The Treaty of the Surrender of Orihuela (Spain), 713 AD

THE TREATY OF ORIHUELA
The Surrender of Orihuela (Spain), 713 C.E.

The capitulation agreement between the Arab commander 'Abd'al-'Aziz (son and successor of Musa ibn Nusayr) and Theodomir, the Visigothic prince of Murcia, on the surrender of the city of Orihuela has survived to this date. This agreement was executed in 713 C.E., within two years of the first organized entry of Muslims into Spain from the south by Commander Tariq ibn Ziyad.

The earlier capitulation agreements dating from 711 were essentially the same but have not survived. The inhabitants of the conquered territories of Spain were suitably impressed by the tolerance which the Muslims offered them once active resistance had ceased, a tolerance which the Roman Catholics had not displayed to their own inhabitants when they were in power. It is these earlier agreements and their successful implementation in the conquered territories that prompted Theodomir and the population of Orihuela to agree to surrender to the Muslims.

Burckhardt has documented the clauses of the capitulation of 713, and Thomson has further elaborated upon its implementation:

"The Christians were allowed to keep their churches and their monasteries, and the Jews their synagogues.

They retained most of their personal possessions.

Not only had the Visigoths taken over the Roman system of taxation with its manifold burdens, but they had also perpetuated the 'latifundia,' the large estates worked by slaves. When the Muslims took possession of the land, many of these estates were divided and handed over to local tenants.

The slaves were for the most part set free, either by accepting Islam - no Christian or Jew was allowed to have a Muslim for a slave - or by gradually buying themselves free, something that had not been permitted under the earlier Visigothic laws.

In addition to the general tax paid by all citizens, Christians and Jews had to pay a personal tax in lieu of having to perform military service.

The tax was on a sliding scale according to one's professional class, while women, children, monks, invalids, the sick, beggars and slaves were exempt.

The Christian and Jewish communities maintained autonomous jurisdiction in all disputes that did not involve the rights of Muslim subjects.

They also had their own leaders, bishops, or 'counts' (comites), who represented them in the Muslim government..."

References
T. Burckhardt, "Moorish Culture in Spain," 1972.
A. Thomson and M. Ata'ur-Rahim, "Islam in Andalus," Ta-Ha Publishers, London, 1996.

Tolerance in Islam
Treaty of Granada, 1492
The Next Fifteen Years
Quotations on Moorish (Islamic) Civilization

Copyright © 1997  All Rights Reserved  Excerpt Prepared by Dr. A. Zahoor.

Adopted from "Islam in Andalus," by A. Thomson and M. Ata'ur-Rahim, 1996.

http://www.erols.com/zenithco/treaty713.html

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