Riporto un pezzo che scrissi qualche anno fa in un blog di genealogia medievale. Per gli appassionati di storia islamica e di storia spagnola è interessante la discussione sul sec.XV in quanto la cronologia nasride del periodo è tuttora incerta. Purtroppo l’articolo è nato in inglese e tale è rimasto.
GRANADA – Nasrid dinasty 1238-1492
The list of Nasrid rulers (as well as their genealogy) is pretty much undisputed until the great crisis of the 15th century. Following is what is commonly accepted:
1. Muhammad I. Son of one Yusuf. Ruled 1238-1273. Died in Granada 1273. Succeeded by his son Muhammad II
2. Muhammad II. Son of Muhammad I. Succeeded his father 1273. Ruled 1273-1302. Died in Granada 1302. Succeeded by his son Muhammad III.
3. Muhammad III. Son of Muhammad II. Succeeded his father 1302. Forced to abdicate by his brother Nasr because of his blindness 1309. Confined in Almuñecar where he died, possibly murdered, in 1314
4. Nasr. Son of Muhammad II. Forced his brother Muhammad III to abdicate in 1309 and seized the throne. Deposed in 1314 “manu militari” by Ismail I and confined in Cadiz (Guadix) where he was allowed to keep the royal title and a sort of lordship over the town. Died peacefully in Cadiz 1322.
5. Ismail I. Son on Abu Said Faraj, son of Ismail, brother of Muhammad I. Led a coup in 1314 that cut short the reign of Nasr. Murdered for private reasons by his cousin Muhammad ben Ismail in Granada 1325. Succeeded by his son Muhammad IV.
6. Muhammad IV. Son of Ismail I. Succeeded his father 1325. Murdered in the camp off Gibraltar by members of the faction of the cenetes who feared his alliance with the sultan of Fez in 1333. Succeeded by his brother Yusuf I.
7. Yusuf I. Son of Ismail I. Succeeded his brother Muhammad IV 1333. Murdered by a furious crazy person while praying in the mosque in Granada 1354. Succeeded by his son Muhammad V.
8. Muhammad V. Son of Yusuf I. Succeeded his father 1354. Deposed 1359 when his stepbrother Ismail II seized the Alhambra; took refuge first in Cadiz and then in Fez. Got back the throne in 1362 with the help of King Peter I of Castile forcing the flight of Muhammad VI. Died peacefully in Granada 1391 (*** according to my sources he was not killed). Succeeded by his son Yusuf II.
9. Ismail II. Son of Yusuf I by one Mariam, stepbrother to Muhammad V. Seized the throne violently 1359 and forced Muhammad V to flee. Murdered with his other brother Qays and his ministers in the Alhambra 1360 on order of the arraez (*** this title was applied to all the relatives of the king) Abu Abdallah who seized the throne as Muhammad VI.
10. Muhammad VI. Son on Ismail, son of Muhammad, brother of Ismail I. Known as arraez Abu Abdallah (or Abu Said) had Ismail II, his brother Qays and his ministers murdered in the Alhambra and seized the throne. Left Granada in 1362 when Muhammad V conquered the city with the help of King Peter I of Castile. Took asylum with the very same Peter I who, however, had him murdered (according to some sources it was king Peter himself to kill him) in the camp of Tablada, near Sevilla, on 25th April 1362.
11. Yusuf II. Son of Muhammad V. Succeeded his father 1391. Died in Granada 1392, under suspicion of poison. Succeeded by his son Muhammad VII.
12. Muhammad VII. Son of Yusuf II. Succeeded his father 1392 usurping the right of his elder brother, later Yusuf III. Died in Granada 1408. Succeeded by his elder brother Yusuf III (*** the fact that Muhammad VII was the younger brother and that he usurped the throne in 1392 comes from G.Bleiberg (editor) Diccionario de Historia de España (3 vol.), Madrid 1979
13. Yusuf III. Son of Yusuf II. Succeeded his brother Muhammad VII 1408. Died 1417.
The death of Yusuf III marks the beginning of the turbulent period of the 15th century in Granada that will end in 1492 with the Christian conquest. The genealogy of the Nasrid rulers, and even their own succession during this period, is still contested. I have been able to trace three lines of thought.
I will start with the commonly accepted one, at least until the late 1980s.
14. Muhammad VIII “el Chico”. Son of Yusuf III. Succeeded his father under guardianship 1417. In 1419 he had to leave Granada because of the violent revolution inspired by the powerful arab clan of the Abencerrajes who imposed Muhammad IX as king. Muhammad VIII took refuge with his supporters, notable among them the clan of the Bannigas, and ten years later, in 1427, succeeded in seizing Granada expulsing Muhammad IX. However Muhammad IX got the help of King John II of Castile and in 1429 took Granada for the second time after fierce fighting. Muhammad VIII was imprisoned in the fortress of Salobreña and here murdered in march 1431 on order of Muhammad IX.
15. Muhammad IX “el Zurdo”. Son of one Nasr, younger brother of Yusuf II. He became the candidate of the clan of the Abencerrajes and with their help expulsed Muhammad VIII and his guardians in 1419. In 1427 had to abandon Granada when Muhammad VIII came back with Castilian help. In 1429 he was able again to expulse Muhammad VIII for good and had him murdered in 1431. In the same year, however, the members of the Bannigas clan made homage to King John II of Castile and with his help were able to install a prince of feminine Nasrid descent, called Yusuf IV, as king in January 1432. This one however did not last long since in February of the same year Muhammad IX’s supporters were able to seize Granada again forcing Yusuf IV to surrender. This 3rd period of rule by Muhammad IX lasted until 1445 when he was expulsed again from Granada by Muhammad X. The Abencerrajes, at this point switched allegiance to another Nasrid, Yusuf V, who was living at the Castilian court and was able to install himself in Granada in the same year 1445. In the years 1445-1447 the kingdom was so ruled by three competing kings: Muhammad IX (not supported by the Abencerrajes any more), Muhammad X and Yusuf V (the Abencerrajes puppet). In the end in 1447 Muhammad IX was able to remain sole ruler, albeit he had to associate to the throne a son of Muhammad VIII, called Muhammad XI. Muhammad IX died peacefully in Granada in 1453 leaving a daughter, Fatima, who was the mother of the last Nasrid ruler, Muhammad XII.
16. Yusuf IV. Son of one Ibn-al-Mawl and of a daughter of Muhammad VI. A Castilian puppet he was installed in Granada in January 1432 but was taken prisoner only one month later when the supporters of Muhammad IX stormed the Alhambra. Muhammad IX had him executed in Granada in April 1432.
17. Muhammad X “el Cojo”. Son of ‘Ujman, brother of Muhammad IX. A military leader he rebelled against his uncle in 1445 and briefly seized the power in Granada, having to deal with the Abencerrajes candidate Yusuf V. After Muhammad IX recovers Granada in 1447 he disappears from sources.
18. Yusuf V. Son of Ahmed, brother of Muhammad VII and Yusuf III. He lived at the Castilian court; in 1445 he became the new candidate of the Abencerrajes against Muhammad X and gained control of Granada. He had to leave Granada in 1446 against Muhammad X; again supported by the Abencerrajes he took control against Sa’d in 1462 but should have died in 1463, since at the end of that year Sa’d appears again as the King of Granada.
19. Muhammad XI “el segundo rey chico” or “el Chiquito”. Son of Muhammad VIII was associated to throne by Muhammad IX in 1447 and became sole ruler at his death in 1453. In 1454 he was expelled from Granada by a new candidate, Sa’d, backed by King Henry IV of Castile and by the Abencerrajes, which he had cruelly persecuted. Having tried to regain the throne in the same year he was taken prisoner by Sa’d and executed with his sons in the Alhambra.
20. Sa’d (called by the Christians Ciriza). Son of Alì, brother of Muhammad VII and Yusuf III. Gained the throne backed by the Castilians and the Abencerrajes in 1454. He tried to dispose of them, however, and in 1462 had to leave Granada to the former ruler, Yusuf V, who briefly installed himself in the Alhambra. Recovered the throne in 1463 only to be deposed by his son Abu’l Hassan Alì and confined in Salobreña or Almeria, where he died in 1465.
21. Abu’l Hassan Alì. Son of Sa’d deposed his father in 1464. He had to face the rebellion of his son Muhammad XII, who was installed briefly in Granada in 1482, and, towards the end of his reign, even of his faithful brother al-Zagal, proclaimed King as Muhammad XIII in Malaga in 1485. He died shortly thereafter in the same year in Mondujar and was succeeded by his son Muhammad XII.
22. Muhammad XII (Boabdil). Son of Abu’l Hassan Alì. Rebelled against his father and seized the throne briefly in 1482, but was captured by the Castilians. Returned to the throne in 1485 and had to face the Castilian final assault and the rebellion of his uncle al-Zagal. At the fall of Granada to the Castilians, in January 1492, he was allowed by Queen Isabel I to live in the Alpujarras. He left Spain for Morocco in 1493 and went to live at the court of the Sultan of Fez; according to some sources he died fighting for him against the Jarifids in Vado de Bacuña in 1527; according to others he died a little later, in 1533/34. Most agree that he left descendants living in the 17th century.
23. Muhammad XIII (al-Zagal). Son of Sa’d he fought with his brother Abu’l Hassan Alì against the Christians. He was proclaimed King against his brother in 1485 and later ruled a separate part of the kingdom while his nephew Muhammad XII ruled in Granada. After the fall of Almeria in 1491 he took part as an ally of the Castilians to the final siege of Granada. After the fall of Granada he sold his estates and left for Africa, where he was captured and blinded upon order of the Sultan of Fez; he was left alive and died in extreme hardness in the village of a Moroccan wali that had offered him ospitality.
Now this account has been challenged in several ways.
In particular the events of 1445-1463 have been subjected to a thorough revision mainly on Arab sources. The main results of these revisions are the following:
a) the rebellion against Muhammad IX in 1445 brought to the throne Yusuf V (who should have the nickname “el Cojo”), while the supposed Muhammad X never existed. Yusuf V lost the throne in February 1446 to a candidate supported by the Castilians, probably a son of Yusuf II, called Ismail III. Yusuf V took refuge in Almeria where he was murdered by his minister Ibn Allaq in August 1447. If Muhammad X never existed the ordinal numbers for the subsequent Nasrids would change accordingly.
b) Ismail III lost the throne in 1447 and died in 1450.
c) if Yusuf V had been killed in 1447 the Nasrid that seized the throne against Sa’d in 1462-63 could not have been him. Then we should have a King Yusuf VI who, according to a footnote by Ladero Quesada, could be one “infante moro Mule Mahamed” mentioned as a member of the household of King Henry IV of Castile in 1462; this could be identified with one Yusuf, son of King Sa’d, who was given as a hostage to the Castilians in 1455.
The third line, which is the one I have seen in Internet blogs, is not present in recent works and I don’t know how much has been dismissed by recent investigations. According to this one, basically:
a) Yusuf III was succeeded by his son Muhammad VIII “el Zurdo” who ruled with the backing of the Abencerrajes until he was deposed in 1427 by Muhammad IX “el Chico” (here there is a clear inversion of the ordinals which supposes that the first reign of 1417-1419 never took place) whose lineage is not ascertained. Muhammad VIII recovers the throne in 1429 and has Muhammad IX killed.
b) Muhammad “el Zurdo” is dethroned by Yusuf IV in 1431 but recovers in 1432 when Yusuf IV dies of natural cause. He rules peacefully until 1445 when he is dethroned by Muhammad X “el Cojo”. The royal death that took place in Almeria in 1450 is now attributed to Ismail III.
c) Muhammad X “el Cojo” rules from 1445 until 1453 when he is forced to abdicate to Sa’d.
As one can see we are far from being able to set up an undisputed succession of events, let alone a reliable genealogy. For example Muhammad X “el Cojo”, if ever existed, is called in some sources son of Nasr, son of Muhammad V, and not of his son ‘Ujman. There are also several different opinions on the Nasrid women, such as Aixa and Fatima, supposed sisters, daughters of Muhammad “el Zurdo”. Fatima, for example, was supposed to have married first Muhammad XI “el Chiquito” and then Abu’l Hassan Alì, by her 2nd husband being the mother of Boabdil. Now recent investigations allege that Boabdil was the son of her sister Aixa “la Horra” who however was known as the wife of King Sa’d.
Per approfondire:
Arié, Rachel, El reino naṣrí de Granada: (1232 – 1492), Madrid, 1992
Bleiberg, German (edit.), Diccionario de historia de España, 3 voll., Madrid, 1979
Bueno, Francisco, Los Reyes de la Alhambra. Entre la historia e la leyenda, Granada, 2003
Ladero Quesada, Miguel Angel, Granada. Historia de un pais islamico (1232-1571), Madrid, 1969
Seco de Lucena, Luis, Los Abencerrajes: leyenda e historia. Granada, 1960
Vidal Castro, Francisco, Conflictos dinasticos del reino nazari de Granata en la frontiera de Jaen: la presencia de Ismail III en Cambil (1445) in Sumuntan, n.18, 2003 (disponibile in rete)