The ''Akhbār majmūʿa fī fatḥ al-Andalus'' ("Collection of Anecdotes on the Conquest of al-Andalus") is an anonymous history of

al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

compiled in the second decade of the 11th century and only preserved in a single manuscript, now in the

Bibliothèque Nationale de France The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...

. Parts of it date to the 8th and 9th centuries, and it is the earliest

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

history of al-Andalus, covering the period from the

Arab conquest The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabia that expanded rapidly un ...

(711) until the reign of the Caliph

Abd ar-Rahman III ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil (; 890–961), or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba f ...

(929–61).Emilio González-Ferrín
"Al-Andalus: The First Enlightenment"
''Critical Muslim'', 6 (2013), p. 5. The ''Akhbār majmūʿa'' is sometimes called the "Anonymous of Paris", after the home of its manuscript, or the "Anonymous of Córdoba", after its presumed place of origin.Norman Roth, "The Jews and the Muslim Conquest of Spain", ''Jewish Social Studies'', 38, 2 (1976), pp. 145–58. The ''Akhbār majmūʿa'' records how, during the Abbasid Revolution, an army of ten thousand under a certain Balj marched to al-Andalus to support the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

emir

Abd ar-Rahman I Abd al-Rahman ibn Mu'awiya ibn Hisham (; 7 March 731 – 30 September 788), commonly known as Abd al-Rahman I, was the founder and first emir of the Emirate of Córdoba, ruling from 756 to 788. He established the Umayyad dynasty in al-Andalus, ...

. The story appears to be borrowed from the ''Anabasis'' of Xenophon. Likewise, the anonymous compiler borrows elements, such as

Roderic Roderic (also spelled Ruderic, Roderik, Roderich, or Roderick; Spanish language, Spanish and , ; died 711) was the Visigoths, Visigothic king in Hispania between 710 and 711. He is well known as "the last king of the Goths". He is actually an ex ...

's alleged kidnapping of the daughter of Count Julian, from other classical sources, namely the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'' and the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

''. Besides these literary embellishments, the ''Akhbār majmūʿa'' is generally free of legend. The Spanish historian

Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...

argued that since the anonymous author was clearly aiming for historical accuracy, he should be generally trusted, even on the doubtful episode of Count Julian's daughter. The ''Akhbār majmūʿa'' makes no mention of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

in connection with the Arab conquest. Abū Ghālib Tammām ibn ʿAlḳama (died 811) may have been an important source for the section of the ''Akhbār'' called the "Syrian chronicle", which covers the period 741–788.James (2012), pp. 26–27.

Editions

*James, David. ''A History of Early al-Andalus: The Akhbār majmūʿa. A Study of the Unique Arabic Manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, with a Translation, Notes and Comments''. London and New York: Routledge, 2012. *Lafuente y Alcántara, Emilio. ''Ajbar Machmua: Crónica anónima del siglo XI. Dada a luz por primera vez''. Madrid, 1867.

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Editions

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Further reading