The
Raid of 897
(
Arabic
:
????? ??? ???
,
Al-?azw sana 284
; in
Catalan
,
Ratzia de 897
) was a
military campaign
(
???
,
?azw
) of the
Emirate of Cordoba
against the
County of Barcelona
.
Background
[
edit
]
Between 883 and 884, the
Muslims
of the
Upper March
(
Arabic
:
????? ??????
,
A?-?a?r al-A?la
) felt menaced by the expansion of the
count of Barcelona
,
Wilfred the Hairy
, who began to make efforts to relocate the frontier line between the rivers
Lubricatus
and
Siqr
, by establishing defensive positions at the present-day
shires
of the
Bages
(the
Castle of Cardona
, for example),
Osona
,
Bergueda
and below the river Lubricatus,
and repopulating those areas
; building and consolidating there churches and abbeys, at whose surroundings the repopulating settlements were established.
Wilfred fought to stabilize the frontier line from the Castle of Cardona towards the present-day shire of
Solsona
.
[1]
By that time, the
County of Barcelona
's frontier line passed through to the north of the shire of Solsona; and that of Osona passed through Cardona,
Manresa
and
the mountains of Montserrat
. Because of all this, the
mad?nah
of
Larida
was fortified; but Wilfred saw it as a provocation and attacked the city, by that time governed by the
wal?
Isma'il ibn Musa
, of the
Banu Qasi
dynasty. The
attack against Larida
failed.
[2]
Muslim historian
Ibn al-Athir
narrates that the Muslims inflicted many casualties among the attackers.
A successor to Isma'il,
Lubb ibn Muhammad
, became engaged in an incessant combat against the
wal?
of
Washka
,
Muhammad al-Tawil
, as well as against Christian nobles from the
Aragonese
and
Catalan
counties, that were slowly expanding down to the south and repopulating the areas at the south of the
Pyrenees
. Christian and Muslim
raids
and counter-raids in enemy territory occurred quite often. In this context, Lubb ordered the fortification of several towns, such as
Larida
; constructing its
As-Sudd
(
Arabic
:
????
) or
Al-Qa?abah
(
Arabic
:
??????
), also called "Castell del Rei" some time after the
Christian conquest
;
Munt sun
or
Balagi
; constructing its famous
?i?n Balagi
or "Castell Formos". He also ordered the construction of the
main mosque
(
Arabic
:
???? ??????
,
Masjid al-J?mi?
) of
Larida
, on the grounds of the modern-day
Seu Vella
.
[3]
Muslim raid
[
edit
]
In 897, after the retreat of Muhammad al-Tawil's forces,
[4]
Lubb ibn Muhammad attacked the County of Barcelona.
Eudes, King of Western Francia
, who was busy confronting many troubles in the interior of the kingdom, as well as the
Viking
invasions, could not send any reinforcement to the Catalan counts, who had to confront the Muslim offensive by themselves alone.
[5]
On 11 August 897, count Wilfred the Hairy was killed in action near the Castle of Aura;
[3]
which had previously been, according to the Muslim historian
Ibn Hayyan
, seized and burnt to the ground by Lubb's army.
[6]
Thus provoking the mass evacuations of the populations of
Barcelona
[7]
and Valles,
[8]
that went to take then refuge in the fortified places situated to the north of the Valles and at the
Bages
, leaving their houses and lands deserted.
[4]
In the following year, Lubb's forces would be still fighting against the
Franks
, while in retreat.
[8]
Consequences
[
edit
]
Wilfred the Hairy was succeeded by his son
Wilfred II
,
[9]
and
Barcelona
was not seized by Lubb's army,
[4]
so that its population could return to the city in early 898,
[4]
but the Valles area suffered greatly the ravagings of the raid, and remained almost completely deserted for twenty-five years.
[10]
Castle of Aura
[
edit
]
The location of the
castle of Aura
, or
castle of Gold
, which was destroyed by Lubb ibn Muhammad's forces, and at whose vicinity Wilfred died; remains uncertain. It has been suggested that it may have been
Valldaura
(at the mountain range of
Collserola
),
Valldora
(at the present-day shire of the
Solsones
),
Besora Castle
,
Santpedor
(formerly Sant Pere d'Or) or
Gualta
, nearby
Caldes de Montbui
.
[7]
[9]
According to Muslim sources, it was located
"in the area of Barsaluna [Barcelona]"
and was the residence of
qumis [count] Anqadid ibn al-Mundhir [Wilfred the Hairy]
.
[6]
[a]
The etymology of Collserola's Valldaura comes from
Vallis Laurea
("Valley of the
bay leaves
") and not from
Vallis Aurea
.
[7]
The location of Gualta comes from a legend which mixes the events relating to the death of Wilfred, with the count
Borrell II
.
[9]
The other locations are too far away from Barcelona.
Annotations
[
edit
]
- ^
Ibn ?ayy?n
calls
count Wilfred
as
Anqadid ibn Al-Mundhir
?≪Anqadid, son of Al-Mundhir≫?, and as historian
Ramon d'Abadal i de Vinyals
explains, the name
Anqadid
is but a misspelling of the name
Gifrid
; while the surname
Ibn al-Mundhir
?≪son of Al-Mundhir≫? would be the honorific title the Muslims had given to Wilfred's father ?
Suniefrid of Urgell
? and which means 'the incomparable'. Such identification is totally confirmed at the end of the text, when it is mentioned that the successor to Wilfred at the head of the
county of Barcelona
was his son,
Sun?r
?
Sunyer I of Barcelona
.
[11]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Francesc Xavier Hernandez Cardona (2001).
Historia militar de Catalunya, vol. I, dels ibers als carolingis, 1a ed
. Rafael Dalmau Editor.
ISBN
84-232-0639-4
.
- ^
Luis Suarez Fernandez (1976).
Historia de Espana Antigua y media
(in Spanish). Ediciones Rialp. p. 247.
ISBN
978-84-321-1882-1
.
- ^
a
b
Gran Enciclopedia Catalana.
Lubb ibn Mu?ammad ibn Lubb
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-04-06
. Retrieved
2016-04-16
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Enric Vilalta Aserra (2010).
A la marca extrema, en terra de solitud: Una passejada per les fronteres d'alguns comtats catalans a l'epoca del Califat de Cordova (segle X)
. 8498833469. p. 61.
ISBN
978-8498833461
.
- ^
Josep M. Salrach.
El Proces de Feudalitzacio: Segles III-XII
. p. 325.
- ^
a
b
In his
Kit?b al-Muqtabis f? Ta'r?kh rij?l Al-Andalus
, Ibn Hayyan narrated the events as follows:
≪Year 284
Al-Hijri
[897-898 C.E.].
A?-?a?r al-A?la
[The Upper March]. That year, the
sayyid
[lord] of
A?-?a?r al-A?la
[Upper March],
Lubb ibn Mu?ammad Al-Qasaw?
, attacked the
qasr
[castle] of
Awra
[Aura], on the area
Barsaluna
[
Barcelona
], which was the see of the
Faranj?
[
Frankish
] usurper.
Lubb
took the
qasr
[castle], burnt it to the ground, and inflicted damage on the enemy. Afterwards, he faced the
qumis
[count] of those domains,
Anqadid ibn Al-Mundhir
[Wilfred the Hairy], father to
Sun?r
[
Sunyer
]; then he forced the
qumis
[count] into retreat, dispersed his army, and during the course of that day, in combat, he drove his spear into the usurper
Anqadid
[Wilfred the Hairy], who died from the wounds some days later. With it,
All?h
higlighted the great favour He bestowes on the Muslims! The son of
Anqadid
,
Sun?r
[
Sunyer
] ?may
All?h
curse him?, inherited then the dignity of his father.≫
- ^
a
b
c
Miquel Coll i Alentorn (1990).
Guifre el Pelos en la historiografia i en la llegenda
. Institut d'Estudis Catalans. p. 113.
ISBN
978-84-7283-162-9
.
- ^
a
b
Ramon d'Abadal i Vinyals (1989).
Els temps i el regiment del comte Guifred el Pilos
. Institut d'Estudis Catalans. p. 94.
ISBN
9788486329464
.
- ^
a
b
c
Miquel Coll i Alentorn (1992).
Historia Montserrat
. L'Abadia de Montserrat. p. 154.
ISBN
978-84-7826-361-5
.
- ^
Gran Enciclopedia Catalana.
Comtat de Barcelona
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-05-31
. Retrieved
2016-04-16
.
- ^
Los Banu Qasi (714-924)
Archived
2016-03-06 at the
Wayback Machine
, pag. 67.