Abd-Er-Rahman I

ABD-ER-RAHMAN I, abd-er-ri'man, founder of the Moorish emirate (later cali phate) of Cordova (q.v.) : b. Damascus, 731; d. 788. He was a grandson of the Ommiad caliph Hisham, and having fled to Africa es caped the frightful massacre of his family (see OM MIADS and ABBASSIDES) by Abu 'l-Ab bas; a hunted fugitive in the desert, but faith fully protected by the tribesmen, who respected his blood and pitied his misfortunes. Mean while Spain was seething with anarchy; each new caliph sent a new emir there; the gov ernor of Africa claimed the right to interfere on the ground that the African governors had captured it; the native chiefs were unwilling to submit to a constant succession of interlopers with no interest but their own, and at last the situation became so intolerable that the Span ish Arabs determined to choose a ruler with his residence in Spain. They selected the wan dering heir of the overthrown house, and seek ing him out in Africa offered him the place.

He landed in Spain 25 Sept. 755, and fixed his royal seat at Cordova. His reign was one of incessant warfare. Hosein ben-Yahya, the Abbasside emir, driven from Spain, fled to Charlemagne and implored his assistance; it was granted and Hosein was re-enthroned at Saragossa, but while the Frankish army was returning through the Pyrenees, the Basque mountaineers fell upon the rear-guard and an nihilated it in the pass of Roncesvalles, with its commander Roland. Saragossa was taken after two years' siege, Hosein put to death as a rebel, and Spain to the Pyrenees subdued. A formidable rising in 786 was crushed, and Abd-er-Rahman had two years of life to de vote to the arts of peace and the building of his famous mosque at Cordova (now used as a cathedral), with its rows of cupolas sup ported by 850 pillars of jasper.