Egilona

Egilona (659 — 718) was the wife of the last Visigothic king, Roderic, in the early years of the 8th Century during the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. When he died in the Battle of Guadalete she was captured by the Moorish leader Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa. As per the Muslim tradition the king married the widowed women, and in the year 717 AD she was forced to be his wife.

Egilona was one of the most influential people in this time. She was able to influence Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa to show more clemency with captured Christians. This was not well received by the Umayyad Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik in Damascus who had Abd al-Aziz ibn Musa killed for attempting to establish his own monarchy.

External links

• LUNDE, Paul (1993): "Ishbiliyah, Islamic Seville" in Saudi Aramco World, pages 20–31, January/February 1993 issue (available online)