Abd al-Rahman III (January 7, 890 - October 25, 961) was the founder of the Caliphate of Cordoba, previously known as the Emirate of Cordoba, in Moorish Spain. One of the greatest Muslim rulers in the Middle Ages, if not history, he turned a ruined, almost disintegrated Emirate into the new power of the old world, rivaling the Abbasid Caliphate, the Byzantine Empire and the Holy Roman Empire in power, prestige and culture.
He was born to the prince of the Emirate of Cordoba and a Christian Navarrese concubine related to the Queen of Pamplona. He didn't initially look set for greatness, not only because his father was murdered by his uncle days after his birth in a successional affair (said uncle was also murdered, though). His adoptive mother beat him up, and he then passed a lonely youth, completely dedicated to studying. He also turned out very short and stout, and to his chagrin, his three-four quarter Spanish genetics gave him reddish-blond hair and blue eyes, forcing him to dye his hair and beard black for the rest of his life in an attempt to look more Arabian to his peers. However, he had the favor of his grandson the Emir, which appointed him heir to the shock of all of his surviving uncles.
The realm of Cordoba was almost finished when he inherited, threatened by the northern Christian kingdoms and the southern Fatimid Caliphate, as well as inner rebellion, so Abd al-Rahman launched a series of military campaign against the various rebels and repulse his neighbors. Even before he had finished crushing them, he appointed himself Caliph in 929 on the claim of his Umayyad lineage, effectively breaking his political and religious ties to the Fatimid and Abbasid Caliphates. His new tenure wasn't easy at all due to the strong regional competition and the inherent difficulties of ruling the complicated patchwork that was Spain, but his leadership, political skill and grit soon did the miracle, and under his command the Caliphate of Cordoba grew to be the new biggest power in Europe, Africa or Asia.
Ironically, it was his personal experience with identity which gave him an unique perspective to become an effective leader and mediate among the many different factions. Although he kept dying his beard, he presented himself as a proper Arabian to the Arabs and a relaxed cosmopolitan to everybody else, allowing him to gain influence over Christians and Jews. He was also the most religiously tolerant of his lineage (others said he was, simply speaking, not a very good Muslim), and worked to correct the religious turmoil between the different Islamic schools operating in Spain, most of which were typically considered heretics by every ruler not belonging to them; he personally favored the Maliki school, but at the same time took care not to let them grab too much power. He also introduced a caste of East European slave-ministers who could mediate between Arabs and Berbers.
Urbanism also exploded during his age, turning Cordoba into the greatest city in Europe and one of the three biggest and finest cities of the time along with Baghdad and Constantinople. He made an intentional attempt to rival her, adopting the Bizantyne and Abbasid pageantry. is most distinguished local consturction was the palace of Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara, the "radiant city", today an important archaological site. He also powered up the local fleet in order to take the battle to the Fatimid Caliphate, mostly located in the Maghreb.
Abd al-Rahman was a man of many talents, a Warrior Poet at the very least, although this came at the cost of comparable perfectionism and ambition; chroniclers claim that he prepared a special diary to write down his happy days, and by the time of his death at 73 there were only fourteen days written. He only managed to blow off steam by partying wildly with his friends and being cartoonishly cruel to his enemies, which could become a really bad mix; even Andalusian sources favorable to him are forced to record morbid anecdotes where he ordered guests and concubines to be maimed or executed For the Funnyz if they happened to offend him. He also put his many sons in faraway, trivial jobs in order to avoid conspirations, which still failed to prevent the rebellion of one of them, Abdallah, whom Abd al-Rahman captured and executed.
Much of what he build would collapse in a few generations, as the Caliphate of Cordoba wasn't particularly long-lived, but it didn't do it in the short term. He chose well his succesor, his son Alhaken II, which carried the caliphate to its peak before it all started its decline.
