Las fuentes árabes sobre la conquista de Al-Andalus: una nueva interpretación

Abstract

This paper is a critical analysis of the Arab sources concerning the Arab conquest of Hispania. It compares the different accounts that Umayyad chronicles and late compilations provide on the circumstances surrounding that event. It also tracks the oriental origins of most of these accounts and highlights their peculiar elaboration in al-Andalus. This method enables us to conclude that the main interest of the Umayyad chroniclers was to define the status of the land according to the interests of the ruling dynasty. However, this vision was challenged by other writers defending the interests of the descendants of those who took part in the conquest. All this explains many of the contradictions of our sources and also the unstable political situation of al-Andalus in its earlier period.