Fragmentation and fundamentalism

By 1031, Cordoba’s heyday imploded in a miasma of disputes and territorial fragmentation into taifas, small princedoms with no central control. This unleashed a decadent era of “party kings” who were often freed slaves or Berbers, and it also saw the rise in power and wealth of Seville (Ishbilya), which became the new capital of extravagance, hedonism, and poetry.

With this lack of unified control, the path was open for fundamentalist invaders from Morocco: first the Almóravid dynasty from their vast Moroccan empire, followed a century later by the fanatical Almohads from the Atlas Mountains. They unified the taifas, but also instigated religious repression, bringing an end to the days of tolerance and intensifying the persecution of Jews and Christians.