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: Al-Tagr al-A'la) of Al-Andalus.

Family

Lubb was a member of the prominent Muwallad Muslim Banu Qasi family; 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:

Background

In 899, because of a paralysis, Is'mail 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

The famous Hisn (later renamed, some time after de Christian Urgelese conquest, as "Castell Formós") of Balagî, strategically located on a peak upon the Siqr river so as to better dominating the area; was ordered to be constructed by Lubb ibn Muhammad Al-Qasawi with the purpose of stregthening the defence of the Tagr against the Frankish feudal raids, between the years 897 and 898.

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 (its As-Sudda or Al-Qaṣbah, called "Castell del Rei" some time after de Christian conquest), Munt sun or Balagî (the famous Hisn Balagî or "Castell Formós"). He also ordered the construction of the major mosque (Arabic: Masjid Al-Jamia) 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 Raymond I of Pallars in 904, achieving the greatest extension of Lubb's domains. His forces then ravaged and plundered the pyrenean county; taking some 700 war captives, among them the count's own son: Isarn.

But in 905, his ally Fortún Garcés of Pamplona[3] was deposed by Sancho I of Navarre (with the help of the count of Pallars). In 907, Lubb ibn Muhammad tried to help Fortún by attacking Pamplona, but the results of the expedition were disastrous. Soon after, Lubb fell in an ambush prepared by Sancho 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

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana. Lubb ibn Muḥammad ibn Lubb.
  2. ↑ Ramon d'Abadal i Vinyals. Els temps i el regiment del comte Guifred el Pilós. p. 35.
  3. ↑ Ramon d'Abadal i Vinyals (1926). Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ed. Catalunya carolíngia. p. 55.

Esternal links

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