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124-557: Abu Yusuf Ya'qub , who founded Fes el-Jdid as a new Marinid royal city in 1276, had also wished to create a vast royal pleasure garden , perhaps in emulation of those he might have admired in Granada (such as the Generalife ); however, he died in 1286 before this could be accomplished. His son and successor, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf , carried out the work instead in 1287. He enlisted an Andalusian engineer, Ibn al-Hajj from Seville , to help create

248-745: A Maqil rebellion in the Draa valley . Finally, in April 1285, Marinid emir Abu Yusuf Yaqub crossed the straits for the fourth (and last) time. Although Comares had fallen to the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids managed to rescue Guadix , the last Ashqilula stronghold. As the bulk of the Moroccan army landed in Tarifa , Abu Yusuf promptly led them into Andalusia to lay siege to Jerez . Moroccan detachments were dispatched to devastate

372-519: A base onto which they grafted ornate copper fittings. The largest of them, installed in the mosque in 1337, was a bell brought back from Gibraltar by the son of Sultan Abu al-Hasan , Abu Malik, after its reconquest from Christian forces in 1333. Not many Marinid textiles have survived, but it is assumed that luxurious silks continued to be made as in previous periods. The only reliably-dated Marinid textiles extant today are three impressive banners which were captured from Sultan Abu al-Hasan's army in

496-570: A broad area from Medina Sidonia to Carmona , Ecija and Seville . Nervous at Seville's disposition (a Cerda party stronghold), Sancho IV assembled his army there, and dispatched the Castilian fleet, some hundred ships under his Genoese admiral Benedetto Zaccaria , to blockade the mouth of the Guadalquivir , and prevent the Marinid navy from assaulting Seville upriver. In August, 1285 Sancho IV

620-426: A continuation of the outer wall of Fes el-Jdid (which was protected by double walls along most of its perimeter, though the outer wall was generally smaller and less heavily fortified than the inner wall). A gate known as Bab Segma, with two massive octagonal towers, acted as an entrance to the gardens on their eastern side, not far from Bab Dekkakin and the northern entrance of the city. The creation and maintenance of

744-471: A crushing defeat at the hands of a Portuguese -Castilian coalition in the Battle of Río Salado in 1340, and finally had to withdraw from Andalusia, only holding on to Algeciras until 1344. In 1348, Abu al-Hasan was deposed by his son Abu Inan Faris , who tried to reconquer Algeria and Tunisia. Despite several successes, he was strangled by his own vizir in 1358, after which the dynasty began to decline. After

868-637: A deal with the Banu Ashqilula, rivals of the Nasrids of Granada, whereby the Ashqilula ceded their city of Málaga to the Marinids, in return for Marinid protection. News of the deal infuriated the Nasrid ruler Muhammad II al-Faqih of Granada , who promptly sought out the support of Alfonso X of Castile and the Abdalwadid ruler Yaghmorassan of Tlemcen to punish the Marinids. In early 1279, while

992-410: A deep blue background, whose inscriptions attribute victory and salvation to God. The whole rectangular band is in turn lined on both its inner and outer edges by smaller inscription bands of Qur'anic verses. Lastly, the bottom edge of the banner is filled with two lines of red cursive script detailing the titles and lineage of Abu Sa'id Uthman and the date of the banner's fabrication. The second banner

1116-665: A direct foothold on the European side of the Strait of Gibraltar . They were however defeated at the Battle of Río Salado in 1340 and finished after the Castilians took Algeciras from the Marinids in 1344, definitively expelling them from the Iberian Peninsula . Starting in the early 15th century the Wattasid dynasty , a related ruling house, competed with the Marinid dynasty for control of

1240-841: A fortress in the Rif . However, in June of the same year the caliph was ambushed and killed by the Zayyanids in a battle to the south of Oujda. The Marinids intercepted the defeated Almohad army on its return, and the Christian mercenaries serving under the Almohads entered the service of the Marinids instead. Abu Yahya quickly reoccupied his previously conquered cities the same year, and established his capital in Fes. His successor, Abu Yusuf Yaqub (1259–1286) captured Marrakech in 1269, effectively ending Almohad rule. After

1364-469: A full-scale invasion, but the Marinids repelled them. At the height of their power, during the rule of Abu al-Hasan Ali (r. 1331–1348), the Marinid army was large and disciplined. It consisted of 40,000 Zenata cavalry, while Arab nomads contributed to the cavalry and Andalusians were included as archers. The personal bodyguard of the sultan consisted of 7,000 men, and included Christian, Kurdish and Black African elements. Under Abu al-Hasan another attempt

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1488-411: A grand Arabic inscription in cursive letters along its top edge which calls for the victory of its owner, Abu al-Hasan. The central part of the banner once again has sixteen circles, arranged in a grid formation, each containing a small Arabic cursive inscription that repeats either the words "Eternal power and infinite glory" or "Perpetual joy and infinite glory". These circles are in turn contained within

1612-493: A large rectangular frame whose band is occupied by four more cursive inscriptions, of moderate size, which again call for Abu al-Hasan's victory while attributing all victory to God. Four more small inscriptions are contained within circles at the four corners of this frame. Finally, the bottom edge of the banner is occupied by a longer inscription, in small cursive letters again, which gives the full titles and lineage of Abu al-Hasan. A third banner, undated and less well-preserved,

1736-549: A massacre of the Wattasid family, breaking their power. His reign, however, brutally ended as he was murdered during the 1465 revolt . This event saw the end of the Marinid dynasty as Muhammad ibn Ali Amrani-Joutey, leader of the Sharifs , was proclaimed Sultan in Fes . He was in turn overthrown in 1471 by Abu Abd Allah al-Sheikh Muhammad ibn Yahya , one of the two the surviving Wattasids from

1860-580: A mix of pieces with carved floral reliefs but are rather occupied entirely by pieces of marquetry mosaic decoration inlaid with ivory and precious woods. The original minbar of the Bou Inania Madrasa, which is housed today at the Dar Batha museum , dates from 1350 to 1355 when the madrasa was being built. It is notable as one of the best Marinid examples of its kind. The Bou Inania minbar, made of wood – including ebony and other expensive woods –

1984-523: A new crisis by designating his grandson Alfonso de la Cerda , rather than Sancho IV as his heir. With his back freed from the Tlemcen threat, Marinid emir Abu Yusuf decided to honor Alfonso X's choice with a new expedition to Spain to support Cerda and his confederates. In Granada, the Banu Ashqilula, under a renewed Nasrid assault, had also appealed to the Marinids. But all this had to be postponed, as Abu Yusuf had to spend much of 1284 putting down

2108-746: A place to stay while studying at these major centers of learning. In Fes, the first madrasa was the Saffarin Madrasa built in 1271, followed by the Sahrij Madrasa founded in 1321 (and the Sba'iyyin Madrasa next to it two years later), the al-Attarine in 1323, and the Mesbahiya Madrasa in 1346. Another madrasa, built in 1320 near the Grand Mosque of Fes el-Jdid , was less successful in contributing to

2232-425: A potential political challenge to Marinid rule and were involved in occasional rebellions, but in general the Marinids attempted to incorporate them into their sphere of influence. They also used their patronage of Maliki institutions as a counterbalance to Sufism. Sufism was also practiced in the cities, often in a more scholarly form and with the involvement of the sultan, state officials, and various scholars. As

2356-515: A punitive expedition and even briefly laid siege to Tlemcen, forcing the Abdalwadids to come to terms. Abu Yusuf erected the advanced coastal fortress of Taount to police any future Abdalwadid interventions in Marinid dominions. Ibn Khaldoun 's account of Abu Yusuf's 1274 siege of Sijilmassa relates what seems to be one of the first uses of powder cannon as a siege weapon. In 1272, the Nasrid ruler Muhammad I of Granada had appealed to

2480-468: A relative golden age . The Marinids also pioneered the construction of madrasas across the country which promoted the education of Maliki ulama , although Sufi sheikhs increasingly predominated in the countryside. The influence of sharifian families and the popular veneration of sharifian figures such as the Idrisids also progressively grew in this period, preparing the way for later dynasties like

2604-536: A salary from the treasury, while the chieftains of tribal levies were given iqta' lands as compensation. The army's main weakness was its naval fleet, which could not keep up with the fleet of Aragon. The Marinids had shipyards and naval arsenals at Salé and Sebta (Ceuta), but on at least one occasion the Marinid sultan hired mercenary ships from Catalonia . Marinid military contingents, mostly Zenata horsemen (also known as jinetes in Spanish), were also hired by

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2728-651: A significant minority in urban centers and played a role in most aspects of society. It was during the Marinid period that the Jewish quarter of Fez el-Jdid , the first mellah in Morocco, came into existence. Jews were sometimes appointed to administrative positions in the state, though at other times they were dismissed from these positions for ideological and political reasons. There were also some Christians in urban centers, although these were mainly merchants and mercenary soldiers from abroad, forming small minorities primarily in

2852-405: A stone base. From Bab Dekkakin, the aqueduct then carried the water to Bab Segma further north, and from there it was carried further into three large square basins spread across the gardens. According to one historical source, at least three other norias operated inside the gardens and were crucial to their existence. Also located inside the gardens was a msalla , an open-air prayer area, known as

2976-602: A type of institution which originated in northeastern Iran by the early 11th century and was progressively adopted further west. These establishments served to train Islamic scholars, particularly in Islamic law and jurisprudence ( fiqh ). The madrasa in the Sunni world was generally antithetical to more heterodox religious doctrines, including the doctrine espoused by the preceding Almohads. As such, it only came to flourish in Morocco under

3100-504: A vast garden to the north of Fes el-Jdid, along with the water distribution infrastructure required to maintain it. Among these works was a famous and enormous noria which raised water from the Oued Fes (Fes River) up to an aqueduct that then ran north from Bab Dekkakin to Bab Segma . The garden and its structures came to be popularly called el-Mosara , meaning "the marvel", due to the strong impression they made on visitors. The huge noria

3224-401: Is also believed to date from Abu al-Hasan's time. It is curious for the fact that its inscriptions are painted onto the fabric instead of woven into it, while the orientation of its inscriptions is inversed or "mirrored". Some scholars have suggested that it may have been a cheaper reproduction of Abu al-Hasan's banner intended for the use by soldiers or that it was intended as a template drawn by

3348-484: Is composed of nine circular tiers arranged in an overall conical shape that could hold 514 glass oil lamps. Its decoration included mainly arabesque forms like floral patterns as well as a poetic inscription in cursive Arabic . A number of other ornate metal chandeliers hanging in the Qarawiyyin mosque's prayer hall also date from the Marinid era. Three of them were made from church bells which Marinid craftsmen used as

3472-435: Is decorated via a mix of marquetry and inlaid carved decoration. The main decorative pattern along its major surfaces on either side is centered around eight-pointed stars, from which bands decorated with ivory inlay then interweave and repeat the same pattern across the rest of the surface. The spaces between these bands form other geometric shapes which are filled with wood panels of intricately carved arabesques . This motif

3596-516: Is described by some historical chroniclers such as Ibn Marzuk and al-Umari . His main attack force was composed of Zanata horsemen, around 40,000 strong, along with Arab tribal horsemen, around 1500 mounted archers of "Turkish" origin, and around 1000 Andalusi foot archers. The regular standing army, which also formed the sultan's personal guard, consisted of between 2000 and 5000 Christian mercenaries from Aragon , Castile, and Portugal, as well as Black Africans and Kurds . These mercenaries were paid

3720-580: Is known to have copied a collection of hadiths with letters written in a mix of blue and brown ink, with gold flourishes. Aside from Qur'an manuscripts, many other religious and legal texts were copied by calligraphers of this time, especially works related to the Maliki school such as the Muwatta' by Malik ibn Anas . They range from volumes written in plain Maghrebi script to richly-illuminated manuscripts produced by

3844-527: Is not certain. Historian Michel Abitbol writes: When the morning light shines, the Sultan mounts his horse and the white standard which is the flag of the dynasty, called al-Mansur (the Victorious) is carried next to him. Immediately before him march the armed men on foot; the horses held in hand, covered with caparisons of patterned cloth, that is to say, saddle blankets. Historian Amira Bennison indicates that

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3968-596: Is similar to the Kufic inscriptions carved into the walls of the Marinid madrasas of Fes, which in turn are derived from earlier Kufic inscriptions found in Almohad architecture. These inscriptions feature a selection of Qur'anic verses very similar to those found in the same positions in the Banner of Las Navas de Tolosa (mainly Qur'an 61:10-11). At the four corners of the rectangular band are roundels containing golden cursive letters against

4092-579: Is today Morocco: in 1260 and 1267 they attempted an invasion, but both attempts were defeated. After gaining a foothold in the city of Algeciras in the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, the Marinids became active in the conflict between Muslims and Christians in Iberia. To gain absolute control of the trade in the Strait of Gibraltar from their base at Algeciras, they conquered several nearby Iberian towns: by

4216-445: Is written in a broad Maghrebi script using brown ink, with headings written in golden Kufic letters and new verses marked by small labels inside gold circles. Like most other manuscripts in this time and region, it was written on parchment. Many of the sultans were themselves accomplished calligraphers. This tradition of sovereigns practicing calligraphy and copying the Qur'an themselves

4340-633: The Abdalwadid of Tlemcen or the Hafsids of Ifriqiya . But they remained, at root, a tribal dynasty, and without the kind of religious authority or prestige the Almoravids or the Almohads enjoyed, the Marinid chances of replicating their empires over the Maghreb and Spain were fatally circumscribed. Marinid other political entities The Marinid dynasty ( Arabic : المرينيون al-marīniyyūn )

4464-474: The Abdalwadids launched a diversionary raid on Morocco, the Castilians dispatched a fleet to blockade the straits. Muhammad II led a Granadan army upon Málaga, which soon fell in a negotiated settlement. In a new treaty, Marinid emir Abu Yusuf agreed to surrender his claims on Málaga and withdraw his protection of the Ashqilula, in return for which Muhammad II handed over Almuñécar and Salobreña to

4588-730: The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 1344–45 and is now kept at the Islamic Museum of the Haram al-Sharif . While in Bijaya (Bougie) he began a fifth copy intended for Al-Khalil (Hebron) , but he was unable to finish it following his military defeats in the east and subsequent dethronement. It was instead finished by his son Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz and eventually brought to Tunis by Ibn Marzuq. Abu al-Hasan's son and immediate successor, Abu Inan, for his part,

4712-637: The Al-Attarine Madrasa being the most famous. The building of these madrasas were necessary to create a dependent bureaucratic class, in order to undermine the marabouts and Sharifian elements. The Marinids also strongly influenced the policy of the Emirate of Granada , from which they enlarged their army in 1275. In the 13th century, the Kingdom of Castile made several incursions into their territory. In 1260, Castilian forces raided Salé and, in 1267, initiated

4836-480: The Battle of Rio Salado in 1340 by Alfonso XI . Today they are housed at the Cathedral of Toledo . Ibn Khaldun wrote that Abu al-Hasan possessed hundreds of silk and gold banners which were displayed in palaces or on ceremonial occasions, while both the Marinid and Nasrid armies carried many colourful banners with them into battle. They thus had great symbolic value and were deployed on many occasions. The oldest of

4960-557: The Iberian peninsula . The remnants of the Banu Ashqilula family would be exiled to Morocco, and the Marinids would guarantee they would cease all intrigues against the Nasrid rulers. Abu Yusuf Ya‘qub was in the middle of these negotiations, when he fell ill and died on 21 March 1286 in Algeciras . Abu Yusuf's remains were translated to the Marinid necropolis at Chellah which had himself built. He

5084-656: The Madrasa of Abu al-Hasan in Salé and the Bou Inana Madrasa of Meknes . Many more were built in other cities but have not been preserved, or only partially preserved, including in: Taza , al-Jadida , Tangier , Ceuta , Anfa , Azemmour , Safi , Aghmat , Ksar el-Kebir , Sijilmasa , Tlemcen, Marrakesh (the Ben Youssef Madrasa which was rebuilt in the 16th century), and Chellah (near Rabat). Literary production under

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5208-634: The Marrakech , citadel of the Almoravids and Almohads , preferring to base themselves at Fes . The Marinids had some difficulty getting their authority recognized by the southerly Ma'qil Arabs of the Draa valley and Sijilmassa . The Draa valley Arabs submitted only after a campaign in 1271, and Sijilmassa only in 1274. The northerly port cities of Ceuta and Tangiers also refrained from acknowledging Marinid suzerainty until 1273. Part of this resistance had been encouraged by Abdalwadid ruler Yaghmorassan of Tlemcen , and so in 1272, Abu Yusuf launched

5332-458: The Nasrids of Granada ceded the town of Algeciras to the Marinids, Abu Yusuf went to Al-Andalus to support the ongoing struggle against the Kingdom of Castile . The Marinid dynasty then tried to extend its control to include the commercial traffic of the Strait of Gibraltar . It was in this period that Iberian Christians were first able to take the fighting across the Strait of Gibraltar to what

5456-649: The Saadians and Alaouites . The Marinids were a faction of the Berber tribal confederation of the Zenata . The Banu Marin were nomads who originated from the Zab (a region around Biskra in modern-day Algeria ). Following the arrival of Arab Bedouins in North Africa in the middle of the 11th-12th centuries, they were pushed to leave their lands in the region of Biskra. They moved to

5580-489: The sahib al-shurta or "chief of police", who also oversaw judiciary matters. On some occasions the chamberlain was more important and the vizier reported to him instead. Spanish Historian and Arabist Ambrosio Huici Miranda  [ es ] suggested that the Marinids used white banners, much like their Almohad predecessors, following a long Islamic tradition of using white as a dynastic color. Whether these white banners contained any specific motifs or inscriptions

5704-420: The 1459 massacre, who instigated the Wattasid dynasty . In many respects, the Marinids reproduced or continued the social and political structures that existed under the Almohads, ruling a primarily tribal state that relied on the loyalty of their own tribe and allies to maintain order and that imposed very little official civil administrative structures in the provinces beyond the capital. They also maintained

5828-482: The Almohads became strained and starting in 1215, there were regular outbreaks of fighting between the two parties. In 1217 they tried to occupy the eastern part of present-day Morocco but were defeated by an Almohad army and Abd al-Haqq was killed. They were expelled, pulling back from the urban towns and settlements, while their leadership passed on to Uthman I and then Muhammad I. In the intervening years, they regrouped and managed to establish their authority again over

5952-510: The Almohads reduced to the southerly districts around their capital, Marrakech . Although Abu Yahya had designated his son as successor in Fez, Abu Yusuf Yaqub, then a governor in Taza , managed, with only a little difficulty, to displace his nephew and get himself acknowledged as emir of the Marinids. In September, 1260, in a surprise attack, a Christian naval force from Spain, probably Castilian , landed on

6076-587: The Archbishop Sancho II of Toledo in October met a similar fate at the Battle of Martos . Only the rapid rallying of Castilian forces by infante Sancho kept the Marinids from doing more damage. Alfonso X arrived back in Castile at the end of the year and negotiated a truce with Abu Yusuf Yaqub. Returning to Morocco in early 1276, flush from his successes over Tlemcen and Castile, the Marinid emir Abu Yusuf

6200-546: The Atlantic coast of Morocco and seized the city of Salé . Abu Yusuf retook the city after a fourteen-day siege. It was the first known direct encounter between the Marinids and the Christian powers of the Iberian Peninsula . Abu Yusuf decided against a retaliatory raid, and instead focused on reducing the Almohad resistance in the south. In 1262, Abu Yusuf laid siege to the Almohad capital of Marrakech , but his attempt to assault

6324-577: The Banu Abd al-Haqq of the Banu Marin in Morocco, calling it the Victorious Flag. Maghrebi historian Ibn Khaldun talked about the flags he saw during the time of Sultan Abu al-Hasan, indicating that they used to give governors, workers, and commanders permission to take one small flag made of white linen. Contemporary historian Charles-André Julien references the small white flag as a miniature version of

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6448-455: The Berber traditions of democratic or consultative government, particularly through the existence of a council of Marinid tribal chiefs whom the sultan consulted when necessary, primarily on military matters. To maintain their control over the provinces beyond the capital of Fez, the Marinids mostly relied on appointing their family members to governorships or on securing local alliances through marriage. These local governors were in charge of both

6572-475: The Castilian crown prince Ferdinand de la Cerda , left regent in his father's absence, to counter it. But the prince fell sick and died in June 1275, an event that would soon plunge Castile into a crisis of succession. The Marinid emir Abu Yusuf defeated a large Castilian army under Nuño González de Lara "el Bueno" , adelantado de la frontera , in the pitched Battle of Écija in September. A second army led by

6696-411: The Castilian property taken and damaged by the marauding Moroccan armies. In March, 1286, Abu Yusuf also began negotiating a final settlement with the Granadan ruler Muhammad II . The Granadans agreed to recognize Marinid possession of Tarifa , Algeciras , Ronda and Guadix , in return for which the Marinids agreed to surrender all other possessions and claims on any other towns or dominions on

6820-416: The Cerda party, the Marinids received equal assurance that there would be no more Castilian lunges on Muslim territories in Spain (whether Marinid or Nasrid ). To seal the deal, Sancho IV agreed to hand over to the Marinids the collection of Arabic books that had been seized from Andalusian libraries by Church authorities during the Reconquista , in return for Marinid payment of cash compensation for

6944-450: The Maliki ulama (scholars/jurists), who were especially influential in the cities, and with the shurafa or sharifs (families claiming descent from Muhammad ), with whom they sometimes intermarried. After establishing themselves in Fez, the Marinids insisted on directly appointing the officials in charge of religious institutions and on managing the waqf (or habus ) endowments that financed mosques and madrasas. The influence of

7068-530: The Maliki ulama of Fez was concentrated in Fez itself and was more important to urban culture; the scholars of Fez had more contact with the ulama of other major cities in the Maghreb than they did with religious leaders in the nearby countryside. Sufism , maraboutism , and other more " heterodox " Islamic currents were more prominent in rural areas. Indigenous Berber religions and religious practices also continued to linger in these areas. Some Sufi brotherhoods, especially those led by sharifian families, posed

7192-409: The Marinid emir Abu Yusuf Yaqub for assistance. Granada was then plunged in civil war, with the Nasrids fighting off a challenge from the rival Banu Ashqilula family, rulers in Málaga , Guadix and Comares . The Christian king Alfonso X of Castile had thrown his weight behind the Ashqilula – in part because the Nasrids themselves had sheltered Castilian rebels. But the Marinid emir Abu Yusuf

7316-399: The Marinid period and competed with each other for influence, with the Wattasids being the most significant example in their later history. After the vizier, the most important officials were the public treasurer, in charge of taxes and expenditures, who reported to either the vizier or the sultan. Other important officials included the sultan's chamberlain, the secretaries of his chancery, and

7440-414: The Marinid royal libraries. Preserved in various historic Moroccan libraries today, these manuscripts also show that, in addition to the capital of Fes, important workshops for production were also located in Salé and Marrakesh. The minbars (pulpits) of the Marinid era were also following in the same tradition as earlier Almoravid and Almohad wooden minbars. The minbar of the Great Mosque of Taza dates to

7564-426: The Marinids and the absence of Alfonso X (then at a meeting with the pope in France) prompted the Banu Ashqilula to quickly come terms with the Nasrids. With that out of the way, raids were launched on Castilian lands – the Marinids ravaged Castilian-ruled Andalusia below the Guadalquivir, while Muhammad II led a Granadan army against Cordoba. News of the Marinid landing had prompted frantic preparations by

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7688-400: The Marinids for assistance, offering them the Iberian towns of Tarifa , Algeciras and Ronda as payment. With Morocco now pacified and Tlemcen controlled, in April 1275, Abu Yusuf Yaqub took up the Nasrid request and crossed the straits, landing a large Moroccan army in Spain. The Marinids quickly took Tarifa and Algeciras and confirmed their pact with Muhammad II. The arrival of

7812-428: The Marinids overthrew the Almohads which had controlled Morocco. At the height of their power in the mid-14th century, during the reigns of Abu al-Hasan and his son Abu Inan , the Marinid dynasty briefly held sway over most of the Maghreb including large parts of modern-day Algeria and Tunisia. The Marinids supported the Emirate of Granada in al-Andalus in the 13th and 14th centuries and made an attempt to gain

7936-519: The Marinids that followed them. To the Marinids, madrasas played a part in bolstering the political legitimacy of their dynasty. They used this patronage to encourage the loyalty of Fes's influential but fiercely independent religious elites and also to portray themselves to the general population as protectors and promoters of orthodox Sunni Islam. The madrasas also served to train the scholars and elites who operated their state's bureaucracy. The majority of documented madrasa constructions took place in

8060-413: The Marinids their foothold in Spain . However, he also left it in a fragile state. The Arabs and Maqil of the south remained only half-subdued, the Sanhaja of the High Atlas unconvinced, and, to the east, Tlemcen remained an unbowed and unbroken threat. Abu Yusuf Yaqub may have turned the Marinids into the pre-eminent Muslim power of the region – certainly stronger than the Nasrids of Granada ,

8184-538: The Marinids was relatively prolific and diverse. In addition to religious texts such as treaties of fiqh (jurisprudence), there was also poetry and scientific texts. Geographies and, most of all, histories were produced, partly because the dynasty itself was eager to use these to legitimize its rule. The oldest surviving historical chronicle from the Marinid period is considered to be al-Dhakhîrah as-Sanîyya probably composed by Ibn Abi Zar (first published by Professor Mohamed Bencheneb , Algiers, 1920). Ibn Khaldun

8308-439: The Marinids. No sooner was this done, that the attention of the Muslim parties turned towards Marinid Algeciras which Alfonso X had decided to take for himself. Anxious not to let it fall in Christian hands, Muhammad II lent his own ships to join the Marinid fleet under the command of the Abu Yusuf's son, Abu Yaqub . The Marinids defeated the Castilians at the Battle of Algeciras on 21 July 1279, and forced Alfonso X to lift

8432-479: The Msalla of the Sultan or the Msalla of Bab Segma. 34°3′39″N 4°59′55″W  /  34.06083°N 4.99861°W  / 34.06083; -4.99861 Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq ( Arabic : أَبُو يُوسُف يَعقُوب بن عَبد الحَقّ ) (c. 1212 – 20 March 1286) was a Marinid ruler of Morocco. He was the fourth son of Marinid founder Abd al-Haqq , and succeeded his brother Abu Yahya in 1258. He died in 1286. He

8556-422: The Muslim-heavy districts of Andalusia and Murcia. With Muhammad II of Granada in league with Sancho, Alfonso X appealed to the Marinids of Morocco for support. At Alfonso X's request, Abu Yusuf crossed the straits for the third time in July, 1282. A pact was forged with Alfonso X in October, and a joint Alfonsine-Marinid army marched against Sancho IV in Córdoba . But Sancho IV

8680-402: The New'), across the river from the old Idrisid city of Fez (now known as Fez el-Bali ('Fez the Old')). Fes el-Jedid will serve as the Marinid capital throughout. In August 1277, Abu Yusuf Yaqub crossed the straits again with a Moroccan army. This time he moved further north, ravaging the districts of Jerez, Seville and Cordoba. In 1278, in a remarkable turn-around, the Marinid ruler struck

8804-407: The Sultans's banner was white according to Marinid sources, she also states: "The naming of the Marinid palatine city, Madīnat al-Bayḍā', the White City, reflects their use of white as a dynastic colour." Egyptian historiographer Al-Qalqashandi (d. 1418) recalled a white flag made of silk with verses from the Qur’an written in gold at the top of the circle as the sultanate’s emblem among the kings of

8928-466: The administration and the military. After Abu Yusuf Ya'qub captured Marrakesh in 1269, for example, he appointed his ally Muhammad ibn 'Ali, to whom he was related by marriage, as his khalifa (deputy or governor) in Marrakesh, a position that would continue to exist for a long time. In some areas, like the mountainous Atlas and Rif regions, this resulted in indirect rule and a very limited presence of

9052-402: The beginning of an official, historical narrative for the city. It is from the Marinid period that Fes' reputation as an important intellectual centre largely dates and the Marinids established the first madrasas in Morocco here during this time. Despite internal infighting, Abu Said Uthman II (r. 1310–1331) initiated huge construction projects across the land. Several madrasas were built,

9176-401: The bureaucracy, while others less so. Under the sultan, the heir-apparent usually held a large amount of power and often served as the head of the army on behalf of the sultan. Aside from these dynastic positions, the vizier was the official with the most executive power and oversaw most of the day-to-day operations of government. Several families of viziers became particularly powerful during

9300-450: The calligrapher from which artisans could weave the real banner (and as weaving was done from the back, the letters would have to appear reversed from the weaver's perspective during production). A number of manuscripts from the Marinid period have been preserved to the present-day. One outstanding example is a Qur'an manuscript commissioned by Sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf and dated to 1306. It features an elaborately illuminated frontispiece and

9424-527: The central government. The Marinid sultan was the head of the state and wielded the title of amīr al-muslimīn ("Commander of the Muslims"). In later periods the Marinid sultans sometimes also granted themselves the title of amīr al-mu'minīn ("Commander of the Faithful"). The involvement of the sultan in state affairs varied depending on the personality of each; some, like Abu al-Hassan, were directly involved in

9548-511: The city faltered. Changing tactics, he decided to sponsor the rebellious Almohad chieftain Abu Dabbus in his struggle against his cousin, the Almohad caliph Abu Hafs Umar al-Murtada . But once Abu Dabbus seized Marrakech in 1266, he broke his treaty with the Marinids and refused to pass Marrakech over to them. Instead, Abu Dabbus persuaded the Abdalwadid ruler Yaghmorassan of the Kingdom of Tlemcen to launch an incursion into Marinid land from

9672-513: The city's scholarly life. These madrasas taught their own courses and sometimes became well-known institutions in their own right, but they usually had much narrower curriculums or specializations than the Qarawiyyin. The last and largest Marinid madrasa in Fes, the Bou Inania , was a slightly more distinctive institution and was the only madrasa to also have the status of a Friday mosque . Surviving Marinid madrasas built in other cities include

9796-437: The coastal cities. While the Marinids did not declare themselves champions of a reformist religious ideology, as their Almohad and Almoravid predecessors had, they attempted to promote themselves as guardians of proper Islamic government as a way to legitimize their rule. They also restored Maliki Sunni Islam as the official religion after the previous period of official Almohadism . They allied themselves politically with

9920-518: The death of Abu Inan Faris in 1358, the real power lay with the viziers, while the Marinid sultans were paraded and forced to succeed each other in quick succession. The county was divided and political anarchy set in, with different viziers and foreign powers supporting different factions. In 1359 Hintata tribesmen from the High Atlas came down and occupied Marrakesh , capital of their Almohad ancestors, which they would govern independently until 1526. To

10044-417: The decline of the empire. In the 15th century, it was hit by a financial crisis, after which the state had to stop financing the different marabouts and Sharifian families, which had previously been useful instruments in controlling different tribes. The political support of these marabouts and Sharifians halted, and it splintered into different entities. In 1399 Tetouan was taken by Castile and its population

10168-529: The dynasty through a North Arabian tribe. The first leader of the Marinid dynasty, Abd al-Haqq I , was born in the Zab into a noble family. His great-grandfather, Abu Bakr, was a sheikh of the region. After arriving in present-day Morocco, they initially submitted to the Almohad dynasty , which was at the time the ruling regime. Their leader Muhyu contributed to the Almohad victory at Battle of Alarcos in 1195, in central Iberian Peninsula, though he died of his wounds. His son and successor, Abd al-Haqq,

10292-533: The elaborate geometric decoration found in the artisan tradition dating back to the 12th-century Almoravid minbar of the Kutubiyya Mosque (in Marrakesh). This geometric motif is based on eight-pointed stars from which interlacing bands spread outward and repeat the motif across the whole surface. Contrary to the famous Almoravid minbar in Marrakesh, however, the empty spaces between the bands are not occupied by

10416-431: The entrance gate to the gardens, but some faint remains of the water basins are also documented. The site of the garden is now mostly occupied by the large Bab Segma Cemetery (probably dating from the time of Moulay Rashid ), inside of which the outline of some of the original basins can still be discerned. The noria reportedly disappeared in 1888, leaving only remains of its stone base. Some modern authors sometimes identify

10540-553: The famous traveler Ibn Battuta also passed through Morocco and other regions in Africa and Asia in the 14th century and described them in his writings. Not only grand regional histories but also local histories were composed by some authors for cities and towns. Marinid art continued many of the artistic traditions previously established in the region under the Almoravids and Almohads. Many Marinid religious buildings were furnished with

10664-559: The first half of the 14th century, especially under the reign of Sultan Abu al-Hasan (ruled 1331–1348). Many of these madrasas were built near the major mosques which had already acted as older centers of learning, such as the Qarawiyyin, the Mosque of the Andalusians , and the Grand Mosque of Meknes . One of their most important functions seems to have been to provide housing for students from other towns and cities – many of them poor – who needed

10788-468: The gardens required the diversion of water from the Oued Fes river which flowed along the north edge of Fes el-Jdid. The water was raised into an aqueduct via a huge noria ( waterwheel ) measuring 26 metres in diameter and 2 metres wide. The noria, sometimes referred to as the "Grand Noria", was located next to Bab Dekkakin . Its enormous wheel was made of wood, reportedly covered in copper , and held up on

10912-618: The infante Sancho . The Abdalwadid ruler Yaghmorassan of Tlemcen was happy enough to align with the Granadan-Aragonese, and was promptly punished by a new Marinid campaign against Tlemcen in 1281. In April, 1282, the political crisis in Castile reached its apex when the infante Sancho quarreled with his father and, with the support of the bulk of the Castilian nobility, declared himself King Sancho IV of Castile . His father, Alfonso X fled to Seville , his support reduced to

11036-446: The mosque's expansion by Abu Yaqub Yusuf in the 1290s, much like the mosque's chandelier. Like other minbars, it takes the shape of a mobile staircase with an archway at the bottom of the stairs and a canopy at the top and it is composed of many pieces of wood assembled together. In spite of later restorations which modified its character, it still preserves much of its original Marinid woodwork. Its two flanks are covered with an example of

11160-696: The north-west of present-day Algeria, before entering en masse into what is now Morocco by the beginning of the 13th century. The Banu Marin first frequented the area between Sijilmasa and Figuig , at times reaching as far as the Zab. They moved seasonally from the Figuig oasis to the Moulouya River basin. The Marinids took their name from their ancestor, Marin ibn Wartajan al-Zenati. Like earlier Berber ruling dynasties of North Africa and Al-Andalus had done, and in order to help gain legitimacy for their rule, Marinid historiography claimed an Arab origin for

11284-531: The northeast. Abu Yusuf broke off his campaign against the errant Almohad client to deal with the Tlemcen intervention, defeating the Abdalwadids at a battle by the Moulouya in 1268. Abu Yusuf promptly returned to the south, defeated the forces of Abu Dabbus and entered Marrakech on 8 September 1269, putting a final end to the Almohad Caliphate. The Marinids were masters of Morocco, and Abu Yusuf Yaqub took up

11408-466: The region's population to Arabic language and culture also advanced significantly during this period. The Marinids were eager patrons of Islamic scholarship and intellectual culture. It was in this period that the Qarawiyyin , the main center of learning in Fes , reached its apogee in terms of prestige, patronage, and intellectual scope. Additionally, the Marinids were prolific builders of madrasas ,

11532-421: The royal standard that was given to the main commander on the battlefield as a mark of authority to lead the troops. The flag was raised in conquered fortresses. The Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms , written by a Franciscan friar in the 14th century, describes the flag of Fez, the Marinid capital, as being plain white. The Marinid army was largely composed of tribes loyal to the Marinids or associated with

11656-642: The ruling dynasty. However, the number of men these tribes could field had its limits, which required the sultans to recruit from other tribes and from mercenaries. Additional troops were drawn from other Zenata tribes of the central Maghreb and from the Arab tribes such as the Banu Hilal and Banu Ma'qil , who had moved further west into the Maghreb during the Almohad period. The Marinids also continued to hire Christian mercenaries from Europe, as their Almohad predecessors had done, who consisted mainly of cavalry and served as

11780-502: The ruling family and its supporting tribes were Zenata Berbers, Berber (Tamazight) was generally the language spoken at the Marinid court in Fez. The Marinids also continued the Almohad practice of appointing religious officials who could preach in Tamazight. Tamazight languages and dialects also continued to be widely spoken in rural areas. However, Arabic was the language of law, government, and most literature, and assimilation of

11904-562: The rural tribes in the regions around Taza , Fez , and Ksar el-Kebir . Meanwhile, the Almohads lost their territories in Al-Andalus to Christian kingdoms like Castile , the Hafsids of Ifriqiya broke away in 1229, followed by the independence of the Zayyanid dynasty of Tlemcen in 1235. The Almohad caliph Sa'id nonetheless managed to defeat the Marinids again in 1244, forcing them to retreat back to their original lands south of Taza. It

12028-521: The same kind of bronze chandeliers that the Almohads made for mosques. The Marinid chandelier in the Great Mosque of Taza , with a diameter of 2.5 metres and weighing 3 tons, is the largest surviving example of its kind in North Africa. It dates to 1294 and was commissioned by Sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf. It is closely modeled on another large chandelier in the Qarawiyyin Mosque made by the Almohads. It

12152-492: The siege and withdraw. But no sooner had the Castilian threat receded, that Abu Yusuf and Muhammad II fell into a quarrel over whom exactly held suzerain title over Algeciras and Málaga. Now it was the turn of the Marinids to forge an alliance with Alfonso X of Castile . The Marinids supported Castilian raids against Granada in 1280 and 1281. For his part, Muhammad II al-Faqih of Granada turned to Peter III of Aragon and Alfonso X's estranged son,

12276-418: The so-called Banner of Las Navas de Tolosa from the earlier Almohad period (13th century). The central part of the banner is filled with a grid of sixteen green circles containing short religious statements in small cursive inscriptions. This area is contained in turn within a large rectangular frame. The band of the frame is filled with monumental and ornamental inscriptions in white Kufic letters whose style

12400-567: The south of Marrakesh, Sufi mystics claimed autonomy, and in the 1370s Azemmour broke off under a coalition of merchants and Arab clan leaders of the Banu Sabih. To the east, the Zianid and Hafsid families reemerged and to the north, the Europeans were taking advantage of this instability by attacking the coast. Meanwhile, unruly wandering Arab Bedouin tribes increasingly spread anarchy, which accelerated

12524-465: The state and became de facto rulers between 1420 and 1459 while officially acting as regents or viziers . In 1465 the last Marinid sultan, Abd al-Haqq II , was finally overthrown and killed by a revolt in Fez , which led to the establishment of direct Wattasid rule over most of Morocco. In contrast to their predecessors, the Marinids sponsored Maliki Sunnism as the official religion and made Fez their capital. Under their rule, Fez enjoyed

12648-664: The states of the Iberian Peninsula. They served, for example, in the armies of the Kingdom of Aragon and the Nasrid Emirate of Granada on some occasions. In Nasrid Granada, Zenata soldiers were led by exiled members of the Marinid family up until the late 14th century. The population under Marinid rule was mostly Berber and Arab, though there were contrasts between the main cities and the countryside as well as between sedentary and nomadic populations. The cities were heavily arabized and more uniformly Islamicized (aside from minority Jewish and Christian communities). Urban local politics

12772-420: The sultan's bodyguard. This heterogeneity of the army is one of the reasons that direct central government control was not possible across the entire Marinid realm. The army was sufficiently large, however, to allow the Marinid sultans to send military expeditions to the Iberian Peninsula in the 13th and 14th centuries. More details are known in particular about the army during the reign of Abu al-Hasan, which

12896-424: The three banners is dated, according to its inscription, to May or June 1312 ( Muharram 712 AH). It was made in the "kasbah" (royal citadel) of Fes for Sultan Abu Sa'id Uthman (father of Abu al-Hasan). The banner measures 280 by 220 cm and is made of predominantly green silk taffeta , along with decorative motifs woven in blue, white, red, and gold thread. Its visual layout shares other general similarities with

13020-466: The title of 'Prince of the Muslims' ( amir el-moslimin ), the old title used by the Almoravid rulers in the 11th-12th centuries. Like the Almoravids, the Marinids never adopted the caliphal title ( amir al-mu'minin ), believing it to be an impious pretension (although the contemporary Hafsid rulers of Ifriqiya would soon take it up). The Marinids resisted the temptation of relocating their capital to

13144-691: The waterwheel on the western edge of the Jnan Sbil Gardens with the remains of the great Marinid noria, but other authors have rebuked this by observing that the Grand Noria would have been far larger and would have been located where the Dar al-Makina currently stands. The gardens covered 67 hectares to the north of Fes el-Jdid and the Royal Palace ; an area comparable in size to the city itself. They were surrounded by their own walls which seem to have been simply

13268-457: The year 1294 they had occupied Rota , Tarifa , and Gibraltar . In 1276, they founded the North African city of Fes Jdid , which they made their administrative and military center. While Fes had been a prosperous city throughout the Almohad period, even becoming the largest city in the world during that time, it was in the Marinid period that Fes reached its golden age, a period which marked

13392-598: Was a Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa ( Algeria and Tunisia ) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula ( Spain ) around Gibraltar . It was named after the Banu Marin ( Arabic : بنو مرين , Berber : Ayt Mrin ), a Zenata Berber tribe. It ruled the Marinid sultanate , founded by Abd al-Haqq I . In 1244, after being at their service for several years,

13516-475: Was finally ready to march the Castilian army against the Moroccans at Jerez. Finding a pitched battle unwise, Abu Yusuf decided to lift the siege of Jerez, withdrew his army to the safety of Algeciras, and opened negotiations with the Castilian usurper. In October 1285, Sancho IV of Castile secured a five-year truce and treaty with the Marinid emir Abu Yusuf. In return for promises not to intervene in Castile for

13640-652: Was finished in 1339, at which point it was sent to Chellah (where he was later buried). The next copy was sent to the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina in 1339–40 via the intermediary of Sultan Qalawun in Egypt , and a third one a couple of years later went to the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca . The fourth copy, one of the finest preserved Marinid manuscripts, is a thirty-volume Qur'an which he donated to

13764-448: Was frequently the subject of commentary by chroniclers and travelers in subsequent centuries. The gardens fell into ruin and eventually disappeared in subsequent centuries, most likely during the neglect of Fes throughout the Saadian period (16th-17th centuries), but traces of its structures have survived to modern times. The most prominent remains are the octagonal towers of Bab Segma, once

13888-461: Was greeted by news that the Marinid governor of Marrakech had finally reduced the last remnants of the Almohad dynasty in Tinmel . It seemed an appropriate time to erect a splendid new city to serve as the capital of a new dynasty. In March, 1276, Abu Yusuf Yaqub laid down the plans and initiated the construction of El-Medinat el-Beida ('White City'), what will later become known as Fes el-Jedid ('Fez

14012-442: Was made for Abu al-Hasan and is dated, according to its inscriptions, to Jumada II 740 AH (corresponding to either December 1339 or January 1340). It measures 347 by 267 centimeters. It is made with similar weaving techniques as its older counterpart and uses the same overall visual arrangement, although this time the predominant colour is yellow, with details woven in blue, red, gold thread, or different shades of yellow. It features

14136-567: Was made to reunite the Maghreb . In 1337 the Abdalwadid kingdom of Tlemcen was conquered, followed in 1347 by the defeat of the Hafsid empire in Ifriqiya , which made him master of a huge territory, which spanned from southern present-day Morocco to Tripoli . However, within the next year, a revolt of Arab tribes in southern Tunisia made them lose their eastern territories. The Marinids had already suffered

14260-477: Was marked by affiliations with local aristocratic families. In the countryside, the population remained largely Berber and dominated by tribal politics. The nomadic population, however, became more arabised than the rural sedentary population. Nomadic Berber tribes were joined by nomadic Arab tribes such as the Banu Hilal, who had arrived in this far western region during the Almohad period. Jewish communities were

14384-637: Was massacred and in 1415 the Portuguese captured Ceuta . After Sultan Abdalhaqq II (1421–1465) tried to break the power of the Wattasids, he was executed. Marinid rulers after 1420 came under the control of the Wattasids , who exercised a regency as Abd al-Haqq II became Sultan one year after his birth. The Wattasids however refused to give up the Regency after Abd al-Haqq came to age. In 1459, Abd al-Haqq II managed

14508-408: Was succeeded by his son, Marinid emir Abu Yaqub Yusuf of Morocco . While it is common to designate Abd al-Haqq or Abu Yahya as the founders of the Marinid dynasty, there is little doubt that Abu Yusuf Yaqub ought to be rightly regarded as the founder of the Marinid state. He put a final end to the Almohads , unified Morocco , established their new grandiose capital at Fez el-Jedid and gave

14632-487: Was the effective founder of the Marinid dynasty. Later, the Almohads suffered a severe defeat against Christian kingdoms of Iberia on 16 July 1212 in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa . The severe loss of life at the battle left the Almohad state weakened and some of its regions somewhat depopulated. Starting in 1213 or 1214, the Marinids began to tax farming communities of today's north-eastern Morocco (the area between Nador and Berkane ). The relationship between them and

14756-528: Was the most famous manifestation of this intellectual life which was also shared with the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, where many of the intellectuals of this period also spent time. Ibn al-Khatib , the Andalusi poet and writer from Granada, also spent time in Fes and North Africa when his Nasrid master Muhammad V was there in exile between 1358 and 1362. The historian Ibn Idhari was another example, while

14880-581: Was the son of Abd al-Haqq I and Oum el-Iman bint Ali el-Bethary , a Zenata woman. Some sources add her mother to be known as Oum el Youm and a daughter of a Zenata clan leader of the Tafersit region. The Marinids had been fighting the Almohads for supremacy over Morocco since the 1210s. At the time of Abu Yahya 's death in July, 1258, the Marinids were installed in Fez and controlled eastern and northern Morocco,

15004-418: Was then engaged against Tlemcen and could not intervene. In 1274, Muhammad I's son and successor, Muhammad II al-Faqih struck a deal with Alfonso X, paying the Castilian king some 300,000 maravedis and promising not to intrigue with Castilian rebels. But Alfonso X did not fulfill his side of the agreement and continued his support for the Ashqilula, so Muhammad II renewed his request to

15128-536: Was to well-entrenched to dislodge. Nothing much came of this campaign, and the Marinids returned to Morocco soon after, with little to show for their efforts. The ever-troublesome Abdalwadid ruler Yaghmorassan of Tlemcen died in the Spring of 1283, and his successor, Abu Said Othman , immediately sought to mend relations with the Marinid emir Abu Yusuf, thus temporarily relieving a persistent source of stress. Alfonso X died in April 1284, throwing Castile into

15252-559: Was under the leadership of Abu Yahya, whose reign began in 1244, that the Marinids re-entered into the region on a more deliberate campaign of conquest. Between 1244 and 1248 the Marinids were able to take Taza, Rabat , Salé , Meknes and Fez from the weakened Almohads. Meknes was captured in 1244 or 1245, Fez was captured in 1248, and Sijilmassa in 1255. The Almohad caliph, Sa'id, managed to reassert his authority briefly in 1248 by coming north with an army to confront them, at which point Abu Yahya formally submitted to him and retreated to

15376-436: Was well-established in many Islamic elite circles by the 13th century, with the oldest surviving example in this region dating from the Almohad caliph al-Murtada (d. 1266). According to Ibn Marzuq and various other Marinid chroniclers, Sultan Abu al-Hasan was particularly prolific and skilled, and is recorded to have copied four Qur'ans. The first one appears to have been started following several years of military successes and

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