impossible based simply on Wittiza's youthfulness and Oppa's reputed age in 711. According to the Rotensis version of the Chronicle of Alfonso III, Wittiza had three sons: Olmund [ca], Romulus, and Ardabast (Artabasdus), who became Count of the Christians of Coimbra. Olmund is a Gothic name, Romulus is Roman, and Ardabast (Artavasdes) is Persian (through Armenian). Olmund's daughter, Sara al-Qutiyya, and her brothers had their lands appropriated in the succession crisis, by their uncle Ardabast. She travelled to Damascus to petition Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik for their return, which he then ordered. Legend According to American writer and historian Washington Irving, in the first part of his 1835 Legends of the Conquest of Spain, Wittiza's reign initially showed great promise. "He redressed grievances, moderated the tributes of his subjects, and conducted himself with mingled mildness and energy in the administration of the laws." However, the honeymoon lasted only a short while. Soon Wittiza "showed himself in his true nature, cruel and luxurious." Coming to doubt the security of his throne, he ended the careers of two relatives regarded as rivals: Favila, Duke of Cantabria, and Theodofred, duke of Córdoba, who lived in retirement at court. Wittiza had Favila killed and Theodofred blinded then imprisoned in the Córdoba dungeon. The son of Favila, who we are told was Pelayo, happened to be elsewhere at the time and was thus spared for the major role he would later play in history. The son of Theodofred was Roderic, duke of Baetica, who escaped to Italy. At last feeling safe, the king "gave reins to his licentious passions, and soon, by his tyranny and sensuality, acquired the appellation of Witiza the Wicked." Specifically, using secret orders he demolished castles that he feared could be used by future internal enemies, oblivious to the possibility that he was weakening the kingdom's defenses against foreign invaders. And at court, inspired by the custom of Muslim rulers, he "indulged in a plurality of wives and concubines, encouraging his subjects to do the same." In later times such stories were told of Wittiza because, in opposition to the policies of the Church hierarchy, he had been lenient toward the Jews and had encouraged the clergy to marry. Therefore, when the kingdom met sudden ruin in the first year of his successor Roderic (a favorite of the Church), this was readily explained by alleging that the sins of Wittiza "had