Banu Hud

The Banu Hud (بنو هود) were an Arab dynasty that ruled the "taifa" of Zaragoza from 1039-1110. In 1039, under the leadership of Al-Mustain I, Sulayman ibn Hud al-Judhami, the Bani Hud seized control of Zaragoza from a rival clan, the Banu Tujibi. His heirs, particularly Ahmad I al-Muqtadir (1046-1081), Yusuf al-Mutamin (1081-1085), and Al-Mustain II, Ahmad ibn Yusuf (1085-1110), were patrons of culture and the arts: the Aljafería, the royal residence erected by Ahmad I, is practically the only palace from that period to have survived almost in its entirety.

Despite their independence, the Banu Hud were forced to recognize the superiority of the Kingdom of Castile and pay parias to it as early as 1055. In 1086, they led the smaller kingdoms in their resistance to the Almoravids, who did not succeed in conquering Zaragoza until May 1110. The conquest represented the end of the dynasty. The last of the Banu Hud, Imad al-Dawl abd al-malik al Hud, the last king of Zaragoza, forced to abandon his capital, allied himself with the Christian Aragonese under Alfonso el Batallador, [The rock crystal "Eleanor Vase" given by Eleanor of Aquitaine to the Basilica of Saint Denis and elaborately mounted by Abbot Suger, is conserved in the Musée du Louvre. The mounts are inscribed with the vase's provenance. It owner "Mitadolus" was not identified as Imad al-Dawl until 1993 (George T. Beech, "The Eleanor of Aquitaine Vase, William IX of Aquitaine, and Muslim Spain" "Gesta" 32.1 (1993), pp. 3-10). It appears to have been a gift to William IX of Aquitaine about this time, in hopes of securing his support. ] who in 1118 reconquered the city for the Christians and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. [Ramiro I expelled the Almoravids from the mid-Ebro valley under his extended control.]

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References

* [http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/0711/rulers_muslim.htm List of Muslim rulers]