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

42 chapter two

confidence to the assertion, perhaps the prince was already using these

soldiers in this intimate capacity.

For the two decades after this brief notice, during the period of the

massive Mudéjar rebellions that shook Valencia, there is no indication

of jenets in the Crown’s employ, only as enemies of it. But in the months

just before Conrad and Samuel’s departure, hints of jenets in the service

of the Crown begin to appear again. For instance, the chancery registers

record that in August 1284 , a jenet named Muçe (Mūsā) received “ 53 solidi

and 4 denarii that remained of his salary.”^14 And in the same month, Pere

ordered an official to give traveling expenses to Aixe (‘Ā’isha), the wife

of a jenet currently in his service, such that she could move to Valencia.^15

In November 1284 , the bailiff of Valencia was asked to pay three jenets

who had already agreed to enter the king’s service.^16 All of these docu-

ments suggest the continued use of jenets between 1265 and 1284. In the

first case, Muçe received the remainder of his salary, which is to say that

he had been paid before and had completed some service without leaving

any imprint upon the documentation. Even if these early registers limit

our ability to know the extent of the use of jenets before 1284 , they con-

firm that King Pere had successfully recruited and employed these sol-

diers before the mission of Conrad and Samuel.

It is also worth adding that the jenets were not the first or only Muslim

soldiers in the employ of the Aragonese kings. Although early studies of

the Mudéjares rejected the fact, both Burns and Boswell have shown that

the Crown of Aragon did in fact use subject Muslims in its armies.^17 In

part, the evidence of their service is negative. Surrender agreements, such

as those at Tudela ( 1115 ) or Chivert ( 1234 ), agreed to limit the service

owed by Mudéjares to local or municipal defense.^18 Similarly, the chan-

cery registers preserve certain exemptions from military service (exercitus)

given to prominent or skilled Muslims.^19 For instance, in 1259 , two broth-

ers, Mahomet and Abdela, were granted freedom from military service

because of “certain work” they provided the king.^20 Of course, the impli-

cation of such documents is that the Crown expected the rest of the Mu-

déjares to provide military service.^21 But one also finds more explicit

evidence, such as assurances from the king to Mudéjar soldiers that their

goods would be protected in their absence during war or that they would

be exempted from any extraordinary taxes related to war.^22 In 1285 , for ex-

ample, Pere asked the Mudéjares of Valencia to deliver over four thousand

solidi “in one bag” to pay the salaries and expenses of the Muslim soldiers

that they had already sent to the king.^23 What is more, the Aragonese kings