Tres Culturas dedica un ciclo de actividades al milenario de la fundación de la taifa de Sevilla

Next week, the Three Cultures Foundation of the Mediterranean will inaugurate a series of activities to coincide with the thousandth anniversary of the founding of the Taifa of Seville, which will be celebrated in 2023.  

To this end, the specialised cycle of conferences "Cátedra al-Ándalus" (a benchmark in the educational offer of this institution) will focus entirely on this event in the first half of the year, to which a musical show and a commemorative event will also be dedicated, which will take place in Morocco. 

The aim is to offer the broadest and most complete vision possible of what the Taifa of Seville meant, from the characters that defined its history to key aspects of society, culture, politics and customs, by experts and specialists in the field, who will give the four lectures included in the series.  

The first of these will take place on Thursday 26 January at 7:00 pm, given by Magdalena Valor-Piechotta, researcher and retired lecturer at the University of Seville, who will speak on "Abadid Seville: Political Keys, Geographical Context and Material Evidence".  

All the activities are free of charge, with free admission, subject to prior registration on the Foundation's website (www.tresculturas.org). 

The process of progressive disintegration that culminated in the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031 was accompanied by the parallel emergence of taifas or independent kingdoms throughout the territory of al-Andalus. Of these, in terms of extension, influence and power, the taifa of Seville, under the rule of the Abbasids, stood out, partly taking up the baton of the extinct Umayyad splendour.  

Founded in 1023 by the cadi Abu-l-Qasim Muhammad Ibn Abbad (from which the name of the dynasty derives), the Taifa of Seville extended over a wide territory, which at its peak included localities in the Portuguese Algarve, a large part of the Alentejo, Niebla, Huelva, Algeciras, Morón, Carmona and Arcos, as well as part of the lands of the Kingdom of Toledo and Jaén, at various times including the old Caliphate capital and even Murcia, making it the most extensive taifa in al-Andalus.  

In the architectural field, the Abbadids undertook a programme aimed at beautifying the city of Seville, constructing luxurious buildings and palaces such as the so-called 'Alcazar al-Mubarak' (the Blessed), which probably formed the nucleus on which the present-day Alcazar developed. 

At the same time, they established a court of intellectuals that attracted scholars from all over the world and is considered one of the most prestigious of the entire Andalusian period. Seville thus became the intellectual capital of al-Andalus and the main cultural centre of Europe at the time.  

The splendour of the court of Seville under the rule of the Banu Abbad contrasted with the political turbulence that marked his reign, which was marked by constant conflict with the neighbouring taifas and, increasingly, with the rising Christian kingdoms. It was precisely the fall of Toledo into the hands of the king of León, Galicia and Castile, Alfonso VI, in 1085, which led to the call for help from several taifas to the Almoravids, culminating in the occupation of Seville by the latter in 1091 and the end of the Abadid dynasty, with the exile of its last king to Morocco.  

Despite the brevity of their rule (from 1023 to 1091), the Abbadids provided some of the most recognisable figures in the history of al-Andalus, including al-Mutadid and, even more so, his son al-Mutamid (considered one of the most brilliant Andalusian poets) and his wife, al-Rumaykiya, who have passed into the realm of popular legend up to the present day.  

However, little has been disseminated (beyond strictly academic circles) about the origins of the Taifa of Seville and the circumstances that led to its foundation, about the performance of its rulers and their influence both in the city itself and in the rest of the territories of al-Andalus, as well as its subsequent historical development. In this sense, the Three Cultures Foundation aims to bring this historical period closer to a wide public, analysing the vicissitudes and legacy of a dynasty as legendary as it is unknown.