Tlemcen is a double town under the northern slopes of its mountains: Agadir, the old town with the mosque of the Idrisid Idris I (790), and Tagrart, the camp-town the Almoravid Yusuf ibn Tashfin founded about 1081 beside it, with the Great Mosque begun in 1082 and richly rebuilt in 1136.
Abd al-Mu'min took it in 1145. It is the capital of the Almohad west of the central Maghreb, a garrison town and market at the head of the caravan road to Sijilmasa and the Sudan, with the port of Honaine for the sea road to al-Andalus. The sufi master Abu Madyan, summoned to Marrakesh by al-Mansur, died on the way near Tlemcen in 1197 or 1198 and was buried at al-Ubbad above the town: his tomb is already a place of visits.
Who holds it
- Name
- The sayyid governor of Tlemcen (see Governor of Tlemcen; Abu'l-Rabi' Sulayman ibn Abd Allah likely, not pinned)
- Title
- Almohad governor
- Confidence
- low
Ibn Khaldun vols 2-3
Lord in 1200
The Almohad caliph through his sayyid governor (Governor of Tlemcen)
How things stand that morning
Almohad, quiet, far from the war in the east.
Charter
None known: governed by the caliph's officers
Council
The governor, the qadi of Tlemcen and the Almohad shaykhs of the garrison; Andalusi and local scholars; names for 1200 not found
Communities
Berber and Arabic-speaking Muslims, Andalusi settlers; Jews forced to profess Islam under the Almohads, who made converted Jews wear distinctive dress
Fairs and markets
Daily markets; the caravan season in autumn and winter for the Sijilmasa road
Militia
The Almohad garrison; townsmen not recorded as armed
Walls and castle
Walls round Agadir and Tagrart, strengthened by the sayyid Abu'l-Hasan in 1184-85 against the Banu Ghaniya; the governor's qasr in Tagrart
Trade and crafts
Grain, fruit and olive oil of the Tell; wool and leather; the transit of Saharan gold and slaves; cloth
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.
- 1200No change recorded.
Places of note
- Tomb of Abu Madyan at al-Ubbad: Grave of the sufi master, died 1197 or 1198
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The town and its buildings are well attested; its officers in 1200 are not.
On the map: Near land only; the governor's wider ground is in Governor of Tlemcen.
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.
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.