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The taifa of Dénia was a Muslim kingdom in medieval Spain, ruling over part of the Valencian coast and Ibiza. With Dénia as its capital, the taifa included the Balearic Islands and also parts of the Spanish mainland.
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History
The taifa was created in 1010, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, by the freed slave Mujahid al-Siqlabi, a former high functionary of the caliphate, probably had a Sardinian origin. In 1011 Dénia was the first taifa to strike coin. The kingdom had a relatively powerful navy, which in 1015 was used to take control of the Balearic Islands and from there to invade Sardinia. The taifa controlled the island for one year, after which it was reconquered by the fleets of Pisa and Genoa: in the fray Mujahid's heir, Ali Iqbal al-Dawla, was captured, and could be ransomed only in 1032. In that period the taifa's ships launched several other raids against the Ligurian and Tuscan coasts.
In the 1020s he took advantage of the death of the regents of the taifa of Valencia to capture the southern part of that kingdom, which he held for two years. A few years later he supported the rebellion of Ibn Jattab against Ibn Tahir of Murcia. After the rise of Abd al-Aziz ibn Amir in Valencia, Mujahid constantly struggled against him, conquering Murcia, Lorca, Orihuela and Elche, extending his power up to the Segura River. Through the mediation of Sulaymán ibn Hud of Zaragoza, he signed a treaty of peace with Valencia in 1041.
Muyahid, who had been educated as slave in the court of the Andalusian ruler Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir, was a patron of several intellectual, espacially writers and ulemas escaping the chaos ensuing the Córdoban disoolution.
At the death of Muyahid al-Muwaffaq in 1045, he was succeded by Ali Iqbal al-Dawla, son of Christian mother. He was able to keep the integrity of his father conquests for some thirty years, starting a period of peace and prosperity, based on the large commercial fleet based in Dénia. In 1050 the Balearic governor, Abd Allah ibn Aglab, gained autonomy in the islands. Dénia's power remained confined to its peninsular possessions until the conquest from the taifa of Zaragoza in 1076. The Balearic taifa of Mallorca remained independent until 1116.
List of Emirs
Amirid dynasty
- Mujahid al-Muwaffaq (in Valencia 1017-1021): 1010/12-1045
- 'Ali Iqbal ad-Dawla: 1045-1076
- Abu Zayd 'Abd ar-Rahman (in Alcira, Jativa also): 1224-1227
- To Aragon thereafter...
External links
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