Lubb ibn Muhammad
Lubb ibn Muhammad ibn Lubb (? - 907),[1] full name in Arabic لب بن محمد بن لب بن موسى القسوي بن موسى بن فرتون بن قاسي بن فرتون Lubb ibn Muḥammad ibn Lubb ibn Mūsa al-Qasawī ibn Mūsa ibn Furtūn ibn Qāsī ibn Furtūn, was a wali of Tutila (890-907) and Lārida, as well as a prominent and mighty Muslim lord in the Upper March (Arabic: الثغر الأعلى , Aṯ-Ṯaḡr al-Aʿlà) of Al-Andalus.
Family
Lubb was a member of the prominent Muwallad Muslim Banu Qasi clan (Arabic: بنو قسي); being the son of Muhammad ibn Lubb (who was a descendant of the wali Musa the Great of Saraqusta). His siblings were Musa ibn Muhammad, Yusuf ibn Muhammad, Abdallah ibn Muhammad, Yunus ibn Muhammad and Mutarrif ibn Muhammad. The brothers began to quarrel among themselves, thus provoking, to a great extent, the complete dismantling of Banu Qasi dinasty's power.
Lubb ibn Muhammad had three sons:
- Abdallah ibn Lubb
- Muhammad ibn Lubb
- Furtun ibn Lubb, later converted to Christianity.
Background
In 899, and because of a paralysis, Isma'il ibn Musa ceded the power to Mutarrif ibn Muhammad and to Musa ibn Muhammad. These two went jointly into an expedition to Barbitanya, where Musa and Mutarrif were captured by the wali of Washka, Al-Tawil. Al-Tawil then launched a counter-attack which ended in the conquest of Lārida. But then, Ummayyad Amir Abdallah ibn Muhammad decided to deny the control of the city to Al-Tawil, and to concede it instead to Lubb's father. When this one came to control the city of Lārida, he ceded it then to his son Lubb.[1][2]
Biography
From his base of Lārida, Lubb ibn Muhammad fought constantly against Christian nobles from the Aragonese and Catalan counties, that were slowly expanding down to the south and repopulating the extense areas lying below the mountains of the Pyrenees. Christian and Muslim raids and counter-raids in enemy territory occurred quite often. In this context, Lubb ordered to fortify several towns, such as Lārida; constructing its As-Sudd (Arabic: السد) or Al-Qaṣabah (Arabic: القصبة), also called "Castell del Rei" some time after the Christian conquest; Munt sun or Balagî; constructing its famous Ḥiṣn Balagî or "Castell Formós". He also ordered the construction of the major mosque (Arabic: مسجد الجامع, Masjid al-Jāmiʿ) of Lārida, on the grounds of the modern-day Seu Vella.[1]
Death of Wilfred the Hairy
In 897, Lubb attacked the county of Barcelona.[1] During the course of this action, his army mortally wounded Gothic count Wilfred the Hairy, who died later on August 11 from his injuries, probably not too far away from the castle of Aura.[1]
Conquests in other Muslim territories
Lubb's forces seized Tutila and Tarasuna (899), attacked Al-Lawa and temporarily conquered Tulaytula.[1] They even went as far as Jaiyan's countryside, which they left ravaged.
Raid in Pallars
In another very important raid, Lubb's forces clashed with those of Raimon I of Pallars and Ribagorça in 904, achieving the greatest extension of Lubb's domains. His forces then ravaged and plundered the pyrenean county; killing some 700 people and taking about 1000 war captives, among them the count's own son: Isarn.
But in 905, his ally Fortunius Garçes of Pamplona[3] was deposed by Sançio I of Navarre (with the help of the count of Pallars). In 907, Lubb ibn Muhammad tried to help Fortunius by attacking Pamplona, but the results of the expedition were disastrous. Soon after, Lubb fell in an ambush prepared by Sançio of Navarre, and was assassinated.
Loss of Lārida
At the same time, the wali of Washka and longtime rival of Lubb and his father, the also Muwallad Muhammad al-Tawil, stole the inheritance from Lubb's son, Furtun ibn Lubb, for himself; becoming thus wali of Lārida.[1]
References
External links
- (Spanish) Cañada Juste, Alberto; Los Banu Qasi (714 - 924); Reprint: Príncipe de Viana; ISSN 0032-8472; Edition: 41, Number: 158-159; Year: 1980; Pages: 5-96.