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

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jurists but also soldiers struggled to reconcile their service for a Christian

king with their beliefs and with their status as members of al- Ghuzāh al-

Mujāhidūn. This final story weaves between Latin, Romance, and Arabic

sources in archives and chronicles to reconstruct the history of a powerful

Marīnid prince and the soldiers under his command.

A political tumult first swept al- ‘Abbās into the lands of the Crown

of Aragon. In April 1302 , the Naṣrid sultan of Granada, Muḥammad II

(r. 1273 – 1302 ), died suddenly and left the throne to his son, Muḥam-

mad III (r. 1302 – 1309 )— known to posterity as the Deposed (al- Makhlū‘).

Despite a longstanding alliance with the Crown of Aragon, Muḥammad III

decided upon his ascension to enter into negotiations with King Fer-

nando IV of Castile (r. 1295 – 1312 ) and drifted away from King Jaume II.

Fearful of this alliance, Jaume sent an ambassador to the Marīnid sultan

Abū Ya‘qūb, promising Aragonese knights and ships for the sultan’s war

against the ‘Abd al- Wādids but hoping, through this gesture, to repair their

lapsed relationship.^67 This series of events produced bafflement among their

contemporaries just as it has among modern historians.^68

Why did the Naṣrid sultan trade allegiances from the Crown of Ara-

gon to Castile? Upon his ascension to the throne, Muḥammad III, in fact,

faced an uprising by the commander of the Ghuzāh. In 1302 , Ḥammū b.

‘Abd al- Ḥaqq b. Raḥḥū and other members of the Banū Raḥḥū revolted.

They seized the fortress of Bedmar near Jaén and declared themselves

independent of the new sultan. When Fernando’s ambassadors arrived at

Muḥammad’s court in 1303 , they offered to aid in the conquest of Bed-

mar; in other words, to protect Muḥammad from the rebellious Ghuzāh.^69

Muḥammad’s decision to accept Castilian rather than Aragonese assis-

tance at this moment only makes sense in light of the overlooked connec-

tion between the Marīnid Ghuzāh and the Aragonese jenets. Of course,

neither the Aragonese, for whom this alliance threatened control of the

Mediterranean straits, nor the members of the Banū Raḥḥū welcomed the

alliance between Castile and Granada.

Events began to converge towards a new confrontation, a new crisis.

As early as September 1303 , Muḥammad complained to Jaume that Ara-

gonese jenets were raiding Granadan and Castilian territory.^70 In the same

month, Jaume’s ambassador departed once again for the Marīnid court,

from which he requested and eventually secured the transfer of another

one to two thousand jenets specifically for use against Castile.^71 Perhaps

most tellingly, Bernat Sarria, an Aragonese ambassador, reported through

a Muslim agent in Granada that some noblemen and knights (alguns rics

homens e cavalers) were so displeased with Muḥammad’s recent alliance