Manon Lescaut, sentimental novel by Antoine-François, Abbé Prévost d’Exiles, published in 1731 as the last installment of Prévost’s seven-volume opus Mémoires et aventures d’un homme de qualité qui s’est retiré du monde (1728–31; “Memories and Adventures of a Man of Quality Who Has Retired from the

manorialism: Origins: This arrangement developed into the manorial system, which in turn supported the feudal aristocracy of kings, lords, and vassals.

manor house, during the European Middle Ages, the dwelling of the lord of the manor or his residential bailiff and administrative centre of the feudal estate. The medieval manor was generally fortified in proportion to the degree of peaceful settlement of the country or region in which it was

Isaac Bashevis Singer: …continuous narrative spun out in The Manor and The Estate—have large casts of characters and extend over several generations. These books chronicle the changes in, and eventual breakup of, large Jewish families during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as their members are differently affected by the secularism and…

Southeast Asian arts: Folk performance: …in simple folk style, the Manora Buddhist birth story as a dance-play. A troupe of three players was usual. One played the beautiful half-bird, half-human princess, Manora; a second played the hero, Prince Suton; and the third, often masked, played clown, ogre, or animal as needed. Flute, bell cymbal, and…

Karachi: City site: …from storms by Kiamāri Island, Manora Island, and Oyster Rocks, which together block the greater part of the harbour entrance in the west.

manorial court, in feudal law, court through which a lord exercised jurisdiction over his tenants. The manorial court was presided over by the steward or seneschal, and it was there that various officials—such as the reeve, who acted as general overseer, and the hayward, who watched over the crops

manorialism, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord. Its basic unit was the manor, a self-sufficient landed estate, or fief that was under the control of a lord who enjoyed a variety of rights over it

manorialism, political, economic, and social system by which the peasants of medieval Europe were rendered dependent on their land and on their lord. Its basic unit was the manor, a self-sufficient landed estate, or fief that was under the control of a lord who enjoyed a variety of rights over it

bellbird: Manorina melanophrys, often called the bell miner, is an olive-coloured Australian honeyeater with an orange bill and legs. It has a short bell-like call.

Roberto Durán is a Panamanian professional boxer who was world lightweight, welterweight, junior-middleweight, and middleweight champion. (Read Gene Tunney’s 1929 Britannica essay on boxing.) Durán began his professional career on March 8, 1967, and won the first 32 matches of his career, 26 by

red pill and blue pill: …similarly in the so-called “manosphere.” The manosphere generally refers to a vast network of websites and blogs frequented by online misogynist groups, including men’s rights activists (MRAs), pick-up artists (PUAs), Men Going Their Own Way (MGTOW), and incels. Many of these groups consider taking the red pill as a…

Roma: …of entertainment), and (3) the Manush (French Manouches, also known as Sinti, mostly in Alsace and other regions of France and Germany, often traveling showmen and circus people). Each of these main divisions was further divided into two or more subgroups distinguished by occupational specialization or territorial origin or both.

Raoul Walsh: At Warner Brothers: The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra, and White Heat: Manpower (1941) pitted two power-company workers (Edward G. Robinson and Raft) against each other for the prize of a café hostess (Marlene Dietrich), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941), which starred Errol Flynn as a highly sanitized George Armstrong Custer, completed an extraordinary…

human resources management, the management of the people in working organizations. It is also frequently called personnel management, industrial relations, employee relations, manpower management, and personnel administration. It represents a major subcategory of general management, focusing

pre-Columbian civilizations: The Spanish conquest: …Huascar’s following, placing Huascar’s brother, Manco Inca, on the throne and assisting him in dispersing the remnants of Atahuallpa’s army. The real Spanish conquest of Peru occurred during the next few years, when they prevented Manco Inca from reestablishing control over the coast and the north, much of which was…

Bolivia: Languages and religion: …of the first Inca emperor Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca. Through the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church has accepted some indigenous rituals and customs by assimilation, mainly through combined Catholic and traditional celebrations that continue to be an important…

Phoenix Islands: The group comprises Rawaki (Phoenix), Manra (Sydney), McKean, Nikumaroro (Gardner), Birnie, Orona (Hull), Kanton (Canton), and Enderbury atolls. They have a total land area of approximately 11 square miles (29 square km). All are low, sandy atolls that were discovered in

Manresa, city, Barcelona provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain. It lies along the Cardoner River. The city—which probably originated as Minorisa, the Roman capital of Jacetani—was important during the Middle Ages. Three bridges span

Gómez Manrique was a soldier, politician, diplomat and poet, chiefly famous as one of the earliest Spanish dramatists whose name is known. He fought with the leagues of nobles against King Henry IV of Castile and in support of the claims to the crown of the king’s half sister Isabella. As a poet,

Jorge Manrique was a Spanish soldier and writer, best known for his lyric poetry. Manrique was born into an illustrious Castilian family that numbered among its members the statesman Pedro López de Ayala and the poets Gómez Manrique and the Marquess de Santillana. He entered the Castilian military

Ignacy Jan Paderewski: In 1901 his opera Manru, dealing with life in the Tatra Mountains, was given at Dresden. In 1909 his Symphony in B Minor was given at Boston, and in that same year he became director of the Warsaw Conservatory.

Jacques Peletier was a French poet and critic whose knowledge and love of Greek and Latin poetry earned him a membership in the important and prestigious group of French poetry reformers known as La Pléiade. In the preface to his translation of Horace’s Ars Poetica (1545) and in his Art poétique

Le Mans, city, capital of Sarthe département, Pays de la Loire région, northwestern France. Situated in the former province of Maine, the city lies southwest of Chartres at the confluence of the Sarthe and Huisne rivers. Le Mans derives its name from the ancient Gallic tribe of the Cenomani, whose

Mansa, town, northern Zambia. It is located between Lake Bangweulu to the east and the frontier with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. It lies in an agricultural and livestock-raising area, has a battery-manufacturing plant, and is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishopric. Pop. (2000)

Mūsā I of Mali was the mansa (emperor) of the West African empire of Mali from 1307 (or 1312). Mansa Mūsā left a realm notable for its extent and riches—he built the Great Mosque at Timbuktu—but he is best remembered in the Middle East and Europe for the splendour of his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324).

manṣabdār, member of the imperial bureaucracy of the Mughal Empire in India. The manṣabdārs governed the empire and commanded its armies in the emperor’s name. Though they were usually aristocrats, they did not form a feudal aristocracy, for neither the offices nor the estates that supported them

François Mansart: Last years.: …1651 a pamphlet entitled “La Mansarade” (possibly written by political enemies of the prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, for whom Mansart had worked) accused him of having made deals with contractors and charged him with profligacy. The attack did not prevent him from continuing to work for prominent people.

mansard roof, type of roof having two slopes on every side, the lower slope being considerably steeper than the upper. In cross section the straight-sided mansard can appear like a gambrel roof, but it differs from the gambrel by displaying the same profile on all sides. Although the style was used

François Mansart was an architect important for establishing classicism in Baroque architecture in mid-17th-century France. His buildings are notable for their subtlety, elegance, and harmony. His most complete surviving work is the château of Maisons. Mansart was the grandson of a master mason and

François Mansart was an architect important for establishing classicism in Baroque architecture in mid-17th-century France. His buildings are notable for their subtlety, elegance, and harmony. His most complete surviving work is the château of Maisons. Mansart was the grandson of a master mason and

Jules Hardouin-Mansart was a French architect and city planner to King Louis XIV who completed the design of Versailles. Mansart in 1668 adopted the surname of his granduncle by marriage, the distinguished architect François Mansart. By 1674, when he was commissioned to rebuild the château of

Albert Mansbridge was a largely self-educated educator, the founder and chief organizer of the adult-education movement in Great Britain. The son of a carpenter, Mansbridge had to leave school at the age of 14 owing to his family’s limited financial resources. He became a clerical worker but

Mansehra, town, northeastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. The town is situated at the southern end of the Pakhli Plain on the Bhut Stream, a tributary to the Siran River, at an elevation of 3,682 feet (1,122 metres) above sea level. It is a market town surrounded by pine-covered hills and

Henry Longueville Mansel was a British philosopher and Anglican theologian and priest remembered for his exposition of the philosophy of the Scottish thinker Sir William Hamilton (1788–1856). Educated at the University of Oxford, Mansel was elected Waynflete professor of moral and metaphysical

Andes Mountains: Physiography of the Central Andes: …Huarcaya gaps and—the most important—Manseriche Gap, which is seven miles long.

Ernst, count von Mansfeld was a Roman Catholic mercenary who fought for the Protestant cause during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48); he was the Catholic League’s most dangerous opponent until his death in 1626. An illegitimate son of Peter Ernst, Fürst (prince) von Mansfeld, governor of the duchy

Ernst, count von Mansfeld was a Roman Catholic mercenary who fought for the Protestant cause during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48); he was the Catholic League’s most dangerous opponent until his death in 1626. An illegitimate son of Peter Ernst, Fürst (prince) von Mansfeld, governor of the duchy

Mansfield: Mansfield was the chief town of Sherwood Forest—the legendary base for the activities of Robin Hood, the medieval robber and popular hero—and the forest court was held in the town’s Moot Hall (built 1752).

Mansfield, town (township), Tolland county, northeastern Connecticut, U.S. It lies just north of Willimantic city. Settled in 1686, it was originally part of Windham, known as Ponde Town. In 1702 it was incorporated as a separate town and renamed for Major Moses Mansfield, an early settler. A busy

Mansfield, city, seat (1808) of Richland county, north-central Ohio, U.S., about 65 miles (105 km) northeast of Columbus, on a fork of the Mohican River. Laid out in 1808, it was named for Jared Mansfield, U.S. surveyor general. The arrival of the Mansfield and Sandusky Railroad (1846), followed by

C.K. Stead: The historical novels Mansfield, with writer Katherine Mansfield as its subject, and My Name Was Judas were published in 2004 and 2006, respectively. In 2012 he issued Risk, set during the global financial crisis. The Necessary Angel (2017) follows academics in Paris. Stead reminisced about his own early…

Mansfield, town and district, administrative and historic county of Nottinghamshire, England, on the River Maun. Mansfield was the chief town of Sherwood Forest—the legendary base for the activities of Robin Hood, the medieval robber and popular hero—and the forest court was held in the town’s Moot

Mansfield Park, novel by Jane Austen, published in three volumes in 1814. In its tone and discussion of religion and religious duty, it is the most serious of Austen’s novels. The heroine, Fanny Price, is a self-effacing and unregarded cousin cared for by the Bertram family in their country house.

Arabella Mansfield was an American educator who was the first woman admitted to the legal profession in the United States. Belle Babb graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University in 1866 (by which time she was known as Arabella). She then taught political science, English, and history at Simpson College

William Murray, 1st earl of Mansfield was the chief justice of the King’s Bench of Great Britain from 1756 to 1788, who made important contributions to commercial law. William Murray was the son of the 5th Viscount Stormont. Educated at Perth grammar school, Westminster School, and Christ Church,

Frank Tashlin: Films of the late 1950s: …with the statuesque platinum-blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield cast as the girlfriend of a retired gangster (Edmond O’Brien) who hires a press agent (Ewell) to make her a star. Using Mansfield as a kind of a three-dimensional cartoon, The Girl Can’t Help It combined broad comedy with legendary rock and roll…

Battle of Antietam: The Civil War’s bloodiest day: Joseph Mansfield) followed Hooker across the upper stream while McClellan’s left wing (Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s IX corps) drew up opposite Lee’s extreme right. McClellan, fearing a counterattack from a phantom Confederate juggernaut, intended to hold back his centre while pressuring Lee’s flanks. In practice,…

Katherine Mansfield was a New Zealand-born English master of the short story, who evolved a distinctive prose style with many overtones of poetry. Her delicate stories, focused upon psychological conflicts, have an obliqueness of narration and a subtlety of observation that reveal the influence of

Michael Mansfield was a Democratic politician who was the longest-serving majority leader in the U.S. Senate (1961–77). He also served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988. Reared by relatives in Montana, Mansfield dropped out of school before completing the eighth grade. He enlisted in

Michael Mansfield was a Democratic politician who was the longest-serving majority leader in the U.S. Senate (1961–77). He also served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1977 to 1988. Reared by relatives in Montana, Mansfield dropped out of school before completing the eighth grade. He enlisted in

Mount Mansfield, highest point (4,393 feet [1,339 metres]) in Vermont, U.S., standing 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Burlington in the Green Mountains, a segment of the Appalachian Mountains. Mount Mansfield is actually a series of summits that together resemble the profile of a face. Individual

Richard Mansfield was one of the last of the great Romantic actors in the United States. Mansfield was born while his mother was on a concert tour, and until 1872, when they arrived for the first time in New York City, she continued tours of England and the Continent. In the United States young

Sir Peter Mansfield was an English physicist who, with American chemist Paul Lauterbur, won the 2003 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a computerized scanning technology that produces images of internal body structures, especially those

William Cavendish, 1st duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a Royalist commander during the English Civil Wars and a noted patron of poets, dramatists, and other writers. The son of Sir Charles Cavendish, he attended St. John’s College, Cambridge, and through inheritances and royal favour became

William Cavendish, 1st duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a Royalist commander during the English Civil Wars and a noted patron of poets, dramatists, and other writers. The son of Sir Charles Cavendish, he attended St. John’s College, Cambridge, and through inheritances and royal favour became

William Murray, 1st earl of Mansfield was the chief justice of the King’s Bench of Great Britain from 1756 to 1788, who made important contributions to commercial law. William Murray was the son of the 5th Viscount Stormont. Educated at Perth grammar school, Westminster School, and Christ Church,

William Murray, 1st earl of Mansfield was the chief justice of the King’s Bench of Great Britain from 1756 to 1788, who made important contributions to commercial law. William Murray was the son of the 5th Viscount Stormont. Educated at Perth grammar school, Westminster School, and Christ Church,

mansfieldite, arsenate mineral (AlAsO4·2H2O) similar to scorodite

Paul Manship was an American sculptor whose subjects and modern generalized style were largely inspired by classical sculpture. He is particularly well known for his large public commissions. Trained in the United States, Manship received a scholarship in 1909 to study at the American Academy in

Khanty and Mansi: Mansi, western Siberian peoples, living mainly in the Ob River basin of central Russia. They each speak an Ob-Ugric language of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages. Together they numbered some 30,000 in the late 20th century. They are descended from people from the…

Ob-Ugric languages: …Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) languages; they are most closely related to Hungarian, with which they make up the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric. The Ob-Ugric languages are spoken in the region of the Ob and Irtysh rivers in central Russia. They had no written tradition…

Sonal Mansingh is a dancer of odissi, a classical Indian dance form that originated in Orissa, and other Indian classical forms. Apart from being a dancer, she is also a teacher, researcher, choreographer, and social activist. Mansingh’s initial lessons in dance were in manipuri and bharata natyam

mansion, scenic device used in medieval theatrical staging. Individual mansions represented different locales in biblical stories and in scenes from the life of Christ as performed in churches. A mansion consisted of a small booth containing a stage with corner posts supporting a canopy and

Mansion House, official residence of the lord mayor of the City of London. It stands in the City’s central financial district, across from the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange. Notable sections of the house include the dining room known as the Egyptian Hall, the second-story Ball Room, and

The Mansion, novel by William Faulkner, first published in 1959 as the third volume of his Snopes trilogy. The rapacious Snopes family meets its final dissolution in The Mansion. In the two previous volumes, The Hamlet (1940) and The Town (1957), Faulkner had described the ascent of ruthless Flem

Gilberto Freyre: The Mansions and the Shanties), Brazil: An Interpretation (1945; rev. and enlarged as New World in the Tropics, 1980), Nordeste (1937; “The Northeast”), and Ordem e progresso (1959; Order and Progress). Sobrados e mucambos traces the processes of urbanization and the decline of the rural…

Mansions in the Mountains, ink and color painting on silk created by the 10th-century Chinese artist Dong Yuan. The scroll exemplifies the elegance of his brush painting, a style that became the standard in China for the next nine centuries. Dong Yuan was active in what is now the province of

Mansions in the Mountains, ink and color painting on silk created by the 10th-century Chinese artist Dong Yuan. The scroll exemplifies the elegance of his brush painting, a style that became the standard in China for the next nine centuries. Dong Yuan was active in what is now the province of

manslaughter, in Anglo-American criminal law, a category of criminal homicide that generally carries a lesser penalty than the crime of murder. Different legal systems use different criteria to distinguish the kinds and degrees of unjustified killing. See

bullfighting: Act one: …the uninitiated, often is a manso.

Mortes River, river in central Brazil. It rises east of Cuiabá city and flows east-northeastward across the Mato Grosso Plateau. East of the Roncador Uplands and above the town of São Félix, it turns north-northeastward and empties into the Araguaia River, a principal affluent of the Tocantins. Its

Mansôa, town located near the source of the Mansôa River in central Guinea-Bissau. The area around Mansôa is agricultural, with rice predominating in the western coastal areas, palm in the central and eastern coastal areas, and mixed forest in the northeast. The town is connected by road to Bissau,

Mansôa: …near the source of the Mansôa River in central Guinea-Bissau. The area around Mansôa is agricultural, with rice predominating in the western coastal areas, palm in the central and eastern coastal areas, and mixed forest in the northeast. The town is connected by road to Bissau, the national capital. Pop.…

Korean literature: Oral literature: …Ch’ŏmjikuk; “Old Pak’s Play”) and Mansŏk chung nori. Both titles are derived from names of characters in the plays. No theory has been formulated as to the origin and development of these plays. The plots of the puppet plays, like those of the mask plays, are full of satiric social…

Charles Manson: …the leader of the “Family,” a communal religious cult dedicated to studying and implementing his eccentric religious teachings, which were drawn from science fiction as well as the occult and fringe psychology. He preached the coming of an apocalyptic race war that would devastate the United States and leave…

schistosomiasis: Types and process of infection: (2) Manson’s, or intestinal, schistosomiasis is caused by S. mansoni, found in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and northern South America. (3) Vesical, or urinary, schistosomiasis is caused by S. haematobium, found throughout Africa and the Middle East.

Charles Manson was an American criminal and cult leader whose followers carried out several notorious murders in the late 1960s. Their crimes inspired the best-selling book Helter Skelter (1974). See also Tate murders. Manson was born to a 16-year-old girl and a man he would never know. After his

Marilyn Manson is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and artist best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Marilyn Manson, which he cofounded with guitarist Scott Putesky in 1989. The band became popular for its blend of industrial rock, glam rock, and alternative metal and for its

Sir Patrick Manson was a British parasitologist who founded the field of tropical medicine. He was the first to discover (1877–79) that an insect (mosquito) can be host to a developing parasite (the worm Filaria bancrofti) that is the cause of a human disease (filariasis, which occurs when the

filariasis: Types of filariasis: …caused by Acanthocheilonema perstans and Mansonella ozzardi and are not in most cases associated with specific symptoms. The prevention of filariasis relies heavily on insecticides and insect repellents.

Egypt: The June 30 Revolution: …of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour. As Mansour was tasked with implementing the military’s transition road map, however, it was clear that he ultimately answered to Sisi.

Tlemcen: …established the fortified camp of Mansoura 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Tlemcen as a base from which to besiege the town. Tlemcen was periodically besieged by the Marīnids throughout the 14th century, but during times of truce the rulers of the town worked on its architectural adornment and developed…

Olaus Magnus was a Swedish ecclesiastic and author of an influential history of Scandinavia. A Catholic priest, he went to Rome in 1523, during the Swedish Reformation, and thereafter lived in exile, first in Danzig and later in Italy, with his brother Archbishop Johannes Magnus, on whose death he

Erich von Manstein was perhaps the most talented German field commander in World War II. The son of an artillery general, he was adopted by General Georg von Manstein after the untimely death of his parents. Manstein began his active career as an officer in 1906 and served in World War I on both

chess: Studies: The first studies, called manṣūbāt and dating from Arabic and Persian manuscripts, were intended to instruct players on how to win endgames. Themes of instructional studies, such as the pursuit of more than one aim at a time, are often used in practical play to turn what otherwise would…

Helmut Jahn: The Mansueto Library (2011) that he designed for the University of Chicago campus gave further evidence of his melding of design and engineering. The elliptical tear-shaped glass-and-steel structure provided a light-filled reading room that disguised several stories of underground book storage and a state-of-the-art robotic book-retrieval…

Moẓaffarid Dynasty: …and killing its last ruler, Manṣūr (reigned 1384–93).

Manṣūr was a leading member of the 17th-century Jahāngīr studio of Mughal painters, famed for his animal and bird studies. The emperor Jahāngīr honoured him with the title Nādir al-ʿAsr (“Wonder of the Age”), and in his memoirs Jahāngīr praises Manṣūr as “unique in his generation” in the art of

al-Bahūtī was a teacher and the last major exponent in Egypt of the Ḥanbalī school of Islamic law. Little is known about al-Bahūtī except that he spent nearly all of his life teaching and practicing Ḥanbalī law. His legal writings, although not original, are noted for their clarity and are still

Qalāʾūn was a Mamlūk sultan of Egypt (1279–90), the founder of a dynasty that ruled that country for a century. In the 1250s Qalāʾūn was an early and devoted supporter of the Mamlūk commander Baybars, and, after the latter became sultan of Egypt and Syria in 1260, Qalāʾūn’s career advanced rapidly.

sultanate of Malacca: …of the next three rulers—Sultans Mansur Shah, reigned about 1459–77; Alaʾud-din, 1477–88; and Mahmud Shah, 1488–1511, all of whom were related to him—and pursuing an aggressive foreign policy that saw the sultanate established as a tributary empire embracing the whole of the Malay Peninsula and much of eastern Sumatra. At…

Ferdowsī was a Persian poet, author of the Shāh-nāmeh (“Book of Kings”), the Persian national epic, to which he gave a final and enduring form, although he based his poem mainly on an earlier prose version. Ferdowsī was born in a village on the outskirts of the ancient city of Ṭūs. In the course of

Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb al-Manṣūr was the third ruler of the Muʾminid dynasty of Spain and North Africa, who during his reign (1184–99) brought the power of his dynasty to its zenith. When his father, Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf, died on July 29, 1184, Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb succeeded to the throne with minor

Abū ʿĀmir al-Manṣūr was the chief minister and virtual ruler of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba for 24 years (978–1002). Manṣūr was descended from a member of the Arab army that conquered Spain. He began his career as a professional letter writer, becoming the protégé (and supposedly the lover) of

Najāḥid Dynasty: …to Jayyāsh, his grandson al-Manṣūr was installed in Zabīd c. 1111 by the Ṣulayḥids as their vassal. Manṣūr was poisoned in 1123 by his Mamlūk vizier Mann Allāh, who proceeded to fight off an attempted invasion by the Fāṭimids of Egypt and to reduce the Najāḥid ruler to a…

Baghdad: Districts: Chief among these is Al-Manṣūr, surrounding the racetrack, which provides boutiques, fast-food restaurants, and sidewalk cafés that appeal to its affluent professional residents. These areas were the most heavily developed sections of the city under the Baʿathist regime of Saddam Hussein. Al-Karkh in particular was the centre of Baʿathist…

al-Manṣūr was the second caliph of the ʿAbbāsid dynasty (754–775), generally regarded as the real founder of the ʿAbbāsid caliphate. He established the capital city at Baghdad (762–763). Al-Manṣūr was born at Al-Ḥumaymah, the home of the ʿAbbāsid family after their emigration from the Hejaz in

Afṭasid dynasty: …Maslamah, who was known as Ibn al-Afṭas, seized control of the kingdom and, assuming the title Al-Manṣūr Billāh (“Victorious by God”), ruled fairly peacefully until 1045. But trouble with the neighbouring ʿAbbādids of Sevilla (Seville), which had begun at the end of al-Manṣūr’s rule, consumed the energies of his son…

Abū ʿĀmir al-Manṣūr was the chief minister and virtual ruler of the Umayyad caliphate of Córdoba for 24 years (978–1002). Manṣūr was descended from a member of the Arab army that conquered Spain. He began his career as a professional letter writer, becoming the protégé (and supposedly the lover) of