32 chapter one
swift horses (bi’l- khayl al- ‘itāq), equipment (al- ‘udda), and weapons. It was a
mercy of God that every day crossed a tribe of the Banū Marīn and groups of
volunteers (muṭṭawwi‘ūn) as well as tribes of Arabs.... [T]hey crossed, com-
pany after company ( fawjan ba‘da fawj), tribe after tribe, group after group.
The boats and ships journeyed morning and evening from the break of day
to night (kānat al- marākib wa’l- sufun ghādiyāt wa- rā’iḥāt ānā’ al- layl wa- aṭrāf
al- nahār) from the crossing to Tarifa (Ṭarīf ), and they crowded the passage
(ma‘bar): “They crossed morning and evening to assault the foe /As if the ocean
were a pavement for their steeds, / With the seaweed bearing the chargers up/As
if the two shores were joined together,/And all had become a single causeway
to tread.” And when all had crossed and had settled (istaqarrū) in al- Andalus,
the Muslim armies spread from the city of Tarifa to Algeciras, then Abū Yūsuf
crossed last with his noblemen, ministers, officials of state, along with a group
of holy men (ṣulaḥā’) of the Maghrib.^95Thus, in the period of the Muslim uprisings in Murcia and Valencia —
which is to say, when jenets first begin to appear in the records of the
Crown of Aragon — Abū Yūsuf had transferred a large body of volunteer
and salaried Zanāta and Arab troops onto the Iberian Peninsula. He had
established a beachhead at Algeciras, where he constructed the fortress,
al- Binya (“the Edifice”) not only to house these soldiers but also to isolate
them and thus protect the local populations from their depredations.^96
According to Ibn Khaldūn, the Marīnid attack began with a vanguard
of five thousand cavalry soldiers, whom he simply calls “the Zanāta,” un-
der the command of Abū Ya‘qūb, the sultan’s son. The expedition ravaged
the frontier, and in these raids, Ibn Khaldūn adds, the Zanāta knights
distinguished themselves: “The Zanāta once more showed their clear-
sightedness and determination; their zeal was roused. They proved their
loyalty to their lord (ablat f ī ṭā‘a rabbihim) and were restless in the cause
of their religion.”^97 Were these Marīnid soldiers the jenets first mentioned
in the chancery registers as invaders? During Abū Yūsuf’s third incursion
in April 1284 , King Pere sent the following letter to the Master of the
Templars and various castellans:
We know for certain that jenets and armies of the King of Morocco [i.e., Abū
Yūsuf ] and many others are coming shortly to inflict harm to the kingdom of
Valencia. Therefore, we tell, urge, demand, and counsel you to prepare your-
selves and your soldiers, weapons, foodstuffs, and other equipment for the de-
fense of the aforementioned kingdom.^98