Martyrs of Córdoba
| Martyrs of Córdoba | |
|---|---|
| Died | Between 850 and 859, Córdoba, Al-Andalus, modern day Spain |
| Martyred by | Abd ar-Rahman II, Muhammad I of Córdoba |
| Means of martyrdom | Decapitation |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Notable martyrs | Aurelius and Natalia, Eulogius, Perfectus, Roderick |
The Martyrs of Córdoba were forty-eight Christian martyrs who were executed under the rule of Muslim conquerors in what is now southern Spain. At the time the area was known as Al-Andalus. The hagiography describes in detail the executions of the martyrs for capital violations of Muslim law, including apostasy and blasphemy. The martyrdoms related by Eulogius (the only contemporary source) took place between 851 and 859.
With few exceptions, the Christians knowingly risked execution by making public statements proclaiming their Christianity in the presence of Muslims, an act considered blasphemous under Islamic law and punishable by death. Some of the martyrs were executed for blasphemy after they appeared before the Muslim authorities and denounced Muhammad, while others who were Christian children of Islamic-Christian marriages publicly proclaimed their Christianity and thus were executed as apostates. (Coope 1995). Still others who had previously converted to Islam denounced their new faith and returned to Christianity, and thus were also executed as apostates.
The lack of another source after Eulogius's own martyrdom has given way to the misimpression that there were fewer episodes later in the 9th century.
In 711 AD, a Muslim army from North Africa had conquered Visigoth Christian Iberia. Under their leader Tariq ibn-Ziyad, they landed at Gibraltar and brought most of the Iberian Peninsula under Islamic rule in an eight-year campaign. The Iberian Peninsula was called Al-Andalus by its Muslim rulers. When the Umayyad Caliphs were deposed in Damascus in 750, the dynasty relocated to Córdoba, ruling an emirate there; consequently the city gained in luxury and importance, as a center of Iberian Muslim culture.
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