cevaux, Pamplona switched again to Cordovan rule, after Abd-al-Rahman's expedition captured the stronghold in 781. A wali or governor was imposed, Mutarrif ibn-Musa (a Banu-Qasi) up to the 799 rebellion. This year, the Pamplonese—possibly led by a certain Velasko—stirred against their governor, but later the inhabitants provided some support for the Banu Qasi Fortun ibn-Musa's uprising. This regional revolt was shortly after suppressed by the Cordovan emir Hisham I and order re-establihsed, but failed to retain grip on the town, since the Pamplonese returned to Frankish suzerainty in 806. A Muslim cemetery containing about 200 human remains mingled with Christian tombs was unearthed in 2003 at the Castle Square, bearing witness to an important Muslim presence in the city during this period, but further research was stopped by the destruction of this and other historic evidence as ordered by the city´s mayor.
Following a failed expedition to the town led by Louis the Pious around 812, allegiance to the Franks collapsed after Enecco Aristajumped to prominence. Moreover, he was crowned as king of Pamplona in 824 when he and the Banu Qasi gained momentum in the wake of their victorious second battle of Roncevaux. The new kingdom, inextricably linked to the Banu Qasi of Tudela, strengthened its independence from the weakened Frankish empire and Cordoban emirate.
During this period Pamplona was not properly a town but just a kind of fortress. In 924 Muslim sources describe Pamplona as "not being especially gifted by nature", with its inhabitants being poor, not eating enough and dedicating to banditry. They are reported to speak Basque for the most part, which "makes them incomprehensible". On the 24 July, in this Cordovan military campaign, Pamplona's houses and buildings were destroyed and its celebrated church pulled down by the Muslim army, who found the position deserted and forsaken. The town´s urban and human shape would only change after the
