THE UMA YYAD REGIME 205in the Umayyad court, but they were vulnerable by reason of their
religion in times of Muslim orthodox reaction. Thus the accession of
Mol).ammed I in 852 was marked by a purge of Christian officials from
the court. This admittedly was probably not unconnected with the
failed attempt by the influential Christian eunuch Nasr to prevent the
amir's succession and secure that of one of his half brothers instead.^52
In consequence the temptation for Christians who sought or had
obtained high office to change their faith was considerable. A case in
point is that of Gomez ibn Antonian ibn Julian, a court functionary
who converted to Islam early in the reign of Mol).ammed I in order
to obtain appointment to the office of secretary to the amir, a post
that contemporary Muslim opinion felt that a Christian should not
hold.^53 The society of the ruling elite could best be entered through
conversion, and thus the ranks of the muwallads were swelled as the
Umayyad period advanced. The growing attractions of the material
and intellectual culture of the upper-class Arabic society must also
have contributed to the attractiveness of conversion, at least in cen-
tres such as Cordoba, receiving added impetus from the internal
openness of the Islamic world, and the new departures in literature,
learning and sophisticated living to be found in the capital of Al-
Andalus in the ninth century.
Although Cordoba dominates not only our records, but also in all
probability the lives of the leading Christians of Al-Andalus, it should
not be assumed that it was the principal urban stronghold of the
religion. Christianity was probably little touched in many rural areas.
Also, although giving only a shadowy impression of itself in the few
extant sources, an urban episcopate and ecclesiastical hierarchy still
stretched over much of southern and central Spain. In terms of pres-
tige, Toledo, although now an embattled marcher fortress, still re-
mained the primatial see. Cordoba itself, as in Visigothic days, was
subject to the metropolitan authority of the bishops of Seville. Of the
other former metropolitan sees, only Merida remained, for both
Tarragona and Braga were deserted, and Narbonne fell into the hands
of the Franks in the course of the eighth century. The Council of
Cordoba held in 839 and presided over by Bishop Wistremir of To-
ledo was attended by bishops from Seville, Merida, Guadix, Ecija,
Cabra, Malaga and Granada. References to another council held in
862 in the Apologeticus of Abbot Samson, who was there accused of
heresy, indicate that in addition the sees of Baeza, Baza, Urci, Elche
and Sidonia were still in existence.^54