Umar ibn Hafsun

The pedigree then traces back several additional generations to one Count Marcellus (or perhaps Frugelo), son of Alfonso, apparently a Christian Visigoth.

[citation needed] He soon returned to al-Andalus as an outlaw and joined bandits who were in rebellion against Andalusian rule and soon rose to a leadership position.

He rallied disaffected Muwallads and Mozarabs to the cause by playing off resentment towards the taxation levels imposed by and the treatment they were receiving at the hands of the Emirate of Córdoba.

[9][better source needed] He acquired castles and lands in a wide area not only in Malaga but also in portions of the Provinces of Cádiz, Elvira, Jaén, and Seville.

Around 885, to be more centrally located so that he could more quickly respond to external threats, Ibn Hafsun moved his headquarters to the town of Poley, which is now Aguilar de la Frontera.

In 910, he offered allegiance to the newly established Fatimid Caliphate of North Africa,[11] and when Abd-ar-Rahman III became Emir of Cordoba in 912, he instigated a policy of annual spring offensives against Ibn Hafsun by using mercenary troops.

[4] With Bobastro's fall, the mortal remains of Ibn Hafsun and his slain sons were exhumed by the emir and posthumously crucified outside the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba.