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Rh Ibn Abī-'Āmir was appointed ḥājib. His relations with the Sultana Aurora were much criticised in Cordova, and he had to face faction and conspiracy. When his chief enemies, the faḳīhs, asserted that he was given over to philosophy, he ordered all the books on that subject in the library of Ḥakam II to be burnt, and in this way he achieved a great reputation for orthodoxy. He had shut up the Caliph in his newly-built palace of Zāhira, adjoining Cordova, and determined to reform the army. But as he could not rely on the Arabs for this task, he brought Berbers from Ceuta in Morocco, whom he loaded with wealth, and unpatriotic Christians from Leon, Castile and Navarre, drawn by high pay. At the same time he carried through the re-organisation of the military system by abolishing the identity of tribes and regiments. Then, to shew the superiority of the army he had created, he turned his arms against the Leonese. He invaded Leon, captured and sacked Zamora (981). Ramiro III of Leon was joined by Garcia Fernandez, Count of Castile, but they were beaten at Rueda to the east of Simancas. He then advanced against Leon, but although he reached its gates in triumph, he failed to take the city. On his return from this campaign he took the title of Al-manṣūr billah, "the Victorious by the help of God" (whence his Spanish name of Almanzor is derived), and had royal honours paid him. Owing to the disastrous campaign of 981 the nobles of Leon proclaimed as their king Bermudo II, a cousin of Ramiro III, who being besieged in Astorga sought the aid of Almanzor, but died soon after. Bermudo also asked his help in crushing the nobles, but after giving it Almanzor allowed the Muslim troops to remain in the country. Thus Leon ended by becoming a tributary of Almanzor. He now advanced into Catalonia and took Barcelona by storm on 1 July 985.

Almanzor's tyranny and cruelty at home, however, were making him hated. To make good his position he resolved to enlarge the mosque at great expense. He even worked like an ordinary labourer among a crowd of Christian prisoners. Meanwhile Bermudo II drove out of Leon the Muslim troops who had been left there; but in 987 Almanzor in a terrible raid seized Coimbra and routed all who opposed his march to Leon. He captured the city and only spared one tower to shew posterity its grandeur. After he had also taken Zamora his sovereignty was acknowledged by all the country, while Bermudo kept only the districts near the sea.

Almanzor, already the real ruler, aimed at being even more. For this design he had no fear of the Caliph, who was his prisoner, nor of the army which yielded him blind obedience; but he feared the nation, for whom unreasoning devotion to the dynasty was its very life, and he also feared Aurora, whose affection for him had now turned to hatred. She succeeded in inspiring Hishām II with a semblance of will and energy. She sought the aid of Zīrī ibn 'Aṭīya, the viceroy of