The de facto ruler of the Caliphate of Cordoba at its military height, a chamberlain-dictator whose relentless campaigns terrorized the Christian north.
Life
Almanzor (al-Mansur ibn Abi Aamir, c. 938–1002) rose as chamberlain (hajib) to the boy-caliph Hisham II and made himself the real power in al-Andalus, ruling as a military dictator. He launched dozens of devastating campaigns against the Christian kingdoms, most famously sacking Santiago de Compostela in 997 and carrying off its cathedral bells to Cordoba. Feared and effective, he brought the caliphate to its greatest military reach; but the system he dominated collapsed into civil war soon after his death.