Editing Al-Mansur (section)

==Foreign policy==
[[File:Offa king of Mercia 757 793 gold dinar copy of dinar of the Abassid Caliphate 774.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A [[mancus]] issued under the Saxon king [[Offa of Mercia]] (757–796), copied from a [[gold dinar]] of al-Mansur's reign. It combines the Latin legend OFFA REX with Arabic legends. The date of [[Islamic calendar|A.H.]] 157 (773–774) is readable.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TGkz9NGFXIMC&dq=manqush+coin&pg=PA327|title=Medieval European Coinage: With a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge|first1=Philip|last1=Grierson|first2=Mark A. S.|last2=Blackburn|first3=Fitzwilliam|last3=Museum|date=5 August 1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521031776 |via=Google Books}}</ref> [[British Museum]].]]
In 751 the first Abbasid caliph [[al-Saffah]] had defeated the Chinese [[Tang dynasty]] in the [[Battle of Talas]]. Chinese sources record that al-Mansur sent his diplomatic delegations regularly to China. Al-Mansur's delegations were known in China as ''Heiyi Dashi'' (''Black Clothed Arabs'').<ref>{{Cite book|title=The New Silk Road leads through the Arab Peninsula: Mastering Global Business and Innovation |first1=Anna |last1=Visvizi|first2= Miltiadis D. |last2=Lytras |first3= Wadee |last3=Alhalabi|first4= Xi |last4=Zhang|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |year=2019|isbn=9781787566798|pages=19}}</ref> In 756 al-Mansur sent 3,000 [[mercenaries]] to assist [[Emperor Suzong of Tang]] in the An Lushan rebellion.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |last2=Ho |first2=Ping-Yu |last3=Lu |first3=Gwei-Djen |last4=Sivin |first4=Nathan |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 4, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus, Theories and Gifts |date=1980 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=052108573X |page=416 |edition=illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xrNDwP0pS8sC&pg=PA416}}</ref> A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by former Yan rebel general [[Tian Shengong]] happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the [[Yangzhou massacre (760)]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wan |first1=Lei |year=2017 |title=The earliest Muslim communities in China |series=Qiraat No. 8 (February – March 2017) |publisher=King Faisal Center For Research and Islamic Studies |isbn=978-603-8206-39-3 |page=11 |url=https://www.kfcris.com/pdf/6b438689cf0f36eb4ce727e76d747c3d5af140055feaf.pdf}}</ref>{{sfn|Qi|2010|p=221-227}}

The [[Byzantine]] emperor [[Constantine V]] had used the weakness of the [[Umayyad caliphate]] to regain land from Muslim rulers. After the Umayyad caliphate was defeated by al-Mansur's predecessor [[al-Saffah]], Constantine V invaded [[Armenia]] and occupied parts of it throughout 751 and 752. Under al-Mansur's rule Muslim armies conducted raids on Byzantine territory.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Middle East Conflicts from Ancient Egypt to the 21st Century: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes] |last1= Walker|first1=Alicia  |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2012|isbn= 9781440853531|pages=258}}</ref> Al-Mansur was the first Abbasid caliph to hold a ransom meeting with the [[Byzantine Empire]]. Diplomats in the service of Constantine V and al-Mansur first negotiated the exchange of prisoners in 756.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Emperor and the World: Exotic Elements and the Imaging of Middle Byzantine Imperial Power, Ninth to Thirteenth Centuries C.E. |last1= Tucker|first1=Spencer C. |publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=2019|isbn= 9781107004771|pages=40}}</ref>

In 763 al-Mansur sent his troops to conquer [[al-Andalus]] for the [[Abbasid empire]]. But the [[Umayyad dynasty|Umayyad caliph]] [[Abd al-Rahman I]] [[Siege of Carmona (763)|successfully defended]] his territory. Al-Mansur withdrew and thereafter focused his troops of holding the eastern part of his empire on lands that were once part of Persia.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade |last1= Wise Bauer |first1=Susan |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2010|isbn= 9780393078176|pages=369}}</ref>

Some historians credit al-Mansur with starting the [[Abbasid–Carolingian alliance]]. In fact, it was the first [[Carolingian dynasty|Carolingian king]] [[Pippin III]] who initiated a new era of Franconian diplomacy by sending diplomatic envoys to al-Mansur's Baghdad court in 765. It is probable that Pippin III sought an alliance with al-Mansur against their common enemies, the [[Emirate of Córdoba]]. In 768 the envoys of Pippin III returned to [[Franks|Francia]] along with caliph al-Mansur's ambassadors. Pippin III received al-Mansur's delegation in [[Aquitaine]] and gifts were exchanged as a sign of the new alliance. This alliance was solidified when between 797 and 807 king [[Charlemagne]] and caliph [[Harun al-Rashid]] established embassies.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The ʿAbbasid and Carolingian Empires: Comparative Studies in Civilizational Formation |last1=Tor |first1=Deborah  |publisher=BRILL |year=2017|isbn=9789004353046|pages=85}}</ref>

Al-Mansur's treatment of his Christian subjects was severe; he "collected from them capitation with much vigor and impressed upon them marks of slavery."<ref name=Aikin1747 />{{rp|202}}