Roman-Moorish kingdoms

Main article: Praetorian prefecture of Africa

The Roman Empire in 477 AD.

Roman-Moorish kingdoms existed in much of present-day Morocco and Algeria between the end of effective Roman rule in the area and the Byzantine and Arab invasions of Africa. Direct Roman rule became confined to a few coastal cities (such as Ceuta in Mauretania Tingitana and Cherchell in Mauretania Caesariensis) from the late 3rd century in Mauretania Tingitana^[1] and after the Vandal invasion of 429 in Mauretania Caesariensis.^[2] Historical sources about inland areas are sparse, but these were apparently controlled by local Berber rulers who, however, maintained a degree of Roman culture, including the local cities, and usually nominally acknowledged the suzerainity of the Roman Emperors.^[3] In an inscription from Altava in western Algeria, one of these rulers, Masuna, described himself as rex gentium Maurorum et Romanorum (king of the Roman and Moorish peoples).^[4] Altava was later the capital of another ruler, Garmul or Garmules, who resisted Byzantine rule in Africa but was finally defeated in 578.^[5] The Byzantine historian Procopius also mentions another independent ruler, Mastigas, who controlled most of Mauretania Caesariensis in the 530s.

The area was later reunited with the Byzantine Empire as a result of Justinian's campaigns of c. 533 AD; it was conquered by the Arabs at the end of the next century.

See also

• Moors

Sources

1. ^ Wickham, Chris (2005). Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400 - 800. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-19-921296-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ev8mb_Inv5sC&pg=PA18. 
2. ^ Wickham, Chris (2005). Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400 - 800. Oxford University Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-19-921296-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ev8mb_Inv5sC&pg=PA335. 
3. ^ Wickham, Chris (2005). Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400 - 800. Oxford University Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-19-921296-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ev8mb_Inv5sC&pg=PA335. 
4. ^ Wickham, Chris (2005). Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400 - 800. Oxford University Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-19-921296-5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ev8mb_Inv5sC&pg=PA335. 
5. ^ Aguado Blazquez, Francisco (2005). El Africa Bizantina: Reconquista y ocaso. p. 46. http://www.biblioteca-tercer-milenio.com/sala-de-lectura/HistoriaUniversal/ImperioRomano/AfricaBizantina-conquistayocaso.pdf.