Taifa of Zaragoza


The taifa of Zaragoza was an independent Arab Muslim state in the east of Al-Andalus, which was established in 1018 as one of the taifa kingdoms, with its capital in Saraqusta city. Zaragoza's taifa emerged in the 11th century following the destruction of the Caliphate of Córdoba in the Moorish controlled Iberian Peninsula.
During the first three decades of this period, the city was ruled by the Arab Banu Tujib tribe. They were replaced by the Arab Banu Hud rulers, who had to deal with a complicated alliance with El Cid of Valencia and his Castilian masters against the Almoravids, who managed to bring the Taifas Emirates under their control. After the death of El Cid, his kingdom was conquered by the Almoravids, and by 1100 they had crossed the Ebro into Barbastro, which brought them into direct confrontation with Aragon.
The Banu Hud stubbornly resisted the Almoravid dynasty and ruled until they were eventually defeated by the Almoravids in May 1110. The last sultan of the Banu Hud, Abd-al-Malik, and Imad ad-Dawla of Saraqusta, were forced to abandon the capital. Abd-al-Malik allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso I of Aragon and from then on the Muslim soldiers of Saraqusta served in the Aragonese forces.
Between c. 1040 and c. 1105, the Taifa of Lérida was separate from that of Zaragoza.

List of Emirs

Tujibid dynasty">Banu Tujib">Tujibid dynasty