HUDID DYNASTY

Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled Saragossa, Spain, in the 11th century during the politically confused period of the party kingdoms (ta'ifahs). The murder of the Tujibid king Mundhir II, in 1039, enabled one of his allies, Sulayman ibn Muhammad ibn Hud, known as al-Musta'in, to seize the Tujibid capital of Saragossa and establish a new dynasty. Al-Musta'in, who had been a prominent military figure of the Upper, or Northern, Frontier and governor of Lrida, took control of a kingdom that covered a considerable portion of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula. After his death, in 1046, his five sons struggled for the throne; and Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (reigned 104681) emerged as the new king. Al-Muqtadir made a name for himself among the party kings with the recapture of Barbastro (1065), which had been seized from the Muslims a year earlier by the Norman Robert Crespin. He maintained a distinguished court with such notables as the theologian Abu al-Walid al-Baji and the poet Ibn 'Ammar, and he built the Aljafera Palace, parts of which survive. Although al-Muqtadir was at times tributary to Christian princes, he managed to expand his kingdom with the capture of Tortosa (1061) and Denia (107576), leaving it to his son Yusuf al-Mu'tamin (reigned 108185), who was more a scholar than a political figure. The reign of Ahmad II al-Musta'in (10851110) was marked by constant wars against the Christians. He was dealt a severe defeat at Alcoraz in 1096, during the Christian march on Huesca; Saragossa itself was attacked, but the appearance of an army sent by the Almoravids (a North African Islamic dynasty) forced the Christians into retreat. After 109091, the Almoravids began to dissolve the various muluk at-tawa'if (party kings), but, needing a buffer between themselves and the Christians, they allowed Saragossa to remain a kingdom. Al-Musta'in, however, died in January 1110 fighting the Christians at Valtierra. The Almoravids seized the city in June of that year, forcing his successor, 'Imad ad-Dawlah, to flee for Rueda de Jaln, where he died in 1130. 'Imad's son Ahmad III al-Mustansir was able to make arrangements with Alfonso VII of Castile and Leon to exchange Rueda for some territory in the province of Toledo. In the general revolt against the Almoravids in 1144, he assembled an army of Muslim supporters from the whole peninsula and proceeded to capture Crdoba, Jan, Granada, Murcia, and Valencia. Their successes ended in a battle near Chinchilla in February 1146, in which the Muslim forces were defeated by the Christians. Al-Mustansir was killed, and the Hudid line came to an end.