The Mercenary Mediterranean_ Sovereignty, Religion, and Violence in the Medieval Crown of Aragon - Hussein Fancy

84 chapter four

princes were still in Valencia, attempting to settle the debts owed to them

for their service as jenets. In the meantime, in 1287 , an Aragonese fleet,

under the command of Roger de Lauria, had captured the Kerkenna (Qa-

rqana) islands, an archipelago off the coast of Tunis, from which they ter-

rorized the North African coast, carrying off Muslim captives, whose last

traces can be found in the receipts of slave markets in Italy.^54

From this point, Ibn Khaldūn picked up the narrative thread again,

offering more detail than can be found in the chancery registers. Speak-

ing not of ‘Abd al- Wāḥid but rather his younger brother, ‘Uthmān, Ibn

Khaldūn explained that this Almohad prince had long maintained the

hope of restoring the caliphate. And in an Aragonese captive by the name

of Murghim b. Ṣābir, whom Ibn Khaldūn called the chief of the Dabbāb

tribe in Tripoli, ‘Uthmān saw his opportunity to secure a foothold in North

Africa.^55 Using his influence at the Aragonese court, ‘Uthmān secured the

release of Murghim and arranged to hire ships and soldiers with the prom-

ise to reimburse the Crown. The two conspirators, ‘Uthmān and Murghim,

made landfall in 1289 in North Africa where, with the aid of Murghim’s

tribe and the Aragonese fleet, they undertook the siege of Tripoli, just

beyond the grasp of the Ḥafṣid sultan. According to Ibn Khaldūn, the siege

lasted only three days before the coalition began to unravel. The historian

al- Nuwayrī (d. 1333 ) clarified, moreover, that ‘Abd al- Wāḥid died in these

early battles, leaving ‘Uthmān in command, a fact that may explain ‘Abd

al- Wāḥid’s total elision from Ibn Khaldūn’s later account.^56

Perhaps seeing the mission as failed, the Aragonese chose to leave the

fight. Alfons was facing an emerging Castilian alliance with the French

and decided reluctantly to reestablish diplomatic ties with the Ḥafṣid sul-

tan. In December 1290 , an Aragonese ambassador was dispatched to Tu-

nis to renew the terms of Pere’s treaty at Panissars.^57 Abandoned by the

Aragonese, ‘Uthmān decided to take refuge with the Dabbāb tribe.^58 But

at some point, the Almohad prince must have fallen out with his Arab

allies as well. According to Ibn Khaldūn, ‘Uthmān died on the Aragonese-

controlled island of Jerba (Jarba).^59 His last gasp in exile was also that of

the Almohad Caliphate.

Das ist der doux commerce!^60

Mapping Alfons’ effort to recruit jenets reveals a broad network of

Christian- Islamic interaction, of which Conrad Lancia and Samuel Aben-