al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani
{{short description|Governor of Al-Andalus from 719 to 721}}
{{Infobox governor
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| alt =
| order =
| office = Governor of Al-Andalus
| term_start = 719
| term_end = 721
| lieutenant =
| predecessor = Al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi
| successor = Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi
| death_date = 721
| parents = Malik al-Khawlani
| battles = Umayyad invasion of Gaul
- Battle of Toulouse (721){{KIA}}
| native_name = السمح بن مالك الخولاني
| native_name_lang = ar
}}
Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani ({{langx|ar|السمح بن مالك الخولاني}}) was the Arab governor general of Al-Andalus from between 719 and 721.{{cite book |author=Lewis, David L. |title=God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-393-06472-8 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WjxXc0SUBFAC&dq=%22Al-Samh+ibn+Malik+al-Khawlani%22&pg=RA1-PA56|page= 56}} In 720, under his governorate he minted the first purely Arab coins in Al-Andalus as part of his fiscal reforms.{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFfJAwAAQBAJ&q=samh |title=Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus |date=2014-06-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-87041-8 |pages=21 |language=en}}
Conquest of remaining Visigothic rule
On al-Samh's accession to office, the Visigothic king Ardo still held a grip over the Lower Ebro and Septimania. Early on al-Samh captured Barcelona, and also Narbonne (720), extinguishing the vestigial Visigothic kingdom there{{cite book | author = Collins, Roger| year = 1983 | title = Early Medieval Spain | publisher = St. Martin's Press |location = New York|isbn= 0-312-22464-8|page = 167}} after leading an Umayyad incursion into current southern France. Besides the above Narbonne,{{cite book |author=Hitti, Philip Khuri |title=History of Syria Including Lebanon and Palestine, Vol. 1 |publisher=Gorgias Press LLC |year=2002 |isbn=1-931956-60-X |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=91YymsCw5DIC&dq=%22Al-Samh+ibn+Malik+al-Khawlani%22&pg=PA468|page= 468}} the Arab commander went on to lead a large Arab army into the rest of Visigothic Septimania, besieging a number of towns and cities including Béziers, Agde, Lodève, Maguelonne (Montpellier) and Nîmes.
Siege and defeat at Toulouse
After setting up his headquarters in Narbonne, military moves took an unexpected turn when Al-Samh returned to Al Andalus to gather more Arab troops prior to attacking the strongly defended Aquitanian capital city of Toulouse. While the ultimate reasons remain obscure, it has been argued that Odo provided shelter to Visigothic elites and population fleeing the theater of war around the eastern Pyrenees. Al-Samh returned to Septimania and on to southeastern Aquitaine with a massive army, siege engines, infantry, horsemen and mercenaries. The siege of Toulouse, with its near-impregnable walls, lasted until early summer.
The defenders, short of provisions, were close to breaking when, around June 9, 721, Odo the Great, the duke of Aquitaine, returned at the head of a large Aquitanian and Frankish force,{{cite book |title= The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society, 718–1050|last=Lewis |first=Archibald R.|author-link= Archibald R. Lewis |year= 1965 |publisher= University of Texas Press |location= Austin |page=21 |access-date=September 15, 2012|url=http://libro.uca.edu/lewis/sfc2.htm}} attacking al-Samh's rear and launching a highly successful encircling movement. A major, decisive battle ensued. Caught between the Toulouse defenders and Eudes's men, al-Samh tried to break out, but was trapped with the bulk of his troops in a place that came to be called by Muslim chroniclers Balat al Shuhada ('the path of the martyrs') where he made a determined last stand as his army was decimated by Odo's forces.{{Cite journal | last1 = Meadows | first1 = Ian | title = The Arabs in Occitania | journal = Saudi Aramco World | volume = 44 | pages = 24–29 | date = March–April 1993 | url = http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199302/the.arabs.in.occitania.htm | access-date = 2014-11-29 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110514184310/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199302/the.arabs.in.occitania.htm | archive-date = 2011-05-14 | url-status = dead }}
Al-Samh himself was critically wounded, and died shortly afterwards in Narbonne.
Notes
{{Reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before=Al-Hurr ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Thaqafi}}
{{s-ttl|title=Governor of Al-Andalus
|years=719–721}}
{{s-aft|after=Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi}}
{{s-end}}
{{Umayyad governors of al-Andalus}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani}}
Category:8th-century Arab people
Category:8th century in Francia
Category:Umayyad governors of Al-Andalus