Abd al-Malik Al-Muzaffar had come to power after his father Al-Mansur's death in 1002, and secured his position in the Caliphate with successful campaigns against Navarre and Barcelona before being poisoned, allegedly, by his younger brother Abd al-Rahman, commonly known as Sanchuelo, whose mother is Abda (born Urraca), daughter of King Sancho II Garcés of Pamplona.

Sanchuelo seizes the dictatorship, coercing the weak caliph, Hisham II, to name him as heir; this precipitates a rebellion at Córdoba, the seat of Moorish Spain’s government, whose citizenry already disliked the rule of Almanzor because he had recruited for his safety many Berbers as mercenaries.

When Abd al-Rahman Sanchuelo goes on an expedition against King Alfonso V of León in February 1009, a popular uprising in 1009 led by Muhammad II al-Mahdi, a member of the Umayyad dynasty, deposes both Sanchuelo and Hisham II, the latter being kept imprisoned in Cordoba under the new regime.

Muhammad destroys the residence of Sanchuelo, called al-Madina al-Zahira ("the flourishing city").

On receiving this news, Sanchuelo returns to Córdoba but his troops abandon him.

He is arrested by the order of al-Mahdi and assassinated on March 3.

The next few years in al-Andalus will see rapid changes of leadership as a result of wars between Berber and Arab armies, as well as of Slavic mercenaries (or enslaved Slavs; sources differ).

Sanchuelo is assassinated in 1009, and in November, the Berbers, aided by Sancho Garces of Castile, overthrow the usurper Muhammad II.

The combined Christian-Muslim forces then plunder Cordoba and install Süleyman as caliph.

With central authority in al-Andalus thus weakened, the caliphate breaks up into small quarreling taifas, or factional states, each with an independent emir or king.

With the Cordoban Caliphate crumbling into civil war, Ramon Borrell sees another opportunity.

He organizes a campaign against the Caliphate with Ermengol I of Urgell and Bernard I of Besalú, and joins forces with the deposed Muhammad II of Córdoba.

Their army destroys the forces of Caliph Sulayman II and sacks Córdoba in May 1010, although Ermengol dies as a result of the battle.

The bishop Arnulf of Vic also dies on this campaign.

Following the withdrawal of the coalition army, Muhammad is assassinated and Hisham regains his throne with the aid of the Slavic troops of the Caliphate under al-Wahdid.

Hisham is now under the influence of al-Wahdid, who is nevertheless unable to gain control of the Berber troops—these still support Sulayman, and the civil war continues.

Ramon participates on the side of the Muslim rebels in the Battle of Aqbat al-Bakr on June 2, 1010, as part of the Andalusian civil wars.

The city of Valencia, called Balansiyya when Islamic culture settled in the region, has prospered from the tenth century, due to a booming trade in paper, silk, leather, ceramics, glass and silver-work.

After the death of Almanzor in 1002 and the ensuing unrest, Muslim Al-Andalus has disintegrated into numerous small states known as taifas, one of which is the Taifa of Valencia, in and around the town, which experiences a rebirth of sorts.

The town has grown, and during the reign of Abd al-Aziz (1021-1016) a new city wall will be built, remains of which are preserved throughout the Old City (Ciutat Vella) today.

The civil war in al-Andalus between the Arab and Berber armies continues.

It is known that Hisham, who had regained the caliphate in 1010, openly kept a male harem.

Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, a candidate of the Hammudid dynasty, had withdrawn to Algeciras, and manages in 1013, to reconquer Cordoba with Berber help, accompanied by much plundering and destruction, and depose Hisham II.

Hisham’s ultimate fate is uncertain—supposedly he was killed on April 19, 1013 by the Berbers.

In any case, Sulayman becomes Caliph.

He expels the Jews from the caliphate of Córdoba.

The Hammudid dynasty is named after the ancestor Hammud, a descendant of Idris ibn Abdallah, whose descendants had established themselves among the Berber tribes of northern Morocco.

When Sulayman ibn al-Hakam carves out Andalusian land for his Berber allies, two members of the Hammudid family are given the governership of …

…Algeciras, Ceuta and Tangier.

The Hammudids thus gain control of the traffic across the Straits of Gibraltar, suddenly becoming a powerful force.

Ali ibn Hammud al-Nasir, named governor of Ceuta after 1013 by his client caliph Sulayman ibn al-Hakam, has taken advantage of the anarchy existing in the reign to conquer Ceuta and …