Abu ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Mardanīš

The miḥrāb of a Mardanīšī mosque, later the oratorio of the Alcázar Mayor of Murcia and now the Museo de la Iglesia de San Juan de Dios

Abu ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Mardanīš (died AD 1172/AH 568) was the king of Murcia from AD 1147 (AH 542) until his death.[1] Ibn Mardanīš established his rule over the cities of Murcia, Valencia and Dénia as the power of the Almoravid emirate declined.

In the first year of his rule (1147/8), Ibn Mardanīš faced the rebellion of his relative, Yūsuf ibn Hilāl, based in the castle of Montornés. Yūsuf conquered the castles of al-Ṣujayra and al-Ṣajra, and defeated Ibn Mardanīš before the walls of Moratalla, which he occupied. With a reduced following he attacked the fortress of Peñas de San Pedro and was captured. Ibn Mardanīš threatened to gouge out his eyes unless he ordered the surrender of Moratalla. He refused and his right eye was removed. Ibn Mardanīš then ordered Yūsuf's wife to surrender the castle or else see her husband blinded. She refused and Yūsuf's other eye was removed. Ibn Mardanīš then sent his prisoner to Xàtiva, where he died shortly thereafter in 1148 or 1149.[2]

In June 1149, after the republic of Genoa had established colonies at both Almería and Tortosa, Ibn Mardanīš signed a ten-year truce with the republic, agreed to pay 15,000 Almoravid dinars (murābiṭūn) in tribute, exempted the Genoese from tariffs and permitted the establishment of Genoese funduqs at Valencia and Dénia. A payment of 5,000 murābiṭūn was due immediately: 3,000 in cash and 2,000 in equivalent silks. The remaining 10,000 was owed over two years. This treaty is preserved in the Genoese Liber iurium. According to the contemporary historian Caffaro, a similar treaty was signed in 1161.[3] In January 1150, Ibn Mardanīš signed a treaty with the republic of Pisa, promising funduqs and a general safe-conduct for Pisan merchants, but requiring no payment of tribute.[3]

During Ḏū l-Qaʿdah 560 (September–October 1165), Ibn Mardanīš led a large army from Murcia to defend Lorca from an Almohad force advancing from the castle of Vélez. His troops were flanked by the Almohad force at a place called al-Fundūn in the valley of the Guadalentín.[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ González Cavero 2007, p. 95, derives the correspondence between Islamic and Christian dates by the calendar in Francisco Codera y Zaidín (2004), Decadencia y desaparición de los almorávides en España (Pamplona), pp. 10–15.
  2. ↑ Vallvé Bermejo 1972, p. 160, citing Ibn al-Khatīb.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Constable 1990, pp. 640–41.
  4. ↑ Vallvé Bermejo 1972, p. 171.

Notes

  • Constable, O. R. (1990). "Genoa and Spain in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: Notarial Evidence for a Shift in Patterns of Trade". Journal of European Economic History 19 (3): 635–56.
  • González Cavero, Ignacio (2007). "Una revisión de la figura de Ibn Mardanish: su alianza con el reino de Castilla y la oposición frente a los almohades". Miscelánea Medieval Murciana 31: 95–110.
  • Vallvé Bermejo, Joaquín (1972). "La división territorial en la España musulmana (II): la cora de "Tudmīr" (Murcia)". Al-Andalus 37 (1): 145–93.
  • Viguera, María J. (1996). "Sobre el nombre de Ibn Mardanis". Al-Qantara 17 (1): 231–38.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 04, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.