'the Defender of God's Faith') in his early 20s when he supported the Maghrawa Berbers in North Africa against Fatimid expansion and later claimed the title of Caliph for himself.

[16] His paternal grandmother was also a Christian, the royal infanta Onneca Fortúnez, daughter of the captive king Fortún Garcés of Pamplona.

To the south in Ifriqiya, the Fatimids had created an independent caliphate that threatened to attract the allegiance of the Muslim population, who had suffered under the harsh rule of Abdullah.

On the internal front the discontented Muwallad families (Muslims of Iberian origin) represented a constant danger for the Córdoban emir.

From the very early stages of his reign, Abd al-Rahman showed a firm resolve to quash the rebels of al-Andalus, consolidate and centralise power, and re-establish internal order within the emirate.

His troops were able to recover the Kūras (provinces) of Jaén and Granada, while a cavalry detachment was sent to free Málaga from ibn Hafsun's siege.

Finding it difficult to bombard with catapults, he ordered the construction of a platform where his siege engines could be mounted to greater effect, and cut the water supply.

Ibn al-Mundhir al-Qurays, a member of the royal family, was named governor of the city, while the Lord of Carmona obtained the title of vizier.

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim enjoyed his office for only a single day, for Abd al-Rahman soon discovered his collusion with the rebel governor of Carmona.

His troops left Córdoba on 7 May 914 and, after a few days, encamped before the walls of Balda (identified with today's Cuevas de San Marcos).

His cavalry ravaged the nearby woods and the countryside, while the rest of the troops moved to Turrus, a castle located in the present municipality of Algarinejo, which was surrounded within five days, while its environs were also devastated.

The Umayyad army then moved to the citadel of ʿUmar ibn Hafsun, while the cavalry was sent to the castle of Sant Batir, which was abandoned by the defenders, allowing Abd al-Rahman's troops to secure a large booty.

The latter fell after a violent fight, leaving the road open to the major city and provincial capital of Málaga, which he captured after one day.

In 921 the Banu Muhallab of Guadix submitted, followed by those of Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz, as well as the trading republic of Pechina a year later.

Surrounded by troops commanded by Abd al-Rahman's vizier, Said ibn al-Mundhir, who had ordered the construction of bastions around the city, he resisted the siege for six months,[6] until he surrendered in 928 and had his life spared.

[24] The continued expeditions against the Hafsunids did not distract Abd al-Rahman III from the situation in other regions in al-Andalus, which recognized him only nominally, if not being in open revolt.

To avoid the fall of Évora into the hands of the Berber groups of the region, the governor ordered the destruction of its defensive towers and lowered the walls, though a year later he decided to reconstruct it, giving its control to his ally Masud ibn Sa' dun al-Surunbaqi.

The absence of royal authority enabled Ordoño II to easily campaign in this area, his main objective being the city of Mérida, in the summer of 915.

We are the most worthy to fulfill our right, and the most entitled to complete our good fortune, and to put on the clothing granted by the nobility of God, because of the favour which He has shown us, and the renown which He has given us, and the power to which He has raised us, because of what He has enabled us to acquire, and because of what He has made easy for us and for our state [?

[25] The caliphate was thought only to belong to the Emperor who ruled over the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, and his ancestors had until then been content with the title of emir.

On the southern front, to counter the increasing Fatimid power in North Africa, abd al-Rahmad ordered the construction of a fleet based in Almeria.

Abd al-Rahman's force, led by prime minister Ahmad ibn Said, besieged the Fatimid port of Tunis, which bought its safety by paying a huge sum.

[27] In the end he was able to create a protectorate covering the northern and central Maghreb, supporting the Idrisid dynasty; the Caliphate's influence in the area disappeared after a Fatimid offensive in 958, after which abd al-Rahman kept only the strongholds of Ceuta and Tangiers.

Even before al-Andalus was firmly under his rule, he had restarted the war against King Ordoño II of León, who had taken advantage of the previous troublesome situation to capture some boundary areas and menace the Umayyad territory.

In 917 the then emir had sent a large army under his general Ahmad ibn Abi Abda against León, but this force was destroyed at the Battle of San Esteban de Gormaz in September of that year.

In 924 Abd al-Rahman felt obliged to avenge the massacre of Viguera castle perpetrated by King Sancho Ordóñez of Navarre one year earlier.

His cause was helped, however, by Fernán González of Castile, one of the Christian leaders at Simancas, who subsequently launched a sustained rebellion against Ramiro.

The victory of Simancas enabled the Christian kingdom to maintain the military initiative in the peninsula until the defeat of Ramiro's successor, Ordoño III of León, in 956.

In 950 Abd al-Rahman received in Córdoba an embassy from count Borrell II of Barcelona, by which the northern county recognized caliphal supremacy in exchange for peace and mutual support.

[29] This likely influenced the polemical story of his sexual attraction for a 13-year-old boy (later enshrined as a Christian martyr and canonised as Saint Pelagius of Córdoba) who refused the Caliph's advances.