Abd al-Rahman I
In 756, Abd al-Rahman I, a survivor of the recently overthrown Umayyad Dynasty, landed in al-Andalus and seized power in Cordova and Seville, and proclaimed himself "emir" or "malik", removing any mentions of the Abbasid Caliphs from the Friday prayers. In the wake of these events, southern Iberia became "de jure" and "de facto" independent from the Abbasid Caliphate. Although this was not accepted outside al-Andalus and those North African territories with which it was affiliated, Abd al-Rahman, and especially his successors, considered that they were the legitimate continuation of the Umayyad caliphate, i.e. that their rule was more legitimate than that of the Abbasids. It seems that Abd ar-Rahman never considered establishing a separate principality. (See Caliphate of Córdoba.)