text:  Besides the imbecile Hisham who was at least once released and restored to the throne and was personated by more than one pretender the royal title was assumed within twenty years by not fewer than six princes of the house of Umeyyah and by three of a rival race--a branch of the Edrisites called Beni-Hammud who endeavoured in the general confusion to assert their claims as descendants of the Khalif Ali