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

etymologies and etiologies 35

appears to have been no more than nominal.^111 Until the Ghuzāh’s dissolu-

tion, their leaders were almost exclusively elected from among a handful

of the descendants of the three Marīnid princes.^112 The two neighborhoods

in Granada in which contingents of these troops were settled were known

as and continue to be known as “Cenete” and “Gomerez”; the latter al-

ludes to the Ghumāra, the Zanāta tribe of these three exiled princes.^113

These princes’ promotion of jihād lent them a fame and authority be-

yond the scope of al- Andalus.^114 Ibn Khaldūn captured the messianic fer-

vor that surrounded these troops:

The Banū Idrīs and ‘Abd Allāh... arrived in al- Andalus at a time when it

lacked protection (aqfara min al-­ḥāmiya jawwuhā). The enemy (al- ‘aduww)

seized its frontier (ista’sada); their mouths drooled (taḥallabat) with anticipa-

tion of the pleasure [of seizing it]. But they [the Ghuzāh] took hold of it like vi-

cious lions with sharpened swords, accustomed to encountering champions and

striking them down with one deadly blow (mu‘awwadīn liqā’ al- abṭāl wa- qirā‘

al- ḥutūf wa’l- nizāl ). Toughened by life in the desert (mustaghliẓīn bi- khushūna

al- badāwa), the rigor of holy war (ṣarāmat al- ghazw), and intrepid barbarity

(basālat al- tawaḥḥush), they inflicted great harm to their enemy.... They in-

spired zeal in the weakened Muslims behind the sea (warā’a al- baḥr) [i.e., in

al- Andalus] and gave them hope of overcoming their oppressor.^115

The successes of the Ghuzāh inspired other Zanāta princes, Marīnid

and ‘Abd al- Wādid, to imitation and their own crossing into al- Andalus.^116

Most but not all were Berbers: Mūsā b. ‘Alī, a Kurd who had served as

cham berlain to the ‘Abd al- Wādids, joined the Ghuzāh after a fall from

grace.^117 Eventually, the Ghuzāh incorporated a miscellany of mainly

Zanāta tribesmen — some salaried, others volunteers, from across the

kingdoms of North Africa — all devoted to the defense of the frontier.

From here, they regularly invaded Aragonese and Castilian lands.

Lisān al- Dīn Ibn al- Khaṭīb ( 1313 – 75 ), the fourteenth- century poly-

math and rival of Ibn Khaldūn, surveyed the status of Granada’s military

and provides a more precise picture of the Ghuzāh, distinguishing them

from the other Muslim cavalry of al- Andalus. In his time, Ibn al- Khaṭīb

explained, the Naṣrid military was divided into two distinct armies, one

Berber and the other Andalusī, by which he meant one comprising the

North African soldiers and the other the Iberian Muslims.^118 Confirming

what Ibn Khaldūn had told us, Ibn al- Khaṭīb explained that the “Berber”

army was in fact made up of a variety of Zanāta and Arab tribes from