At some point in the second half of the reign of Byzantine Emperor Michael II (r. 820–829), a group of Andalusian exiles landed on Crete and began its conquest.[5] These exiles had a long history of wanderings behind them. They were the survivors of a failed revolt against the emir Al-Hakam I of Córdoba in 818. In the aftermath of its suppression, the citizens of the Cordovan suburb of al-Rabad were exiled en masse. Some settled in Fez in Morocco, but others, numbering over 10,000, took to piracy, probably joined by other Andalusians. Some of the latter group, under the leadership of Umar ibn Hafs ibn Shuayb ibn Isa al Balluti, commonly known as Abu Hafs, landed in Alexandria and took control of the city until 827, when they were besieged and expelled by the Abbasid general Abdullah ibn Tahir al-Khurasani.[6][7][8] The exact chronology of their landing in Crete is uncertain. Following the Muslim sources, it is usually dated to 827 or 828, after the Andalusians' expulsion from Alexandria.[9] Byzantine sources however seem to contradict this, placing their landing soon after the suppression of the large revolt of Thomas the Slav (821–823). Further considerations regarding the number and chronology of the Byzantine campaigns launched against the invaders and prosopographical questions of the Byzantine generals that headed them have led other scholars like Vassilios Christides and Christos Makrypoulias to propose an earlier date, ca. 824.
Under the terms of their agreement with Ibn Tahir, the Andalusians and their families left Alexandria in 40 ships. Historian Warren Treadgold estimates them at some 12,000 people, of whom ca. 3,000 would be fighting men.[11] According to Byzantine historians, the Andalusians were already familiar with Crete, having raided it in the past. They also claim that the Muslim landing was also initially intended as a raid, and was transformed into a bid for conquest when Abu Hafs himself set fire to their ships. However, as the Andalusian exiles had brought their families along, this is probably later invention.[9] The Andalusians' landing-place is also unknown; some scholars think that it was at the north coast, at Suda Bay or near where their main city and fortress Chandax (Arabic: ربض الخندق, rabḍ al-ḫandaq, "Castle of the Moat", modern Heraklion) was later built,[9][12] but others think that they most likely landed on the south coast of the island, and then moved to the more densely populated interior and the northern coast.
As soon as he learned of the Arab landing, and before the Andalusians had secured their control over the entire island, Emperor Michael II reacted and sent successive expeditions to recover the island. Byzantium's ability to respond effectively however was curtailed by the losses suffered during the revolt of Thomas the Slav, and, if the landing occurred in 827/828, by the diversion of ships and men to counter the gradual conquest of Sicily by the Tunisian Aghlabids.[16] The first expedition, under Photeinos, strategos of the Anatolic Theme, and Damian, Count of the Stable, was defeated in open battle, where Damian was killed.[5][15][17] The next expedition was sent a year later and comprised 70 ships under the strategos of the Cibyrrhaeots Krateros. It was initially victorious, but the overconfident Byzantines were then routed in a night attack. Krateros managed to flee to Kos, but there he was captured by the Arabs and crucified.[18][19] Ch. Makrypoulias suggests that these campaigns must have taken place before the Andalusians completed their construction of Chandax, where they transferred the capital from the inland site of Gortyn.
Having repulsed the early Byzantine attacks, Abu Hafs slowly consolidated his control of the entire island,[19] and installed himself as the island's ruler. He recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate, but ruled as a de facto independent prince.[9] The conquest of the island was of major importance, as it transformed the naval balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean and opened up the hitherto secure Aegean Sea littoral to frequent and devastating raids.[21]
The Andalusians also occupied several of the Cyclades during these early years, but Michael II organized another large-scale expedition, recruiting an entire new marine corps, the Tessarakontarioi, and building new ships. Under the admiral Ooryphas, this fleet managed to evict the Arabs from the Aegean islands, but failed to retake Crete.[22][23] Michael II's successor Theophilos (r. 829–842) sent an embassy to Abd ar-Rahman II of Córdoba, trying to win him over to a joint action against the Andalusian exiles, but beyond Abd ar-Rahman's giving his assent to any action against them, this came to nothing.[9] In October 829, the Cretans destroyed an imperial fleet off Thasos, a success which undid much of Ooryphas' work and opened up the Aegean and its coasts to pillage.[24][25][26] Later they attacked Euboea (ca. 835–840) Lesbos (837) and the coasts of the Thracesian Theme, where they destroyed the monastic centre of Mount Latros, but were heavily defeated by the local strategos, Constantine Kontomytes.[9][27][28]
After the death of Theophilos in 842, new measures to confront the Cretan threat were undertaken by the new Byzantine regime: in 843 a new maritime theme, that of the Aegean Sea, was established to better deal with the Saracen raids, and another expedition to recover Crete was launched under the personal leadership of the powerful logothetes and regent Theoktistos. Although it succeeded in occupying much of the island, Theoktistos had to abandon the army due to political intrigues in Constantinople, and the troops left behind were slaughtered by the Arabs.[29][30] In an effort to weaken the Saracens, in 853 several Byzantine fleets engaged in coordinated operations in the Eastern Mediterranean, and attacked the Egyptian naval base of Damietta, capturing weapons intended for Crete.[9][25] Despite some Byzantine successes against the Arabs in the following years, the Cretans resumed their raids in the early 860s, attacking the Peloponnese, the Cyclades and Athos.[9][31] In 866, the Byzantine Caesar Bardas assembled another large-scale expeditionary force to subdue Crete, but his murder at the hand of Basil the Macedonian only two weeks after the fleet set sail from the capital spelled the end of the undertaking
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirat_von_Kreta
