Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi (983 – 4 March 1009), nicknamed Sanchol ('little Sancho', Sanchuelo to later historians), was the ʿĀmirid hajib (chief minister) of the Caliphate of Córdoba under Caliph Hisham II from October 1008, at a time when actual power in the caliphate was vested in the hajib. The Caliph nominated him as heir a month later, but he was deposed by a coup the following February. He was killed some weeks later during a vain attempt to regain power. Though an unpopular and highly flawed leader, his deposition led to the disintegration of the caliphate.
Contents
Youth
Sanchuelo was born in Córdoba, the son of the hajib Almanzor and a converted Christian named Abda. She was a daughter of Sancho II of Pamplona, likely originally named Urraca or Sancha. He was nicknamed Sanchol (Arabic: شنجول, romanized: šanjūl), the diminutive of Sancho, after his Christian grandfather. His father had elevated the role of hajib, once an advisory role, to become the de facto leader of the Córdoba caliphate, setting up his own court, taking charge of the armies and sequestering Caliph Hisham II from the public in near-captivity. Sanchuelo would have been raised at his father's residence of az-Zahira on the outskirts of Córdoba. At the age of about nine in September 992 he rode out to receive the visit of his grandfather Sancho II, and escort him along the troop-lined road to his father at the az-Zahira court.
His father took active means to toughen him and his elder brother as warriors. About 995, troops of the Kingdom of Pamplona attacked Calatayud and killed the governor's brother. In revenge Almanzor ordered the beheading of 50 Pamplonan captives who had been taken at Uncastillo some time earlier. According to Ibn Darraj, at Almanzor's direction, Sanchuelo was tasked with personally beheading one of the captives, who was his uncle. Then at the age of 14 in 997, Sanchuelo took part in his father's campaign against Santiago de Compostela, and Ibn Darraj composed a poem celebrating Sanchuelo's acts as well as a second dedicated to the actions of both Sanchuelo and his brother. In the Battle of Cervera in 1000, when the situation looked dire, his father sent him to the front lines to fight (as reported by historian Ibn Hayyan, whose father was present).