emirate · Iberia

Taifa of Molina

1012 CE – 1100 CE (approx.) · capital Molina de Aragón

An obscure frontier lordship at Molina de Aragón, ruled by the Banu Galbun, whose lord appears as El Cid's friend Abengalbón in the Cantar de mio Cid.

Origins

The Banu Galbun appear to have taken control of the castle of Molina and its district in the upper Gallo valley around 1012, as the Middle March of al-Andalus fragmented after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba. Little more is known of its beginnings.

Rule and society

Molina was a small border principality between the taifas of Toledo, Zaragoza and Albarracín, more a fortified lordship than a full kingdom. It is known mainly from Christian sources and from the epic Cantar de mio Cid, in which its lord Abengalbón is a loyal ally who hosts the Cid's wife and daughters.

Decline and legacy

Molina came under Almoravid control around 1100. In about 1129 Alfonso I of Aragon took the town, and it was soon granted to the Lara family, becoming the Lordship of Molina.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Lineage

Taifa of MolinaLordship of Molina 1129 CE – 1293 CE

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Taifa of Molina. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-molina
MLA
“Taifa of Molina.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-molina. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Taifa of Molina.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-molina.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Taifa of Molina’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/taifa-of-molina (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻