Taifa of Seville

The Taifa of Seville was an Arab kingdom in al-Andalus ruled by the Abbadid dynasty. It was established in 1023 and lasted until 1091, in what is today southern Spain and Portugal. The taifa began as a small, weakly defended territory comprising parts of the modern provinces of Seville, Huelva and Cádiz, but quickly became the most powerful taifa of its time through a policy of expansion. Its first ruler, Abu al-Qasim, was qadi of Seville and declared independence from the Caliphate of Córdoba, becoming Abbad I. His son Abbad II al-Mu'tadid conquered Mertola, Niebla, Huelva, Silves and other towns. Muhammad al-Mu'tamid, who succeeded in 1069, made Seville a major centre of Ibero-Muslim culture and hosted poets and scholars; he seized Córdoba in 1071. Seville paid tribute to Alfonso VI of Castile and felt increasingly threatened after the fall of Toledo in 1085. It called on the Almoravids, who crossed from North Africa, defeated the Christians at Sagrajas in 1086, and then occupied the taifas, including Seville itself in 1091.