2021-04-19 Mon

Hisham II was the third Umayyad Caliph of Spain, in Al-Andalus. In 976, at the age of 11, Hisham succeeded his father Al-Hakam as Caliph of Cordoba. At the time of his accession, he was a minor and therefore unfit to rule.

In order to benefit the Caliphate, his mother Subh was aided by first minister Jafar al-Mushafi to act as regents with Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir (Almanzor) as her steward. In 978 Almanzor manipulated his way into the position of royal chamberlain.

In an attempt to position himself as a prospective ruler of the Caliphate, Almanzor and General Ghalib al-Siklabi sabotaged the brother of Al-Hakam II who was set to succeed his brother and become the next Caliph of Cordoba. Still too young to rule, Hisham II handed the reins of power over to Almanzor in 981, who became the de facto leader of the Caliphate until his death in 1002.

Depicted here is a silver Dirham issued under his reign from Cordoba min in 393 AH.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org