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Yusuf al-Fihri, Emir of Al-Andalus
November 04, 20257:00 p.m.
CORDOBA
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Samuel de los Santos Gener, 9).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish.
On Tuesday, November 4, in Cordoba, UCM honorary professor María Jesús Viguera will be introducing us to the figure of the last of the so-called “dependent emirs” of Al-Andalus. This event is being held as part of the event series “Semblances of Cordoba: The Umayyad era in the first person.” Come join us!
Yusuf al-Fihri was born in Qayrawán in the year of 691 and died in Toledo in 759. He was the last of what were known as the “dependent” emirs or walis of Al-Andalus, from late 746 or 747 to 756, when he was defeated and displaced by the Umayyad Abd al-Rahman I. The latter entered Cordoba victoriously and then immediately took up residence in the fortress, qasr Qurtuba, as a way to symbolize his power. Yusuf al-Fihri retired to Toledo, where he died twelve years later, ending this series of so-called 24 “dependent emirs,” ranging from the conqueror Mūsà ibn Nusayr (in Al-Andalus from 711-714) to the historical figure being studied here, Yusuf al-Fihri (wali of Al-Andalus from 746 or 747 to 756), for one entire decade, a comparatively lengthy period. We will be analyzing the instability of this “dependent” emirate, and the swift replacement of these rulers, as well as the main action they took, including the consolidation of conquests and the distribution of land, the maintenance of Peninsular and trans-Pyrenean expansion, the mid-eighth century crisis and its consequences on Yusuf al-Fihri’s activities in relation with territorial conflicts, and the clashes that took place between Arabs and Berbers.
María Jesús Viguera Molins
PhD in Arabic Philology (UCM, 1973, Extraordinary Degree Prize). Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Granada, 2018). Professor at the following universities: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the University of Zaragoza, and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she was a full professor (as of 1983), then a professor emeritus (2015-18), and now an honorary professor with the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, which she directed for twelve years. She is a member of Spain’s Royal Academy of History and four other academies, including Cordoba’s. She has authored some 400 publications, as well as co-authoring and coordinating four volumes (eleventh to fourteenth centuries) of Menéndez Pidal’s “History of Spain.” RAH admittance speech: The Arab Manuscripts in Spain: their history and History in general (Madrid, 2016); in the RAEX: Andalusi Episodes in Extremadura (Trujillo, 2017).
Image: Muslim warriors depicted in the Muslim manuscript of Maqamat Al-Hariri مقامات الحريري, around the eleventh century. Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti
María Jesús Viguera Molins
PhD in Arabic Philology (UCM, 1973, Extraordinary Degree Prize). Doctor Honoris Causa (University of Granada, 2018). Professor at the following universities: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, the University of Zaragoza, and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she was a full professor (as of 1983), then a professor emeritus (2015-18), and now an honorary professor with the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, which she directed for twelve years. She is a member of Spain’s Royal Academy of History and four other academies, including Cordoba’s. She has authored some 400 publications, as well as co-authoring and coordinating four volumes (eleventh to fourteenth centuries) of Menéndez Pidal’s “History of Spain.” RAH admittance speech: The Arab Manuscripts in Spain: their history and History in general (Madrid, 2016); in the RAEX: Andalusi Episodes in Extremadura (Trujillo, 2017).
Image: Muslim warriors depicted in the Muslim manuscript of Maqamat Al-Hariri مقامات الحريري, around the eleventh century. Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti
