Europe · High and late Middle Ages
Taifa of Zaragoza
1013–1110
Ṭā'ifa Saraqusṭa (طائفة سرقسطة). Capital: Zaragoza (Saraqusta). Ruled first by the Arab Banu Tujib (1013–1038/39), then the Arab Banu Hud (1039–1110).
- Existed
- 1013–1110
- Shown on the map
- 1015–1110
- Peak area
- 39k km²
- Region
- Europe
Names
Ṭā'ifa Saraqusṭa (طائفة سرقسطة). Capital: Zaragoza (Saraqusta). Ruled first by the Arab Banu Tujib (1013–1038/39), then the Arab Banu Hud (1039–1110). Al-Mustain I (Sulayman ibn Hud, 1038/9–1046) seized power from the Tujibids. His successors — Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046–1081), Yusuf al-Mu'taman (1081–1085, a noted mathematician), and al-Musta'in II (1085–1110) — were patrons of culture. Al-Muqtadir built the Aljafería palace (mostly 1065–1081), which he called Qasr al-Surur ("Palace of Joy") — the only large surviving taifa-era palace, today the seat of the Cortes of Aragon. The Banu Hud allied at times with El Cid and Castile against the Almoravids. Al-Musta'in II died at the Battle of Valtierra (1110); his son Abd al-Malik Imad al-Dawla briefly held Zaragoza before the Almoravids annexed it in May 1110. Imad al-Dawla retreated to a micro-state at Rueda de Jalón. Alfonso I of Aragon conquered Zaragoza in 1118.
Common questions
- What was the Taifa of Zaragoza?
- Ṭā'ifa Saraqusṭa (طائفة سرقسطة). Capital: Zaragoza (Saraqusta). Ruled first by the Arab Banu Tujib (1013–1038/39), then the Arab Banu Hud (1039–1110).
- When did the Taifa of Zaragoza exist?
- The Taifa of Zaragoza existed 1013–1110. On this map it is drawn 1015–1110.
- How large was the Taifa of Zaragoza?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Taifa of Zaragoza covered about 39,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for al-Andalus, the taifas and the Christian kingdoms as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and academic work on the historiography of the Reconquista and the taifa period (García-Sanjuán). The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Taifa of Zaragoza en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taifa_of_Zaragoza
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
See the Taifa of Zaragoza in its world
Open the atlas at 1063 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.
Open the map at 1063 →