chapter two

A Sovereign Crisis

S

ix months before the arrival of the five horsemen riding mules, in Octo-

ber 1284 , King Pere II ordered Conrad Lancia, his master of accounts

(maestre racional ), as well as a Jew named Samuel Abenmenassé, a phy-

sician and translator, to prepare for a journey to Granada.^1 The Crown

had recently concluded a truce with the Muslim kingdom, and this mis-

sion seemed routine.^2 Before their departure, Pere had ordered the re-

lease of all Granadan captives in his territories. He had instructed a royal

official to give each prisoner a tunic and sufficient money to “return to

their king.”^3 In return, Pere asked his ambassadors, Conrad and Samuel,

to confirm the release of two Valencian captains and their crews held in

Granada.^4 Curiously, Pere also asked a local Muslim leader (alaminus,

from Ar. al- amīn), Abrahim Abençumada, to cover the cost of Conrad’s

mission to Granada.^5 Why were the Crown’s Mudéjares being asked to

finance what seemed like a diplomatic effort? The king described the mis-

sion’s intent in a letter of introduction:

Know all that we, Don Pedro, by the grace of God, king of Aragon and Sicily,

order you, our special procurator, noble and beloved, Conrad Lancia, cham-

berlain of our house, and master of accounts, to speak with the captains of the

jenets and with others regarding the date of their arrival and stay with us in our

service. And regarding what we must give them [i.e., salary], we hold firmly to

whatever will be said and done or promised by the said Conrad in this [nego-

tiation], and this we will observe. And that this charter should be firm and no

doubt enter, we order it sealed.^6

Conrad and Samuel had been ordered to recruit Muslim soldiers from

Granada. They were about to depart on the first known mission to recruit

jenets for the Crown of Aragon.^7