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

62 chapter three

was facing a combined French and Castilian threat, three jenets of his

household traveled to Granada “at the king’s wish.”^63 And in 1295 , during

another crisis over Sicily and an impending war between Morocco and

Castile, Jaume II dispatched the jenet Muça Almentauri, perhaps the lon-

gest standing member of this royal guard, to Sicily and Ḥafṣid Tunis for

negotiations.^64 The Aragonese kings thus not only trusted the jenets in this

intimate context but also saw value in the fact that the jenets could serve

as intermediaries with Islamic courts.

It is also as a member of the king’s household that one finds the sole

instance of a Jewish jenet, Abrahim el Jenet.^65 Elena Lourie, who first

mentioned Abrahim, unearthed much of the evidence related to him in

the chancery registers. She suggested that Abrahim might have come

from either Granada or North Africa alongside the Muslim jenets.^66 She

concluded that he reflected the essentially pluralist character of the jenet

military bands.^67 It may go too far to call Abrahim a soldier. Although we

see Abrahim with the jenets at court, receiving privileges and salaries par-

allel to those of other jenets of the king’s household, we have no evidence

that he fought alongside them.^68 Thus, it was more likely that Abrahim

was a jenet in name only, someone who held an honorary association with

these soldiers. But even an honorary association speaks to a surprising

pluralism.

In addition to welcoming the leaders of the jenets into their entourage,

the Aragonese kings also presented lavish gifts to them. Some of what the

kings gave could be considered martial frippery. For instance, in 1291 , King

Alfons II honored Abutçeyt Asseyt with a beige horse, three silver bridles,

three pairs of jenet spurs, and a saddle embossed with lions that was in the

possession of a Mudéjar.^69 It should be added that specialized jenet horses,

jenet saddles, jenet bridles, and jenet weapons are mentioned throughout

these archival records as gifts given to both Muslim and non- Muslim elites,

indicating not only an admiration for but also a steady diffusion of the style

of riding a la jineta.^70 For example, the Jewish physician, Samuel Abenme-

nassé, who served in King Pere II’s mission to recruit jenets from Granada,

had in his possession a jenet saddle, jenet sword, and jenet shield.^71

The circulation of these gifts among Aragonese elites suggests that the

jenets were not only an object of military but also aesthetic fascination.

Some of this fascination is reflected in the fact that the jenets became a

form of courtly entertainment. On two occasions, the registers make men-

tion of jenets participating in games or tournaments (ludere ad jenetiam),

perhaps precursors to the early modern juego de cañas, an equestrian game