Al-Hakam I

Al-Hakam Ibn Hisham Ibn Abd-ar-Rahman I (Arabic: الحكم بن هشام‎) was Umayyad Emir of Cordoba from 796 until 822 in the Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia).

Al-Hakam was the second son of his father, his older brother having died at an early age. When he came to power, he was challenged by his uncles Sulayman and Abdallah, sons of his grandfather Abd ar-Rahman I. Abdallah took his two sons Ubayd Allah and Abd al-Malik to the court of Charlemagne in Aix-la-Chapelle to negotiate for aid. In the mean time Sulayman attacked Cordoba, but was defeated and driven back to Mérida where he was captured and executed. Abdallah was pardoned, but was forced to stay in Valencia.

Al-Hakam spent much of his reign suppressing rebellions in Toledo, Saragossa and Mérida. The uprisings twice reached Cordoba. An attempt was made to dethrone Al-Hakam and replace him with his cousin Mohammed ibn al-Kasim. When the plot was discovered, on 16 November 806 72 nobles (accounts talk of 5,000) were massacred at a banquet, crucified and displayed along the banks of the river Guadalquivir. Such display of cruelty was not unusual during this period, with the heads of rebel leaders or Christians killed in expeditions to the north being put on show at the gates of Cordoba.