113}} such as between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula, or Alcácer do Sal's ships in the campaign against Santiago de Compostela in 997.{{Sfn|De Bordejé Morencos|1992|p=113}}

During this time, military industry flourished in factories around Córdoba.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}} It was said to be able to produce a thousand bows and twenty thousand arrows monthly,{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=39}} and 1300 shields{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}} and three thousand campaign stores annually.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=39}}

As for the fleet, its network of ports was reinforced with a new base in the Atlantic, in Alcácer do Sal, which protected the area of Coimbra, recovered in the 980s, and served as the origin of the units that participated in the campaign against Santiago.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=134}} On the Mediterranean shore, the naval defense was centered at the base of al-Mariya, now Almería.{{Sfn|Martínez Enamorado|Torremocha Silva|2001|p=146}} The dockyards of the fleet had been built in Tortosa in 944.{{Sfn|Vernet Ginés|1979|p=403}}

Initially the maritime defense of the Caliphate was led by Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad ibn Rumahis, a veteran admiral who had served Al-Hakam II and was Qadi of Elvira{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=153}} and Pechina.{{Sfn|Martínez Enamorado|Torremocha Silva|2001|p=146}} He repulsed raids by al-Magus (idolaters) or al-Urdumaniyun ('men of the north', vikings),Crespi, Gabriele (1982). "L'Europe Musulmane". Les Formes de la nuit. No. 2. Saint Léger-Vauban: Zodiaque, pp. 55. En francés. {{ISSN|0763-7608}}. in the west of al-Andalus in mid-971;{{Sfn|Morales Romero|2004|p=195}} at the end of that year, when they tried to invade Al Andalus,{{Sfn|Allen|ʻAbd_al-Raḥmān|2002|p=130}} the admiral left Almería and defeated them off the coast of Algarve.{{Sfn|Tapia Garrido|1976|p=166}} In April 973, he transported the army of Ghalib from Algeciras{{Sfn|Martínez Enamorado|Torremocha Silva|2001|p=93}} to subdue the rebellious tribes of the Maghreb and end Fatimid ambitions in that area.{{Sfn|Jiménez Losantos|1999|p=78}} As in 997, when the Al Andalus fleet hit the Galician coast, in 985 it had ravaged the Catalans.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=62}} During the Catalan campaign, Gausfred I, Count of Empurias and Roussillon, tried to gather an army to help the locals but then several flotillas of Berber pirates threatened their coasts, forcing them to stay to defend their lands.{{Sfn|Frers|2008|p=66}}

To ensure control of the military, Almanzor eliminated the main figures who could have opposed his reforms:{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=134}} in addition to the death of Ghalib, the participation of the governor of Zaragoza in the plot of his eldest son served as a justification to replace him{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=152}} with another, more amenable, member of the same clan, the Banu Tujib.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=135}} The admiral of the fleet,{{Sfn|Suárez Fernández|1976|p=354}} who maintained a significant budget, was poisoned{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}} in January 980{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=154}} and replaced by a man faithful to Almanzor.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=153}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=135}}

As in the Army he encouraged the recruitment of Berbers faithful to him, so in the Administration he favored the saqalibas to the detriment of native officials, again with the aim of surrounding himself with personnel loyal only to him.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=15}}

Land transport routes were dotted with strongholds,{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=77}} since ancient Al Andalus dignitaries sought to control communications.{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=40}} Messengers were bought in Sudan and specially trained to handle Almanzor's messages and to transmit the official reports that his foreign ministries wrote about the annual campaigns.{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=40}}

The Caliphate ruled by Almanzor was a rich and powerful state. According to Colmeiro, it is estimated that in a pre-industrial society, for every million inhabitants, ten thousand soldiers could be mustered. Even assuming the chronicles exaggerated tenfold the real numbers – these speak of eight hundred thousand soldiers – the caliphate could have had eight million inhabitants.{{Sfn|Colmeiro y Penido|1863|p=173}} Those who use more bullish criteria estimate between seven{{Sfn|Matés Baco|Agustín González|2006|p=48}} and ten{{Sfn|Ríu Ríu|1988|p=66}} million, but the population was probably much fewer.{{Sfn|Matés Baco|Agustín González|2006|p=48}}{{Sfn|Colmeiro y Penido|1863|p=173}} Traditionally speaking, around the year 1000, the caliphate occupied four hundred thousand square kilometers and was populated by three million souls.{{Sfn|Fusi Azpurúa|2012|p=50}} By comparison, the Iberian Christian states comprised one hundred and sixty thousand square kilometers and half a million people.{{Sfn|Fusi Azpurúa|2012|p=49}} By the 10th century, 75% of the population under the Umayyads had converted to Islam, a number reaching 80% two centuries later.{{Sfn|Marín Guzmán|2006|p=109}} By comparison, at the time of the Muslim invasion, Spain had about four million inhabitants, although there is no shortage of historians who would raise that estimate to seven or eight million.{{Sfn|Marín Guzmán|2006|p=109}}

His realm also had large cities like Córdoba, which surpassed one hundred thousand inhabitants; Toledo, Almería and Granada, which were around thirty thousand; and Zaragoza, Valencia and Málaga, all above fifteen thousand.{{Sfn|Matés Baco|Agustín González|2006|p=48}} This contrasted sharply with the Christian north of the peninsula, which lacked large urban centers.{{Sfn|Mitre Fernández|1979|p=134}}

One of the instruments Almazor used to strengthen his power was his court,{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=14}} at which writers and poets celebrated his virtues—praise that was used as propaganda among the people.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=208}}

File:Prayer in the Mosque.jpg.]]

The stability and prosperity of the regime and its rigorous defense of Islam, which Almanzor showed through various pious gestures, gave him popular support.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}} Also numbered among these gestures were copying a Koran that he took with him during his campaigns,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=216}} and the expansion of the mosque of Cordoba (987–990).{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=54}} The political ambitions of the chamberlain had important repercussions on culture and religion, which he was forced to support.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=208}} His image as Islam's leader led to the censorship of some sciences considered non-Islamic, and to the purging from Al-Hakam's important library of works considered heretical.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=407}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=104}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=209}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=36}} His political interests required him to ingratiate himself with the lawyers when his power was still unsteady, and led him to censure logic, philosophy and astrology, despite his appreciation for culture.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=105}} His meddling in religious matters led to the appointment of his own uncle, himself a veteran qadi, as the principal qadi after the death of the hostile Ibn Zarb, who had opposed some of his proposals.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=219}} The main expression of his defense of religion, however, was his military campaigns against the Christian states, a method of legitimization that the caliphs had used before but which Almanzor took to extremes.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}} Successive victories, despite their transient benefits to the realm, had a great propaganda effect,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=226}} both in the Caliphate and in the enemy states of the north.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}} To each crisis of his political career, he responded with large and/or multiple military campaigns.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=226}}

The campaigns also had a beneficial economic effect because of the loot – especially abundant slaves – obtained by them and because of the security they granted to the borders.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=225}}

The meager Cordoban cereal production forced the Umayyads to obtain stocks from the Maghreb, and, thus, to oppose Fatimid expansion in the region, which jeopardized their supply.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=162}} At stake was commercial control of the western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=30}} Unlike his campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula and with the exception of the one carried out jointly with Ghalib at the beginning of his career, Almanzor did not take a personal role in the fighting in the Maghreb, but simply a supervisory one.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=216}} The effective direction of the fight was in the hands of subordinates, whom he would ceremonially accompany to Algeciras to see off the troops as they crossed the strait.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=216}}

Abd al-Rahman III had conquered Ceuta and Tangier and fortified them in 951, but he had not been able to prevent the Fatimids from taking control of the Maghreb in 958–959, after burning the Umayyad fleet in Almería in 955.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=30}} In 971, Umayyad clients suffered another heavy defeat.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=387}} The Fatimid march to Egypt around 972 benefitted the Umayyads, who were left facing a Fatimid client, the Sanhaja Berber Buluggin ibn Ziri.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=30}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=387}}

File:ZiríesComoClientesFatimíes.svg

The Caliphate's strategy began by the fortification of Ceuta, manned by a large garrison.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=430}} In May of 978,{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=141}} the Zenata tribes seized the city of Sijilmasa, at the northern end of the trans-Saharan gold, salt and textile trading routes, and where they founded a pro-Córdoba principality ruled by Jazrun ibn Fulful,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=430}} the city's conqueror.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=139}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=137}} The success of the Umayyad political machine, continued by Almanzor,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=430}} allowed him to concentrate the offensive power of the Berber tribes on the expansion of the regions that recognized his legitimacy and limited clashes among those accepting Córdoba's protection.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=139}} This conquest, which gave great prestige to Hisham and Almanzor—and affronted the Fatimids because it was the city where its founder had appeared before the Berber Kutama tribe{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=141}}--allowed them to counteract the influence of the Fatimids who, after moving to Egypt, had left these regions under the control of the Zirid dynasty.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=121}} Ibn Ziri launched a victorious campaign that temporarily disrupted the Zenata and allowed him to recover much of the Western Maghreb before besieging Ceuta.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=148}} The refugees there asked for help from Almanzor, who sent a large army that he accompanied as far as Algeciras, to repulse Ibn Ziri, who decided to retire{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}} although he continued harassing Umayyad supporters until his death in 984.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=148}} The effects of Ibn Ziri's inroads, however, were transient: at his death most of the tribes of the region once again accepted Cordoban religious authority.{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=154}}

In 985, before the Idrisid Al-Hasan ibn Kannun, who had proclaimed himself Caliph, returned from his refuge in the Fatimid court in Egypt, Almanzor saw off a new army that crossed the Maghreb to confront him under command of his cousin.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=144}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=156}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=94}} Reinforcements were later dispatched, commanded by the eldest son of Almanzor, and his father-in-law, the governor of Zaragoza.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=144}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=156}} Overwhelmed, the Idrisid negotiated his surrender and proceeded to the Cordoban court,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=144}} but Almanzor had him assassinated on his way to the city, and later executed{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=432}} his cousin who had granted safe conduct to the rebel.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=431}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=156}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=146}}

The disagreements among the various tribal leaders loyal to the Umayyads did produce one crisis: the favor shown by Almanzor to Ziri ibn Atiyya of the Maghrawa Berbers upset other chiefs, who ended up rising in arms. They defeated the Cordoban governor of Fez, who died in combat, and Ibn Atiyya in April 991.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=432}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=143}} After this defeat, Almanzor understood the need to grant control of the region to local Berber leaders instead of trying to govern through Iberian delegates.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=144}} This strategy aimed to attract the support of local tribes to the Umayyads.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=144}} Fundamentally, the fate of the campaigns depended on the changing loyalties of the various tribal leaders, although, in general, the Zenata supported the Umayyads while the Sanhaja supported the Fatimids.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=121}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=144}} Almanzor unsuccessfully attempted to divide the territory between Ibn Attiya and another tribal chief who had abandoned the Fatimids—the uncle of al-Mansur ibn Buluggin, son and successor of Buluggin ibn Ziri.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=432}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=144}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=178}} So, Almanzor gave all lands controlled by the Caliphate to Ibn Atiyya,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=433}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}} who managed to defeat the rebels and supporters of the Fatimids in 994,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=433}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=146}} and founded a small principality centered on Oujda.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=433}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=146}}

The crisis between Almanzor and the royal family in 996–998 caused a confrontation between him and Ibn Atiyya,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=180}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=192}} who considered Almanzor's attitude towards the Caliph to be disrespectful.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=146}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=191}} Seeing in Ibn Atiyya a threat to his power, Almanzor dismissed him{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=121}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=110}} and sent forces to combat him.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=180}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=433}}{{Sfn|Ballestín Navarro|2004|p=192}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=147}} The Banu Maghrawa, the Banu Ifran and Banu Miknasa joined the Al Andalus forces landing at Tangier,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=433}} soon receiving reinforcements commanded by the Almanzor's son,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=110}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=434}} already chamberlain.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=147}} At the beginning of August 998, Almanzor himself went to Algeciras with the numerous reinforcements destined to participate in the campaign.{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=182}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=562}} In October 998, Abd al-Malik managed to defeat Ibn Atiyya and put him to flight,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=147}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=435}} although Almanzor still sought local support for the Umayyad administration.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=148}} Until his death, however, the territorial government remained in the hands of successive Iberian officials.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=435}}

The campaigns in the Maghreb also had an important consequence for Iberian politics: Almanzor brought Berber troops and warlords to the peninsula,{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=121}} both to form his personal troops and as contingents in the campaigns against Christian territories.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=148}} Some of these leaders were even named viziers, which did not prevent their occasional fall from grace.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=148}}

File:Map Almanzor campaigns-es.svg

Since the death of Ramiro II of León in 950, his kingdom along with the kingdom of Pamplona and the county of Barcelona had been forced to recognize Cordoba's sovereignty through an annual tribute, with default resulting in reprisal campaigns.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=150}} Almanzor began carrying these out in 977 and he continued to do so until his death in 1002,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=214}} although most were concentrated in his later years when he was most powerful.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=150}} In parallel with the Maghreb campaigns, Almanzor was devoted to the war against the Christian kingdoms of Iberia. Although the various sources are in conflict on the precise details, it is estimated that he made about fifty-six campaigns,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=151}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=34}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}} twenty of these being in the first period from 977 to 985.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=152}} In these offensives, Almanzor balanced attacks on centers of political and economic power with those against sites of religious importance.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=159}} The famous raids, cavalry strikes and aceiphas, literally "summer campaigns" and called by the Christians cunei, had as their tactical and economic objective the taking of captives and cattle from the enemy; strategically they sought to generate a state of permanent insecurity that prevented Christians from developing an organized life outside of castles, fortified cities or their immediate vicinity.{{Sfn|Cardaillac|2002|p=341}} Their main feature was the short duration of the campaigns and the remoteness of the points reached by them.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=159}} In spite of the military success of the many incursions, they failed to prevent in the long term ruin of the state.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=211}} Although they halted the advance of Christian repopulation and dismantled important fortresses and cities, they failed to significantly alter the boundaries{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=62}} because Almanzor rarely occupied the territories he plundered.{{Sfn|González Batista|2007|p=117}}{{efn|He did disrupt, albeit temporarily, the Leonese repopulation effort south of the Duero. In the Portuguese portion, the Leonese lost Viseu, Lamego and Coimbra and further east, the repopulated land around the Tormes. At the eastern end of the Duero, Almanzor seized a series of important fortresses such as Gormaz, Osma, Clunia (San Esteban) and finally the Castilian outpost of Sepúlveda.}}

The region most affected and vulnerable to the campaigns was the Douro valley.Maíllo Salgado, Felipe (1993). "Sobre la presencia de los muslimes en Castilla la Vieja en las Edades Medias". Seminario, repoblación y reconquista: actas del III Curso de Cultura Medieval. Aguilar de Campoo: Centro de Estudios del Románico, septiembre de 1991. Coordinación por José Luis Hernando Garrido & Miguel Ángel García Guinea, pp. 17–22, {{ISBN|84-600-8664-X}}. This was the destination for Christian settlers who were driven to repopulate it due to demographic pressure in Asturias,{{Sfn|Menéndez Bueyes|2006|p=36}} the heartland of the kingdom. This area was protected by the Cantabrian Mountains, a narrow strip of land{{Sfn|Baró Pazos|Serna Vallejo|2002|p=452}} that nonetheless could defend itself—unlike Leon or Galicia, which were more vulnerable to Moorish cavalry raids.{{Sfn|Escalera|1866|p=53}} In fact, Almanzor's campaigns reached all of Christian Spain with the exception of the Cantabrian coast, and contributed to León and Galicia coming more solidly under the sovereignty of the Asturian Crown,{{Sfn|Escalera|1866|p=53}} but still with great autonomy, due to the weakness of the kingdom's expansion.{{Sfn|Baró Pazos|Serna Vallejo|2002|p=452}}

The first eight campaigns were carried out with the support of his father-in-law Ghalib.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=66}} Among them were three in the Salamanca lands (two in 977 and one in 978), another against Cuéllar (the same year), one against Pamplona and Barcelona (the long summer campaign of 978), one against Zamora (or maybe Ledesma, according to other authors, in the spring of 979) and one against Sepúlveda (in the summer of 979, which he could not take, although he razed its surroundings).{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|pp=67–73}} The eighth was one in which he accompanied to Algeciras the forces destined to Maghreb, between September 979 and early 980.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=73}}

The ninth campaign, in the spring of 980, was that during which the rupture between Almanzor and Ghalib took place and is known as "the one of betrayal" for Ghalib's surprise assault on Almanzor's son-in-law at Atienza.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=74}} The confrontation followed a short raid through Castilla.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=74}} The next four offensives (one in the fall of 980, two in the spring{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=77}} of the following year and one in the summer{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=78}}) took place during the conflict between the two rivals.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=75}} During the last campaign – that of Almanzor's victory over Ghalib, he regained control of the fortresses of Atienza and Calatayud, held by partisans of his rival.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=79}}

File:Weeks Edwin Lord Interior of the Mosque at Cordova.jpg in the mosque of Córdoba, from a nineteenth-century painting. Almanzor presented himself as champion of Islam in his numerous campaigns against the peninsular Christian states and used this image to justify his political power.]]

As a result of the defeat of Ghalib in the summer of 981, Almanzor's forces continued their advance, looting and destroying the lands around Zamora{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=80}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=14}} at the end of the summer.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=79}} Later, they defeated Pamplona, León and Castile at the Battle of Rueda{{Sfn|Repiso Cobo|2008|p=310}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=85}} (or Roa{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=504}}) and recovered Simancas,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=85}} which was razed.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=152}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=503}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=15}}{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}} The loss of Simancas disrupted the Christian defensive line along the Duero, which later campaigns eventually dismantled.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=86}} These losses, along with Almanzor's support for rivals to the Leonine crown, first Bermudo{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=506}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=218}} against the weakened Ramiro III{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=152}} and later rival counts, one of which briefly took the throne, plunged León into a political crisis that it submitted to Almanzor for arbitration.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=86}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=153}} In general, Almanzor supported the noble families opposed to the monarch of the moment to take advantage of intra-Leonese squabbles.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=156}} From 977, he launched attacks into León's territories almost annually.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=504}}

The Galician and Portuguese counts, hostile to Ramiro III as they had been to his father, sought to appease Almanzor after the Trancoso and Viseu campaign{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=81}} of the beginning of the winter of 981{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=81}} and for this they sought to impose a new king, Bermudo II,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=87}} crowned in October 982{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=88}} in Santiago while Almanzor pillaged{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=15}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=84}} the outskirts of León.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=505}} Castile and León, continually exposed to Cordoban assaults, on the other hand, supported Ramiro.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=506}} In 983, Almanzor plundered the area surrounding Salamanca in the fall, after failing to take it,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=86}} and Sacramenia at the beginning of winter,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=506}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=87}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=17}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=248}} slaughtering the men and taking the rest of the population captive.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=507}} In his attempt to halt the Christian advance south of the Duero, he continued assailing the Leonese and Castilian positions in this area and the most important points of repopulation, such as Zamora (984){{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=18}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=87}} or Sepúlveda the same year,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=89}} razed before he fell on Barcelona.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=508}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=249}} The destruction of Sepúlveda forced Ramiro to submit to Córdoba in 985, the year of his death{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=88}} due to natural causes, as Bermudo had done before.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=509}} Bermudo's submission had been accompanied by that of other Portuguese and Galician counts.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=510}} This imposed the presence of Cordoban forces on the Leonese kingdom, as a protectorate, which it remained until 987.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=88}}

The expulsion of the Cordoban troops from León{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=21}} by Bermudo triggered the 988 campaign against Coimbra{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=153}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=22}} and the torching of the Monastery of San Pedro de Eslonza in the first retaliatory campaign in 986,{{efn|Castellanos Gómez places the looting of this monastery and of Sahagún during a different campaign: Almanzor's thirty-first against Astorga.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|pp=98–99}}}} in which he also took León,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=251}} Zamora,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=251}} Salamanca and Alba de Tormes{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=95}} before attacking Condeixa.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=95}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|pp=512–513}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=250}}

{{clear}}

In 982, he launched the "campaign of the three nations' possibly against Castile, Pamplona and the Girona Franks,{{Sfn|Bramon|1994|p=127}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=247}} that forced the king of Pamplona, Sancho II to give to Almanzor a daughter,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=501}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=82}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|pp=377–378}} who would take the name Abda.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=218}} This union would produce the last of Almanzor's political dynasty, Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=501}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}}{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=120}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=218}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=82}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=378}} In 985, exploiting the subjugation of León and Castile, he attacked Barcelona,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Bramon|1994|p=127}}{{Sfn|Seco de Lucena Paredes|1965|p=19}} which he managed to take in early July, treating it harshly.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=510}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=90}} Almanzor had previously attacked the region in the summer of 978,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=70}} when for several months he ravaged the plains of Barcelona and parts of Tarragona, conquered by the Barcelona counts some decades earlier.{{Sfn|Bramon|1994|p=125}} In an almost three-month-long campaign,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=89}} he captured the city with the help of the fleet, imprisoned Viscount Udalard I and Archdeacon Arnulf and sacked the monasteries of Sant Cugat del Vallés and Sant Pere de les Puelles.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=90}}

In 987, he made two campaigns against Coimbra, conquering it during the second on 28 June.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=251}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=513}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=96}} Unlike previous offensives, focused on looting and destruction, this time he repopulated the area with Muslims, who held the area until 1064.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=514}} In 988 and 989, he again ravaged the Leonese Duero valley.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=514}} He assaulted Zamora, Toro, León{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}} and Astorga, which controlled access to Galicia,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=99}} and forced Bermudo to take refuge among the Galician counts.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=98}}

After concentrating most of his attacks on León, he went on to launch his forces against Castile from 990, previously the object of only four of thirty-one campaigns.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=517}} The west of León would, however, suffer one last attack in December 990, in which Montemor-o-Velho and Viseu, on the defensive line of the Mondego River, were surrendered, probably as punishment for the asylum that Bermudo had granted to the Umayyad "Piedra Seca".{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|pp=104–105}} The failed collusion of his son Abd Allah and the governors of Toledo and Zaragoza triggered a change of objective.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=517}} Fearing his father's anger over his participation in the plot along with the arrested governor of Zaragoza, Abd Allah had fled to take refuge with count García Fernández of Castile.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=520}} As punishment and to force the surrender of his son, the chamberlain took and armed Osma{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}} in August.{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=253}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=100}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=521}} The broad raid achieved its goal and on 8 September, the Castilian count returned to Abdullah to his father{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=103}} in return for a two-year truce.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=522}} Moving on from Castile, the following year he attacked the kingdom of Pamplona.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=524}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=107}} Sancho II tried to appease the Cordoban leader with a visit to the capital of the Caliphate{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=82}} at the end of 992,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=421}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=107}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=219}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=381}} but this failed to prevent his lands from being subject to a new foray in 994.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=525}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=257}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=109}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=383}} The last half of the decade saw general submission of Pamplona to the Caliphate along with its repeated attempts to avoid any punitive Cordoban campaigns.{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|pp=384–385}}

In 993 Almanzor attacked Castile again, for unknown reasons, but failed to take San Esteban de Gormaz,{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=258}} simply looting its surroundings.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=109}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=530}} He succeeded in taking it the following year, along with Clunia.{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=258}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=530}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=111}} The loss of San Esteban dismantled Castilian defenses along the Douro, while the taking of Clunia endangered lands south of the Arlanza.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=533}}

At the end of 994, on the occasion of the wedding between Bermudo II and a daughter of the Castilian count,{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=155}} Almanzor took León{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=533}} and Astorga,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}} the Leonese capital since 988, and devastated the territory, perhaps also intending to facilitate a future campaign against Santiago de Compostela.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=116}} In May 995,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=125}} the Castilian Count Garcia Fernandez was wounded and taken prisoner{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=219}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=535}} in a skirmish near the Duero and, despite the care of his captors, he died in Medinaceli.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=155}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=422}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=118}} He was succeeded by his prudent son Sancho,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=120}} who had fought with Córdoba against his father{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=219}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=112}} and managed to maintain an informal truce{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=120}} with the Caliphate between 995 and 1000.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=155}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=556}} The ties between Castile and the chamberlain were sealed with delivery of one of the new count's sisters to Almanzor as a wife or concubine.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=155}} Urraca Sanchez, nicknamed "the Basque", adopted the Arabic name Abda after being given to Almanzor by her father Sancho II of Pamplona. Urraca and Almanzor had a single son, named Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo that became chief minister of Hisham II, Caliph of Córdoba. As retribution for the support of the former count by the Banu Gómez, counts of Saldaña and former allies of Córdoba, their seat of Carrión was attacked in a raid that reached the monastery of San Román de Entrepeñas.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=557}} At the end of 995, a new incursion against Aguiar,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=123}} southeast of Porto, forced Bermudo II to return the former Umayyad conspirator "Piedra Seca."{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=557}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=123}}

In 996, he again launched a raid on León and destroyed Astorga{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=116}} to force them to resume the tribute payments.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=557}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=42}} In the summer of 997, he devastated Santiago de Compostela,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=156}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=558}} after the Bishop, Pedro de Mezonzo, evacuated the city.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=424}} In a combined operation involving his own land troops, those of Christian allies{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=127}} and the fleet,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=128}} Almanzor's forces reached the city in mid-August.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=424}} They burned the pre-Romanesque temple dedicated to the apostle James the Great,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=128}} and said to contain his tomb.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=483}}{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=156}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=424}} The prior removal of the saint's relics allowed the continuity of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route that had begun to attract pilgrims in the previous century.{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=423}} The campaign was a great triumph for the chamberlain at a delicate political moment, as it coincided with the breakdown of his long alliance with Subh.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=156}} The Leonese setback was so great that it allowed Almanzor to settle a Muslim population in Zamora on his return from Santiago,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=424}} while the bulk of the troops in Leonese territory remained in Toro.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=561}} He then imposed peace terms on the Christian magnates that allowed him to forego campaigning in the north in 998, the first year this happened since 977.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=561}}

In 999, he made his last foray to the eastern borderlands, where, after passing through Pamplona,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=562}} he sacked Manresa and the plains of Bages.{{Sfn|Bramon|1994|p=128}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=133}} In April he attacked the County of Pallars,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=562}} governed by the kin of the mother of count Sancho García of Castile.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=132}} It is suggested that the attacks could have been triggered by the Pamplonan king and Catalan counts ceasing to pay tribute to Córdoba, taking advantage of Almanzor's distraction in crushing Ziri ibn Atiyya.{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=133}}

Also in 999, the death of Bermudo II in September produced a new minority in León through the ascent to the throne of Alfonso V,{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=562}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=425}} but this did not prevent the formation of a broad anti-Córdoba alliance that united not just the people of Pamplona and Castile,{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=219}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=387}} but also the ancient Christian clients of Almanzor.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=159}} Sancho of Castile, until then a faithful ally who had managed to avoid the incursions of Córdoba into his territory, joined the alliance{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=425}} and provoked Almanzor into launching an attack.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=568}} To his great surprise, the Castilian Count assembled a large force bringing together his own troops and those of his allies,{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=425}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=220}} who intercepted the Córdoban units north of Clunia{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=426}} in a strong defensive position.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=568}} In the hard-fought battle of Cervera{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=219}} (29 July 1000),{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=159}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=387}}{{Sfn|Molina|1981|p=262}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=134}} Almanzor's side gained the victory,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=134}}{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=374}} after the rout of much of his army{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=220}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=426}} through the intervention of eight hundred cavalry.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=178}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=427}}

After the victory, at the end of the year Almanzor made another strike at the western border, where he took Montemor-o-Velho on December 2, 1000,{{Sfn|Cañada Juste|1992|p=388}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=136}} after overcoming fierce resistance.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=572}} For its part, the kingdom of Pamplona suffered several attacks after the defeat of Cervera,{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}} in 1000 and again in 1001 and 1002.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=575}} After Cervera, Almanzor accelerated the number of strikes, despite being sick{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=220}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=427}} and needing to be carried on a litter at times.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=575}}

His last campaign, also victorious, was made in 1002,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=427}} when he was mortally ill, having suffered from gouty arthritis for twenty years.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=580}} He aimed to avenge the quasi-rout of Cervera and punish the Castilian count Sancho, architect of the alliance that almost defeated him.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=578}} San Millán de la Cogolla, dedicated to the patron saint of Castile and in the territory of Pamplona, allied with Sancho, was sacked and burned; in Pamplona, Almanzor ordered a retreat due to his worsening health,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=579}} and he died en route to Córdoba before reaching the capital.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=24}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}}

The victorious campaigns of Almanzor were due to his skills as a military tactician and the army he commanded, which was a highly professionalized force of a size that dwarfed any counterattack that the Christian kings and counts could mount to meet him: "rarely above 1000 knights or 2000 or 3000 men in total." They had few weeks in spring or summer to gather what was often no more than a few hundred knights and men.{{cite book| last=García Fitz| first=Francisco| year=2014| url=https://www.academia.edu/7551732 |article=La batalla de Las Navas de Tolosa: el impacto de un acontecimiento extraordinario"| title=Las Navas de Tolosa 1212–2012: miradas cruzadas|editor1= Patrice Cressier| editor2=Vicente Salvatierra Cuenca| isbn=978-84-8439-830-1|pages=11–36| publisher=Universidad de Jaén}} "The most frequent average seems to have been a knight for every two or three auxiliary riders (squires and others) and one of these for every two or three peons."{{Sfn|Montaner Frutos|Boix Jovaní|2005|p=143|ps=: "La media más frecuente parece haber sido un caballero por cada dos o tres jinetes auxiliares (escuderos y otros) y de uno de estos por cada dos o tres peones."}} In those days an army of ten or fifteen thousand men – a third knights and the rest peons – was the maximum concentration of forces that a medieval ruler could muster when presenting battle.{{Sfn|Montaner Frutos|Boix Jovaní|2005|p=144|ps=: "Un ejército de diez o quince mil hombres se considera de todo punto excepcional y pocos historiadores estarían dispuestos a admitir que en alguna ocasión ese número fuera realmente alcanzado por una hueste durante una batalla."}} For example, Muslim campaigns had formations of only one thousand to ten thousand men.{{Sfn|Cardaillac|2002|p=341}} "An army of ten or fifteen thousand men is considered in every way exceptional and few historians would be willing to admit that on some occasion that number was actually reached by a host during a battle."{{Sfn|Montaner Frutos|Boix Jovaní|2005|p=144|ps=: "Un ejército de diez o quince mil hombres se considera de todo punto excepcional y pocos historiadores estarían dispuestos a admitir que en alguna ocasión ese número fuera realmente alcanzado por una hueste durante una batalla."}}

In his campaigns Almanzor emphasized cavalry operations, so much so that he had reserved the islands of the Guadalquivir for horse breeding.{{Sfn|Fletcher|1991|p=23}}{{Sfn|Vara|2012|}} These marshes around Seville, Huelva and Cádiz had suitable pastures for raising horses.{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=39}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=70}} Mules were imported from the Balearic Islands and camels from Africa, the latter raised in the semi-desert area between Murcia and Lorca.{{Sfn|Fletcher|1999|p=39}} According to Vallvé, "Normally participating in his campaigns were twelve thousand horsemen, enrolled in the military hierarchy and provided, in addition to that customarily due the usual soldier, with a horse with their harnesses, weapons, accommodation, payments and bonuses for various expenses, and fodder for their horses, based on their role."{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=125|ps=: "Normalmente participaban en sus aceifas doce mil hombres de a caballo, inscritos en la escalilla militar y a los que, además de la acostumbrada soldada, se les proporcionaban una caballería con sus arreos, armas, alojamiento, pagas y gratificaciones para diversos gastos, y forraje para las caballerías, según su categoría."}}

Almanzor's campaigns were a continuation of a policy from emirate times: the capture of numerous contingents of Christian slaves, the famous esclavos or francos, in Arabic Saqtïliba or Saqáliba (plural of Siqlabi, "slave").{{Sfn|Lirola Delgado|1993|p=217}} These were the most lucrative part of the loot, and constituted an excellent method of paying the troops, so much so that many campaigns were little more than slave raids.{{Sfn|Isla Frez|2010|p=203}} From these came many eunuchs who were essential elements for handling harems; others were purchased already castrated in Verdun and disembarked in Pechina or Almería according to Liutprand of Cremona.{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=61|ps=: ". . . surtían los gineceos de la familia real y de la aristocracia como concubinas y esposas legítimas."}} However, the most valuable take was the beautiful girls, selected according to "the predilection they had for the blonde and redhead Galicians, Basques and Franks,"Holgado Cristeto, Belén (2010). "Tras las huellas de las mujeres cristianas de al-Ándalus". En Actas del Congreso Conocer Al-Ándalus: perspectivas desde el siglo XXI. Edición de María Mercedes Delgado Pérez & Gracia López Anguita. Sevilla: Alfar, pp. 110. {{ISBN|978-84-7898-338-4}}. ". . . la predilección que tenían por las rubias y pelirrojas gallegas, vasconas y francas." usually also described as having blue eyes, large breasts, wide hips, thick legs and perfect teethBellido Bello, Juan Félix (2006). "El cuerpo de la mujer en la literatura andalusí". En Sin carne: representaciones y simulacros del cuerpo femenino: tecnología, comunicación y poder. Barcelona: ArCiBel, pp. 342. Edición de Mercedes Arriaga Flórez, Rodrigo Browne Sartori, José Manuel Estévez Saá y Víctor Silva Echeto. {{ISBN|978-84-935374-2-5}}. that "the gynaecea of the royal families and the aristocracy supplied as concubines and legitimate wives."{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=61|ps=: ". . . surtían los gineceos de la familia real y de la aristocracia como concubinas y esposas legítimas."}} As in the case of the eunuchs, some slaves were bought from pirates attacking the Mediterranean coast, others came from Slavic or Germanic populations passing through several hands from Vikings, and there were also blacks imported from Sudan.{{Sfn|Ríu Ríu|1989|p=39}} Most of these slaves, however, were children who would be Islamized and assigned to work at court, including the work of eunuchs.{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=61|ps=: ". . . surtían los gineceos de la familia real y de la aristocracia como concubinas y esposas legítimas."}} Jews and, to a lesser extent, Muslims were involved in this lucrative trade, thanks to their ability as interpreters and ambassadors.{{Sfn|Vallvé Bermejo|1992|p=61|ps=: ". . . surtían los gineceos de la familia real y de la aristocracia como concubinas y esposas legítimas."}}

During the rule of Almanzor's Amirí regime, the already-rich Al-Andalus slave market reached unprecedented proportions. For example, the Moorish chronicles mention that after destroying Barcelona in July 985, Almanzor brought seventy thousand chained Christians to the great market of Córdoba{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=225}} and, after destroying Simancas in July 983, he captured seventeen thousand women{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=503}} and imprisoned ten thousand nobles.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=504}} Obviously, these figures must be carefully evaluated, but likewise given the enormity this type of trade reached during his tenure, Almanzor is described as "the slave importer".{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=225}} The commoners of Córdoba even asked his successor to stop the trade since, to get a good husband for their daughters they had to raise the dowries to exorbitant levels because the young Christian slaves were so numerous and cheap that many men preferred to buy them instead of marrying Muslims.{{Sfn|Martínez Enamorado|Torremocha Silva|2001|p=168}}

File:Algeciras Almanzor.jpg, Algeciras]]

Almanzor died on August 9, 1002{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}} of illness at the age of about sixty-five{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=227}}{{Sfn|Fletcher|2000|p=94}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=428}} in Medinaceli.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=223}} During his last days, the dying chamberlain commended the government of the caliphate to his son, who hurried to Córdoba after his death to take his father's position and avoid any fickle opposition from the supporters of the family of the Caliph.{{Sfn|Echevarría Arsuaga|2011|p=223}} The Historia silense says:{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=581|ps=Pero, al fin, la divina piedad se compadeció de tanta ruina y permitió alzar cabeza a los cristianos pues, en el año decimotercero de su reino, después de muchas y horribles matanzas de cristianos, fue arrebatado en Medinaceli, gran ciudad, por el demonio, que le había poseído en vida, y sepultado en el infierno.}}

{{quote|But, at last, divine piety took pity on such ruin and allowed Christians to lift their heads because, in the thirteenth year of his kingdom, after many and horrible massacres of Christians, he was taken away in Medinaceli, a great city, by the devil, who had possessed him in life, and buried in hell.}}

His body was covered with the linen shroud that his daughters had woven with their own hands from raw material derived from the income of the estate inherited from their ancestors in Torrox, seat of their lineage.{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=82}} His remains were interred in the courtyard of the palace, covered by the dust{{Sfn|Kennedy|1996|p=119}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}} his servants had shaken from their clothes after each battle against the Christians.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=227}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=428}}{{Sfn|Gálvez Vázquez|1996–1997|p=82}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=19}} According to the Arab historian Ibn 'Idhari, the following verses were carved in marble as an epitaph:{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=577}}{{Sfn|Castellanos Gómez|2002|p=137}}{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=19}}

{{quote|His exploits will teach you about him,

as if you saw it with your own eyes.

No one like him will ever given by God to the world again,

nor will anyone to defend the frontiers who compare with him.}}

The dynasty Almanzor founded continued with his son Abd al-Malik al-Muzaffar,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=28}} and then his other son, Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo,{{Sfn|Sánchez Candeira|1999|p=29}} who was unable to preserve the inherited power, and was murdered in 1009.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=11}} The fall of the Amiris set off the Fitna of al-Andalus, a civil war that resulted in the disintegration of the centralized Caliphate into regional taifa kingdoms.{{Sfn|Valdés Fernández|1999|p=11}}

Later, the legend of a defeat immediately prior to his death in a Battle of Calatañazor appeared first in the Estoria de España and was later adorned in other documents.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=584}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=232}}{{Sfn|Lévi Provençal|1957|p=429}} Tradition holds that "in Calatañazor Almanzor lost the drum" (en Calatañazor Almanzor perdió el tambor) a term indicating that he there lost his joy because of the defeat that was inflicted.{{Sfn|Martínez Díez|2005|p=582}}{{Sfn|Bariani|2003|p=233}}

{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin|35em|indent=yes}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Allen

|first1= William Edward David

|last2= ʻAbd al-Raḥmān

|first2=ʻAlī Ḥajjī

|editor-first1=Mariano

|editor-last1=González Campo

|title= Al-Ghazal y la embajada hispano-musulmana a los vikingos en el siglo IX

|year= 2002

|location= Madrid

|publisher=Miraguano ediciones

|isbn= 9788478132386

|page=238}}

• {{cite book

|last= Arié

|first= Rachel

|title= Historia de España. España Musulmana: siglos VIII-XV.

|year= 1984

|publisher= Tomo III. Labor

|isbn= 9788433594235

|page=558}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Ávila

|first = María Luisa

|title = La proclamación (bay'a) de Hisam II. year 976 d.C

|year = 1980

|journal = Al-Qanṭara

|volume = 1

|pages = 79–114

|issn = 0211-3589

|url = http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/13325

|hdl = 10261/13325

}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Ávila

|first = María Luisa

|title = Sobre Galib y Almanzor

|year = 1981

|journal = Al-Qanṭara

|volume = 2

|pages = 449–452

|hdl = 10261/3693

|issn = 0211-3589

|url = http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/3693

}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Ávila

|first1= María Luisa

|last2= Marín

|first2= Manuela

|publisher= publisher CSIC – CSIC Press

|title= Biografías y género biográfico en el Occidente Islámico

|year= 1997

|isbn= 9788400076450

|page=460}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ballestín Navarro

|first= Xavier

|publisher= Edicions Universitat Barcelona

|title= Al-mansur y la Dawla'amiriya: Una dinámica de poder y legitimidad en el occidente musulmán medieval

|year= 2004

|isbn= 9788447527724

|page= 27

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=PI8fFL-jQx4C

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Bariani

|first= Laura

|title= Almanzor

|year= 2003

|publisher= Nerea

|isbn= 9788489569850

|page= 298

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xCPQjWPxzx8C

}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Baró Pazos

|first1= Juan

|last2=Serna Vallejo

|first2= Margarita

|title= El Fuero de Laredo en el octavo centenario de su concesión

|year= 2002

|publisher= Santander: Universidad de Cantabria

|isbn= 9788481023039

|page=605}}

• {{cite book

|last= Beladiez Navarro

|first= Emilio

|title= Almanzor: un César andaluz

|year= 1959

|publisher= Madrid: Escelicer

|page=182}}

• {{cite journal

|last = De Bordejé Morencos

|first = Federico Fernando

|title = El Islam, la España musulmana y la mar

|year = 1992

|journal = Revista de historia naval

|number = 39

|pages = 97–114

|issn = 0212-467X}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Bramon

|first = Dolors

|title = Más sobre las campañas de Almanzor

|year = 1994

|journal = Anaquel de Estudios Árabes

|volume = 5

|pages = 125–128

|issn = 1130-3964

|url = http://journals.ucm.es/index.php/ANQE/article/view/ANQE9494110125A

}}{{dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

• {{cite book

|last= Cano Borrego

|first= Pedro Damián

|title= Al-Ándalus: El Islam y los pueblos ibéricos

|year= 2004

|publisher= Sílex ediciones

|isbn= 9788477371311

|page=251}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Cañada Juste

|first = Alberto

|title = Las relaciones entre Córdoba y Pamplona en la época de Almanzor (977-1002)

|year = 1992

|journal = Príncipe de Viana

|volume = 53

|number = 196

|pages = 371–390

|issn = 0032-8472

|url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=15940

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Cardaillac

|first= Louis

|title= Santiago Apóstol: El santo de los dos mundos

|year= 2002

|publisher= El Colegio de Jalisco

|isbn= 9789686255683

|page=371}}

• {{cite book

|last=Castellanos Gómez

|first= Juan

|title=Geoestrategia en la España musulmana: las campañas militares de Almanzor

|year= 2002

|publisher= Ministerio de Defensa

|isbn= 9788478239672

|page=199}}

• {{cite book

|last= Colmeiro y Penido

|first= Manuel

|title= Historia de la economía política en España

|year= 1863

|publisher= Tomo I. Madrid: Imprenta de Cipriano López

|page=508}}

• {{cite book

|last= Cruz Hernández

|first= Miguel

|title= El islam de Al-Ándalus: historia y estructura de su realidad social

|year= 1992

|publisher= Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Agencia Espyearla de Cooperación Internacional, Instituto de Cooperación con el Mundo Árabe

|isbn= 9788472326354

|page=654}}

• {{cite book

|last = Delgado Hernández

|first = Antonio

|display-authors = etal

|publisher = Real Academia de la Historia

|title = Estudios de Numismática arábigo-hispana: Considerada como comprobante histórico de la dominación islámica de la Península

|year = 2010

|isbn = 9788489512894

|page = 487

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aa3t-k414hcC

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Dozy

|first= Reinhart P.

|title= Historia de los musulmanes de España. Las guerras civiles

|year= 2010

|publisher= Madrid: Biblioteca Turner

|isbn= 978-84-7506-941-8

|page=464}}

• {{cite book

|last= Echevarría Arsuaga

|first= Ana

|title=Almanzor: un califa en la sombra

|year= 2011

|publisher=Silex Ediciones

|isbn= 9788477374640

|page=272}}

• {{cite book

|last= Escalera

|first= Evaristo

|title= Crónica del principado de Asturias

|year= 1866

|publisher=Madrid: Ronchi & compañía

|page=192}}

• {{cite book

|last= Fletcher

|first= Richard A.

|title= The Quest for El Cid

|year= 1991

|publisher= Oxford University Press

|isbn= 978-0-19-506955-6

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=W-MIChVmZwQC

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Fletcher

|first= Richard A.

|publisher= Nerea. Traducido por Javier Sánchez García-Gutiérrez

|title= El Cid

|year= 1999

|isbn= 9788489569294

|page=248}}

• {{cite book

|last= Fletcher

|first= Richard

|publisher= Nerea

|translator= Julio Rodríguez Puértolas

|title= La España mora

|year= 2000

|isbn= 9788489569409

|page= 213

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aa3t-k414hcC

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Frers

|first= Ernesto

|title= Más allá del legado pirata. Historia y leyenda de la piratería. La fabulosa aventura de los bandoleros del mar.

|year= 2008

|publisher= Barcelona: Ediciones Robinbook

|isbn= 978-84-7927-963-9

}}

• {{cite book

|last = Fusi Azpurúa

|first = Juan Pablo

|title = Historia mínima de España

|year = 2012

|publisher = México: Turner

|isbn = 9788415427650

|page = 304

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sogO4N8mMIoC

}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Gálvez Vázquez

|first = Maria Eugenia

|title = Almanzor, un héroe andalusí

|year = 1996–1997

|journal = Philologia Hispalensis

|volume = 11

|number = 1

|pages = 73–83

|doi = 10.12795/PH.19961997.v11.i01.05

|issn = 1132-0265

|url = http://institucional.us.es/journals/philologia/11_1/art_5.pdf

|doi-access = free

}}{{dead link|date=September 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

• {{cite journal

|last = García Sanjuán

|first = Alejandro

|title = Legalidad islámica y legitimidad política en el Califato de Córdoba: la proclamación de Hisam II

|year = 2008

|journal = Al-Qanṭara

|volume = 29

|number = 1

|pages = 45–77

|doi = 10.3989/alqantara.2008.v29.i1.49

|issn = 0211-3589

|url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2596556

|doi-access = free

|hdl= 10272/5556

|hdl-access= free

}}

• {{cite book

|last= González Batista

|first= Juan

|title= España estratégica: guerra y diplomacia en la historia de España

|year= 2007

|publisher= Madrid: Sílex ediciones

|isbn= 9788477371830

|page=501}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Guerrero Navarrete

|first1= Yolanda

|last2= Miranda García

|first2= Fermín

|title= Medieval: territorios, sociedades y culturas

|year= 2008

|publisher= Silex Ediciones

|isbn= 9788477371793

|pages= 455

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=iNuRSqEbse8C

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Isla Frez

|first= Amancio

|title= Ejército, sociedad y política en la Península Ibérica entre los siglos VII y XI

|language= es

|year= 2010

|location= Madrid |publisher= Editorial CSIC

|isbn= 978-84-9781-574-1

|pages= 245

|url=

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Jiménez Losantos

|first= Federico

|title= Los nuestros: cien vidas en la historia de España

|year= 1999

|location= Barcelona |publisher=Planeta

|isbn= 978-84-08-03304-2

|pages=437}}

• {{cite book

|last=Kennedy

|first= Hugh

|title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: a political history of al-Andalus

|year= 1996

|publisher=Longman

|isbn= 978-0-582-49515-9

|pages=342}}

• {{cite book

|last= Lévi Provençal

|first= Évariste

|title= Historia de España: España musulmana hasta la caída del califato de Córdoba: 711-1031 de J.C.

|year= 1957

|publisher= Tomo IV. Espasa-Calpe. Edición de Ramón Menéndez Pidal & Leopoldo Torres-Balbás. Traducción de Emilio García Gómez

|isbn= 9788423948000

|page= [https://archive.org/details/historiadeespana0002unse/page/523 523]

|url= https://archive.org/details/historiadeespana0002unse/page/523

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Lirola Delgado

|first= Jorge

|title= El poder naval de Al-Ándalus en la época del califato omeya.

|year= 1993

|publisher= Granada: Universidad de Granada

|isbn= 978-84-338-1797-6

|page=498}}

• {{cite book

|last= Manzano Moreno

|first= Eduardo

|title= Conquistadores, emires y califas. Los omeyas y la formación de al-Andalus.

|year= 2006

|publisher= Crítica

|isbn= 9788484326748

|page= 620

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=F6VOJUcW-XgC

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Manzano Moreno

|first=Eduardo

|title=Épocas medievales. Vol. 2 de la Historia de España, dirigida por Josep Fontana y Ramón Villares |year=2018

|publisher=Crítica/Marcial Pons

|location=Barcelona-Madrid

|isbn=978-84-9892-808-2}}

• {{cite book

|last= Martínez Díez

|first= Gonzalo

|title= El condado de Castilla, 711-1038: la historia frente a la la leyenda, volume 2

|year= 2005

|publisher= Marcial Pons Historia

|isbn= 9788495379948

|page= 819

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KgiDVZfBipwC

}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Martínez Enamorado

|first1= Virgilio

|last2=Torremocha Silva|first2=Antonio

|publisher= Málaga: publisher Sarriá

|title= Almanzor y su época: al-Ándalus en la segunda mitad del siglo X

|year= 2001

|isbn= 978-84-95129-55-0

|page=197}}

• {{cite book

|last= Marín Guzmán

|first= Roberto

|title= Sociedad, política y protesta popular en la España musulmana

|year= 2006

|publisher= publisher Universidad de Costa Rica

|isbn= 9789968936965

|page=611}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Martínez Enamorado

|first1= Virgilio

| last2= Torremocha Silva| first2=Antonio

|publisher= publisher Sarrià

|title= Almanzor y su época: al-Ándalus en la segunda mitad del siglo X

|year= 2003

|isbn= 9788495129550

|page=197}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Matés Baco

|first1= Juan Manuel

|last2= Agustín González

|first2=Enciso

|title= Historia económica de España

|year= 2006

|publisher= Barcelona: publisher Ariel

|isbn= 9788434445345

|page=1020}}

• {{cite book

|last= Menéndez Bueyes

|first= Luis Ramón

|title= Reflexiones críticas sobre el origen del reino de Asturias

|year= 2006

|publisher= Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca

|isbn= 9788478009336

|page=271}}

• {{cite book

|last= Mitre Fernández

|first= Emilio

|title= La España medieval: sociedades, estados, culturas.

|year= 1979

|publisher=Ediciones Akal

|isbn= 9788470900945

|page=392}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Molina

|first = Luis

|title = Las campañas de Almanzor a la luz de un nuevo texto

|year = 1981

|journal = Al-Qanṭara

|volume = 2

|pages = 209–263

|hdl = 10261/14109

|issn = 0211-3589

|url = http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/14109

}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Molina

|first = Luis

|title = Las campañas de Almanzor. Nuevos datos

|year = 1982

|journal = Al-Qanṭara

|volume = 3

|pages = 467–472

|hdl = 10261/14138

|issn = 0211-3589

|url = http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/14138

}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Montaner Frutos

|first1= Alberto

|last2= Boix Jovaní

|first2=Alfredo

|title= Guerra en Šarq Al'andalus: las batallas cidianas de Morella (1084) y Cuarte (1094).

|year= 2005

|publisher= Instituto de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente Próximo

|isbn= 9788495736048

|page=342}}

• {{cite book

|last= Morales Romero

|first= Eduardo

|title= Historia de los vikingos en España: ataques e incursiones contra los reinos cristianos y musulmanes de la Península Ibérica en los siglos IX-XI

|year= 2004

|publisher= Madrid: Miraguano Ediciones

|isbn= 978-84-7813-270-6

|page=238}}

• {{cite journal

|last = Repiso Cobo

|first = Salvador

|title = Puntualizaciones sobre dos campañas amiries: la de Roda del 983 y la de San Martín de 1007

|year = 2008

|journal = Historia, Instituciones, Documentos

|volume = 35

|pages = 309–319

|issn = 0210-7716

|url = http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3254521

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ríu Ríu

|first= Manuel

|title= Historia de España: Edad Media (711–1500)

|year= 1988

|publisher= Tomo II. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe. Edición de José María Blázquez

|isbn=978-84-239-5090-4

|page=630}}

• {{cite book

|last= Ríu Ríu

|first= Manuel

|title= Manual de historia de España: Edad Media

|year= 1989

|publisher= Tomo II. Espasa Calpe. Edición de José María Blázquez

|isbn= 978-84-239-5092-8

|page= [https://archive.org/details/edadmedia71115000000rium/page/644 644]

|url= https://archive.org/details/edadmedia71115000000rium/page/644

}}

• {{cite book

|last1= Russell

|first1= Peter Edward

|last2=Carr| first2=Raymond

|title= Introducción a la cultura hispánica: Historia, arte, música

|year= 1982

|publisher= Barcelona: publisher Crítica

|isbn= 978-84-7423-186-1

|page=361}}

• {{cite book|last = Sánchez Candeira|first = Alfonso|title = Castilla y León en el siglo XI, estudio del reinado de Fernando I| year = 1999|editor1= Rosa Montero Tejada | publisher = Real Academia de la Historia|location = Madrid|language =ES|isbn = 978-84-8951241-2}}
• {{cite journal

|last = Seco de Lucena Paredes

|first = Luis

|title = Acerca de las campañas militares de Almanzor

|year = 1965

|journal = Miscelánea de Estudios árabes y Hebraicos

|volume = 14-15

|number = 1

|pages = 1–23

|hdl = 10261/36603

|issn = 0544-408X

|url = http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/36603

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Suárez Fernández

|first= Luis

|title= Historia de España: Antigua y Media.

|year= 1976

|publisher= Tomo I. Madrid: Ediciones Rialp

|isbn= 978-84-321-1882-1

|page=729}}

• {{cite book

|last= Tapia Garrido

|first= José Ángel

|title= Almería musulmana: hasta la conquista de Almería por Alfonso VII (711-1147 de J. C.)

|year= 1976

|publisher= Tomo II. Almería: Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Almería

|page=512}}

• {{cite book

|last= Valdés Fernández

|first= Fernando

|title= Almanzor y los terrores del milenio

|year= 1999

|publisher= Santa María la Real

|isbn= 9788489483095

|page= 160

|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YkhpAAAAMAAJ

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Vallvé Bermejo

|first= Joaquín

|title= El Califato de Córdoba

|year= 1992

|publisher= Madrid: publisher Mapfre. Edición de Elena Romero.

|isbn= 978-8-47100-406-2

|page=351}}

• {{cite book

|last= Vara

|first= Carlos

|title= Las Navas de Tolosa

|year= 2012

|publisher= Barcelona; Buenos Aires: Parkstone International

|isbn= 978-84-350-4582-7

}}

• {{cite book

|last= Vernet Ginés

|first= Juan

|title= Estudios sobre la historia de la ciencia medieval

|year= 1979

|publisher= Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona

|page=508}}

• {{cite book

|last= Weiner

|first= Jack

|title= El Poema de mio Cid: el patriarca Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar trasmite sus genes

|year= 2001

|publisher= Kassel: Reichenberger

|isbn= 978-3-935004-38-1

|page=172}}

{{refend}}

{{Commons category|Almanzor}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:930s births

Category:1002 deaths

Category:10th-century Arab people

Category:11th-century Arab people

Category:10th-century people from al-Andalus

Category:Political office-holders in Europe

Category:11th-century people from al-Andalus

Category:People from Algeciras

Category:Al-Andalus military personnel

Category:People from the Caliphate of Córdoba