80 chapter four
Almohad Empire. On August 31 , 1269 , as the Marīnid cavalry approached
the rose walls of Marrakesh, the last Almohad caliph, Abū Dabbūs (r. 1266 –
1269 ), rode into battle, fell from his charger, and was killed.^26 His family fled
high into the Atlas Mountains, the sacred center of the Almohads, where
their mission began, and hid until Marīnid troops finally captured them in
1276 , putting an end to their rule in North Africa.^27 In his account of the
empire’s fall, the historian Ibn Khaldūn added the following detail:
[Abū Dabbūs’] sons scattered and were overthrown in the land. One of them,
‘Uthmān, fled to eastern al- Andalus and settled with the tyrant of Barcelona
(ṭāghiyat Barshilūna) and was treated well. There, he found the sons of his un-
cle (a‘qāb ‘ammihi), the Almohad lord (al- sayyid) Abū Zayd, the false convert
(al- mutanaṣṣir; this may be translated as “convert” or “impostor”), brother of
Abū Dabbūs, living in the lands of the enemy. They [the sons] held an esteemed
position (makān wajāh) on account of the flight (nuzū‘) of their father from his
religion [Islam] (dīnihi) to theirs [Christianity].^28
Abū Dabbūs’ son, ‘Uthmān, had chosen exile in Iberia, where he
sought the protection of his cousins. These were the sons of the Almohad
governor of Valencia, Abū Zayd, who had converted to Christianity after
the kingdom’s conquest by the Crown of Aragon.^29 But from this moment,
Ibn Khaldūn said nothing more about ‘Uthmān until his sudden reap-
pearance in North Africa in 1289. What became of this Almohad prince
during the twenty years when he disappeared from the Arabic record?
Although Elena Lourie noted the presence of not one but several “Almo-
had princes” living in Valencia in 1285 , she dropped the matter, unaware
of the larger context.^30
Between 1262 and 1285 , there is also no evidence of ‘Uthman in the re-
cords of the Archive of the Crown of Aragon. We cannot confirm whether
he did indeed seek refuge with the sons of Abū Zayd, but the history of
Abū Zayd himself provides an important precedent for Alfons’ later deal-
ing with ‘Uthmān.
Decades earlier, in 1225 , facing rebellions against Almohad rule in al-
Andalus, Abū Zayd fled to the court of King Jaume I. In exile and with
the hope of regaining Valencia, he signed a series of agreements with the
Crown of Aragon, each one progressively eroding his authority.^31 On the
eve of Jaume’s conquest of Valencia in 1238 , Abū Zayd became a vassal of
the king, and as a single charter of donation to the Bishop of Segorbe be-
trays, Abū Zayd also converted to Christianity. What is striking, however,
