194 EARLY MEDIEVAL SPAINtask, as such piracy may well have been a valuable source of much-
needed slaves.
These then, in outline, are some of the internal problems faced by
the Umayyad rulers, and it is against this background that their deal-
ings with the Christian states of the north of the peninsula must be
seen. The latter were often provided with opportunities to take ad-
vantage of the disunity of their southern neighbours, just as Charle-
magne had been called into Spain in 778 by a rebel in Zaragoza.
Thus, in 854, the aid of Ordoi'io I of the Asturias was sought by rebels
in Toledo. The powerful Banu Qasl of the Ebro valley often involved
the kings of Pamplona, to whom they were linked by marriage, in
their revolts. Unsuccessful rebels or bandits could on occasion take
refuge in Christian territory, whilst the Christian rulers themselves or
their marcher lords in Leon and Castille conducted frequent raids
for plunder, not territorial expansion, into the Muslim-dominated
lands. Finally the counts of Catalonia, the former Frankish march,
were drawn as mercenaries into the Umayyads' civil wars, and under-
took a bloody and not very remunerative expedition to Cordoba in
1010 on behalf of one of the rival daimants.^25
However, the initiative remained generally with the Umayyads. The
Islamic annals record, from the time of 'Abd al-Ral].man I onwards,
frequent despatch of military expeditions from Cordoba against the
Asturias and Pamplona, and to a lesser extent the Frankish march.
Notably in the reign of Hisham I (788-796), after an initial period
of civil war against his brothers, we find in 791 the amir leading an
army into Alava and Castille, while his general Yiisuf ibn Bokht cam-
paigned further westward, defeating Vermudo I of the Asturias. In
792 the general Ibn Muglt raided Alava and Castille and in 793 the
same commander expelled Frankish forces from Gerona and
Narbonne. In 794 two expeditions are recorded, one into Alava and
the other into the Asturias, sacking Oviedo, its new Capital. In 795
Ibn Mugit led an army to Astorga, driving Alfonso II before him.26
Such prodigious activity, although not consistently maintained, was
by no means unusual. One or often two expeditions a year are re-
corded, frequently over extended periods of time, throughout the
Umayyad era, culminating in the remarkable campaigns of Al-Man!?iir.
A similar pattern of annual or twice-yearly raids into Byzantine ·Asia
Minor was conducted by the Syrian Umayyad caliphs in the first half
of the eighth century. Now it may be wondered why, under such a
barrage of attack, the Christian states were able to survive. However,