Nice Island, I'll Take It!

In 818, Emir Al-Hakam I of Cordoba faced a revolt from al-Ribad, one of the large suburbs of the city (at the time, Cordoba was one of the biggest cities in the world, having nearly half a million people).  The people were upset by Hakam's harsh tax policies, which he had enacted after the last revolt in 805, hoping to keep the people poor and helpless.

Unfortunately for the rebels, their attempt to storm the palace was easily defeated, and many of the mob were slaughtered in the streets.  After torturing and executing the ringleaders, Hakam took the extreme measure of rounding up and exiling every resident of al-Ribad, about 60,000 people.  Hakam was not one to put up with that kind of shit, apparently.  Most of the exiles moved to Morocco, but a large number, perhaps as many as 10,000, took up Mediterranean piracy.

Led by Abu Hafs, this pirate band, along with their families and their former neighbors, invaded and occupied the Egyptian city of Alexandria, intending to make it their new home.  The rulers of Egypt, of course, were not on board with this plan.  You can't just sail up to one of the most famous and important cities in the world and declare yourselves the new owners.

The Egyptians quickly marshaled their forces and besieged the city, reclaiming it about a year later.  So, the Cordobans set out again looking for a new home, and arrived at the island of Crete, then part of the Byzantine Empire.  After defeating the local garrisons, they set up shop on the island, and built the fortress of Chandax as their new capital.

Although the Byzantines sent several military expeditions to reclaim the island, the Cordobans successfully defended their new home for well over 100 years.  During that time, they launched raids across the Aegean sea, and occupied several smaller islands nearby.  It wasn't until 961 that Nikephoros II Phokas, one of the great generals of Byzantine history, and later a Byzantine Emperor, was able to retake Crete and drive the Cordobans out for good.  Today, over 1,000 years after their defeat, Chandax (now called Heraklion) remains the capital of the island.

Saqaliba

You've been kidnapped from your fishing village by pirate raiders, sold into slavery, castrated, and forced to work in the court of the Caliph.  One day, the country starts falling apart around you.  What do you do? This is the situation that faced the court slaves, or saqaliba, of Cordoba in 1010 AD.

For years, the Caliph had been reduced to a powerless figurehead while his viziers ruled the empire, but the pathetic tenure of Caliph Hisham II took the situation to a new level.  He (nominally) took the throne at age 10, dressed himself in a veil and makeup, and kept an all-male harem.  As one could imagine, this set of traits did not make for an imposing supreme ruler in eleventh century Iberia.  The actual power was all in the hands of his chancellor and general, Al-Mansur, who wouldn't even let Hisham leave his palace.

Al-Mansur was quite happy to keep the weird gay shut-in on the throne, but when he died his sons Abd al-Malik and Abd ur-Rahman didn't realize what a good thing he had going.  They wanted the title as well as the power, because what's the point in running a massive empire if you can't tell the ladies that you're Caliph?  After a series of uprisings, assassinations and other various and sundry court intrigue, they brought the Caliphate crashing down around them.

This put the saqaliba, Slavs who had been captured in raids or in battle, and brought to court to serve as eunuch slaves and advisers, in a tricky position.  Should they try to make it back to their homeland?  Keep their heads down and hope no one thinks they look like ripe assassination targets?  Those would probably be the sensible answers, but Mujahid al-Siqlabi (they apparently got spiffy new Arabic names in exchange for having their junk chopped off) had a better answer: get yourself a make-shift crown and a map, draw yourself a nice looking swath of territory and proclaim yourself a newly-minted petty king.  Then start duking it out with the other slaves who'd done the same thing.

Mujahid's Taifa of Denia somehow managed to get control of a nice patch of land along the Eastern coast of Spain, while other former slaves, generals and court dignitaries carved up the rest of Muslim Iberia among themselves.  This provided a lot of work for map-makers as the various kingdoms routinely attacked and absorbed one another until the Almoravids from Morocco arrived a few decades later to gobble the whole mess up.