Abd-ar-Rahman III

Abd-ar-Rahman III (889-961), eighth Umayyad ruler of Spain (912-61). Succeeding to an emirate diminished by provincial governors who acted like independent rulers, Abd-ar-Rahman at once set out to reassert Umayyad authority over all his territories; he recaptured Toledo, the last of the wayward cities, in 932. In the meantime, however, he had built up a navy unmatched anywhere in the world at the time and had wrested part of Morocco from the Fatimids. He also inflicted several defeats on the Christian kingdoms of León and Navarre, checking their expansion; by 929 he felt confident enough to assume the title of caliph.

Abd-ar-Rahman's greatest legacy was the transformation of Córdoba, which in splendor rivaled Baghdād and Constantinople (present-day İstanbul), into the greatest cultural center in the Western world, a distinction it held for some 200 years.