Governor of Tlemcen

Who he is

Name

Not pinned. Ibn Khaldun names the sayyid Abu'l-Rabi' Sulayman ibn Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Mu'min as governor of Tlemcen and Sijilmasa in the years before 606 (1209-10), when al-Nasir appointed his successor; he does not say when Abu'l-Rabi' took Tlemcen

Title

Governor (wali) of Tlemcen, by custom a sayyid of the caliph's house; Ibn Khaldun calls the post the government of Tlemcen and of all the Zenata country

Since

Not pinned

Born

Not known

Family

Abu'l-Rabi' is a grandson of Abd al-Mu'min, the founder of the dynasty, through his son Abd Allah: a cousin of the late caliph al-Mansur. He had governed Bougie in 1184, when Ali ibn Ghaniya surprised it in his absence.

Confidence

low

Ibn Khaldun, Histoire des Berberes (de Slane) vol. 2, pp. 214 and 229 (searched in the 1854 edition). Earlier governors named there: the sayyid Abu'l-Hasan ibn Abi Hafs, who strengthened Tlemcen's walls in 1184-85, and the sayyid Abu Ishaq in 584 (1188-89).

Overlord

The caliph Muhammad al-Nasir at Marrakesh

What it holds

• Tlemcen with its two towns, Agadir and Tagrart (record Tlemcen)
• The ports of Honaine and Arshgul (records Honaine, Arshgul)
• Nedroma and the Trara, home of the caliph's own tribe the Kumiya (record Kumiya)
• Oujda on the road to Fez (record Oujda)
• Command over the Zenata and Arab allied tribes of the western steppe
• Sijilmasa, if Abu'l-Rabi' already held it with Tlemcen (written for the Morocco area)

How it was acquired

Abd al-Mu'min took Tlemcen in 1145 after the death of the Almoravid Tashfin ibn Ali near Oran; it has been ruled by sayyids since.

Allies and rivals

Allies: the Banu Abd al-Wad, Banu Tujin and Zughba, who serve the governor. Rivals: none in the field this winter; Yahya ibn Ghaniya is the distant enemy.

How things stand that morning

Firmly Almohad. A garrison holds Tlemcen; the countryside is quiet.

Wealth

Taxes of the Tell's grain lands and orchards, the tolls of the caravan road from Tlemcen to Sijilmasa and the Sudan, the ports' customs.

Military

The Almohad garrison of Tlemcen and the contingents of the allied tribes; the walls strengthened in 1184-85.

Threats

• Yahya ibn Ghaniya, whose raids will plunder Tlemcen's country and kill its governor in 1209-10
• Rivalry among the allied tribes

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

1. 1200No change recorded: the sayyid governor keeps Tlemcen.Depends on: Peace in the west. Stopped by: A recall by the caliph.

Later, on the likely course

1. 1209-1210 (606 AH)Al-Nasir appoints the sayyid Abu Imran Musa ibn Yusuf ibn Abd al-Mu'min to Tlemcen; Yahya ibn Ghaniya kills him and plunders the central Maghreb.Depends on: Yahya's war reaching west. Stopped by: An Almohad victory in Ifriqiya first.

Places of note

• Tlemcen: Seat of the governor and the garrison

Where the sources disagree

• The brief asks for the sayyid governor of Tlemcen on 1 January 1200: the sources reached name Abu'l-Rabi' Sulayman for the years before 1209 without a starting date. Mrk (Morocco) may list him as governor of Sijilmasa: one man, two seats.

Evidence: The office is certain; its holder on the day is not.

On the map: The extent of the governor's direct rule is drawn as the Tell of Tlemcen; his authority over the steppe tribes is shown in their records.

Primary sources for Almohads

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• History of the Two Dynasties, the Almohad and the Hafsid, al-Zarkashi (Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Lu'lu'i al-Zarkashi) (about 1490 to 1495, at Tunis). A short Hafsid-era chronicle whose Almohad opening gives, in a few lines a reign, the succession of al-Mansur and al-Nasir, the Banu Ghaniya's seizure of Ifriqiya and its recovery, and the sending of Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs to Tunis, which the Hafsids counted as the start of their house. Read online
• The Complete History: the passages on the Maghreb and al-Andalus, Ibn al-Athir (about 1220 to 1231, at Mosul). The year entries for 595 to 597 of the Hijra (late 1198 to 1201) record the death of Yaqub al-Mansur, the accession of al-Nasir and the opening of Yahya ibn Ghaniya's war in Ifriqiya; the following years follow Yahya and the Ghuzz captain Qaraqush through Tripoli, Gabès and Mahdia to al-Nasir's reconquest in 1206, with the best eastern account of Qaraqush's career. Read online
• The Garden of Pages: a History of the Kings of the Maghreb and of the City of Fez, Ibn Abi Zar al-Fasi (completed in 1326 at Fez, for the Marinid sultan Abu Said Uthman). The Almohad chapters give a brisk dated narrative of al-Mansur's death and burial, al-Nasir's accession and the Banu Ghaniya troubles, with the kind of detail (coinage, public works at Fez and Rabat, prices, plagues) that a Fez compiler cared about, and the annals of Fez supply the city's governors and markets. Read online
• The Wondrous Account of the History of al-Andalus and the Maghreb, Ibn Idhari al-Marrakushi (about 1312, at Marrakesh). The Almohad section is the fullest year-by-year narrative of the caliphate around 1200: the last campaigns and the death of Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur in January 1199, the accession of his son Muhammad al-Nasir, the renewed war of the Banu Ghaniya in Ifriqiya under Yahya ibn Ishaq and his ally Qaraqush, the Almohad losses of Mahdia and Tunis a few years later, and al-Nasir's reconquest of Ifriqiya in 1205 to 1206 followed by the appointment of Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs as governor. Read online
• Historical Monuments of Portugal: Writers (Annals of King Afonso, Chronicon Conimbricense, Chronica Gothorum and others) (12th to 15th centuries). The Portuguese annals in one volume. Read online
• Latin Chronicle of the Kings of Castile, Anonymous, probably Juan of Osma, chancellor of Castile (about 1223 to 1239). The chancellor's chronicle of Alfonso VIII's reign, detailed from the 1190s. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• Memoirs of the Mahdi Ibn Tumart and the Beginnings of the Almohad State, Abu Bakr ibn Ali al-Sanhaji, called al-Baydhaq (about 1150 to 1165). Nothing for the year itself: al-Baydhaq's memoir ends in Abd al-Mu'min's early reign.

17 more in the sources library for The Maghreb and the Sahara.