Almohad conquest of Norman Africa

Last updated

The Almohad conquest of Norman Africa was the invasion of Norman Africa by the Almohads, which put an end to the presence of the Normans in the region. [1]

Contents

Almohad conquest of Ifriqiya
Date1159–1160
Location
Result

Almohad victory

  • End of the Norman presence in the eastern Maghreb
Territorial
changes
Establishment of the Almohad province of Ifriqiya
Belligerents
Almohad Caliphate Khurasanid Emirate
Commanders and leaders
Abd al-Mumin
Abū ʿAbdallāh
William I

Background

By the time the 12th century arrived, the Zirid dynasty's control over Ifriqiya had noticeably weakened. This allowed the Normans of Sicily to expand their territory under the leadership of King Roger II. [2] Following the conquest of numerous coastal cities in Ifriqiya, King Roger II declared himself the King of Africa or "Ifriqiya". [3] By 1148, the Normans had managed to take control of most of key Ifriqiyan cities, including Tripoli, Gabis, Sfax, and even the Zirid capital of Mahdiyya, [2] this marked the end of the Zirid dynasty's control in the region. The Normans' growing Christian presence in Ifriqiya posed a significant threat to the Almohads, who were a newly formed caliphate in the western Maghreb, in the same time Abd al-Mu'min saw it as an opportunity to expand the Almohad rule in the east. The Almohad army, originally intended for a campaign in Spain, redirected its focus towards the east. The central Maghrib cities of Algiers and Bijaya had already fallen to Almohad rule, marking the end of Hammadid rule in the region. However, instead of continuing on to Norman-controlled territories in Ifriqiya, Abd al-mu'min returned to western Maghreb. [2] [4]

Starting in 1156, Ifriqiyan cities such as Tripoli, Sfax, Jirba, and Gabes revolted against the Normans, resulting in their expulsion from these cities. [4] Soon after, Abd al-mu'min received delegations from Ifriqiyan Muslims seeking assistance against the Normans. [5] [4]

Invasion

In 1159, a massive Almohad army, estimated to be the size of 100,000 men by Ibn Athir, departed from Salé and headed eastwards, led by Abd al-Mu'min who was accompanied by Abu'l-Hasan the last Zirid sultan. [6] Abū ʿAbdallāh b. Maymūn led a fleet of seventy galleys sailing along the coast in alignment with the Almohad army. The army captured Tunis after a three-day siege, expelling the Banu Khurasan and installing an Almohad governor in the city. Next, they moved on to Mahdia, which was under siege for at least three months. The Almohad navy also achieved a victory against the Sicilian fleet, which had attempted to break the siege. Eventually, the siege was lifted with an Almohad victory. [5] [4] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Algeria</span>

Much of the history of Algeria has taken place on the fertile coastal plain of North Africa, which is often called the Maghreb. North Africa served as a transit region for people moving towards Europe or the Middle East, thus, the region's inhabitants have been influenced by populations from other areas, including the Carthaginians, Romans, and Vandals. The region was conquered by the Muslims in the early 8th century AD, but broke off from the Umayyad Caliphate after the Berber Revolt of 740. During the Ottoman period, Algeria became an important state in the Mediterranean sea which led to many naval conflicts. The last significant events in the country's recent history have been the Algerian War and Algerian Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medieval Muslim Algeria</span>

Medieval Muslim Algeria was a period of Muslim dominance in Algeria during the Middle Ages, spanning the millennium from the 7th century to the 17th century. The new faith, in its various forms, would penetrate nearly all segments of society, bringing with it armies, learned men, and fervent mystics; in large part, it would replace tribal practices and loyalties with new social norms and political idioms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ifriqiya</span> Historic region of Northern Africa

Ifriqiya, also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna, was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania. It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of Africa Proconsularis and extended beyond it, but did not include the Mauretanias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammadid dynasty</span> Berber dynasty in north Africa

The Hammadid dynasty, also known as the Hammadid Emirate or the Kingdom of Bejaia, was a medieval Islamic kingdom located in the central Maghreb, encompassing present-day Algeria. It was established at the beginning of the 11th century when Hammad ibn Buluggin declared himself emir, thus splitting the Zirid domains into two separate dynasties. Under the reign of Emir Al Nasir, the emirate briefly became the most important state in the Maghreb, and reached its greatest territorial extent, stretching from Tlemcen in the west to Tunis in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the desert oasis of Ouargla and Oued Righ in the south. While they briefly controlled the principality of Fez in the west and cities like Sfax, Kairouan, Laribus, and Tripoli to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zirid dynasty</span> Sanhaja Berber dynasty

The Zirid dynasty, Banu Ziri, was a Sanhaja Berber dynasty from what is now Algeria which ruled the central Maghreb from 972 to 1014 and Ifriqiya from 972 to 1148.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banu Hilal</span> Confederation of Arabian tribes in North Africa originally from the Arabian peninsula

The Banu Hilal was a confederation of Arab tribes from the Najd region of the central Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to the Maghreb region of North Africa in the 11th century. Masters of the vast plateaux of the Najd, they enjoyed a somewhat infamous reputation, possibly owing to their relatively late conversion to Islam and accounts of their campaigns in the borderlands between Iraq and Syria. When the Fatimid Caliphate became the rulers of Egypt and the founders of Cairo in 969, they hastened to confine the unruly Bedouin in the south before sending them to Central North Africa and then to Morocco.

The Banu Ghaniya were a Massufa Sanhaja Berber dynasty and a branch of the Almoravids. Their first leader, Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yusuf, a son of Ali ibn Yusuf al-Massufi and the Almoravid Princess Ghaniya, was appointed as governor of the Balearic Islands in 1126. Following the collapse of the Almoravid power at the hand of the Almohads in the 1140s, the Banu Ghaniya continued to govern the Balearic Islands as independent emirs until about 1203, with a brief interruption in the 1180s. Later leaders made a determined attempt to reconquer the Maghreb, taking Bougie, Constantine and Algiers, and conquering most of modern Tunisia from about 1180 onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abd al-Mu'min</span> Founder and Caliph of the Almohad Caliphate from 1133 to 1163

Abd al Mu'min was a prominent member of the Almohad movement. Although the Almohad movement itself was founded by Ibn Tumart, Abd al-Mu’min was the founder of the ruling dynasty and creator of the Almohad empire. As a leader of the Almohad movement he became the first Caliph of the Almohad Empire in 1133, after the death in 1130 of the movement's founder, Ibn Tumart, and ruled until his death in 1163. Abd al-Mu'min put his predecessor's doctrine of Almohadism into practice, defeated the Almoravids, and extended his rule across Al-Andalus and as far as Tunis in Ifriqiya, thus bringing the Maghreb in North Africa and Al-Andalus in Europe under one creed and one government.

An-Nasir ibn Alnas, (Alnnasir bin Alnaas) was the fifth ruler of the Hammadids in Algeria, from 1062 until his death.

The Banu Sulaym is an Arab tribe that dominated part of the Hejaz in the pre-Islamic era. They maintained close ties with the Quraysh of Mecca and the inhabitants of Medina, and fought in a number of battles against the Islamic prophet Muhammad before ultimately converting to Islam before his death in 632. They took part in the Muslim conquest of Syria, and established themselves in the Jazira, while part of the tribe remained in the Hejaz. During the early Muslim period, the tribe produced notable generals such as Safwan ibn Mu'attal, Abu'l-A'war and Umayr ibn al-Hubab. Those who remained in Arabia were largely absorbed by the Banu Harb of Yemen beginning in the 9th century, while those in Syria and the Jazira were expelled to Upper Egypt by the Fatimid Caliphs in the late 10th century for supporting the Qarmatians. In the mid-11th century, a prolonged famine in Egypt prompted the tribe to migrate westward with the Banu Hilal into Libya. There, the Sulaym and its sub-tribes established themselves mainly in Cyrenaica, where to the present day, many of the Arab tribes of that region trace their descent to the Sulaym.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of medieval Tunisia</span>

The medieval era of Tunisia began with what would eventually return Ifriqiya to local Berber rule. The Shia Islamic Fatimid Caliphate departed to their newly conquered territories in Egypt leaving the Zirid dynasty to govern in their stead. The Zirids would eventually break all ties to the Fatimids and formally embrace Sunni Islamic doctrines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Africa</span> Part of the Kingdom of Sicily from c. 1147-1159 in present-day Tunisia

The Kingdom of Africa was an extension of the frontier zone of the Kingdom of Sicily in the former Roman province of Africa, corresponding to Tunisia and parts of Algeria and Libya today. The main primary sources for the kingdom are Arabic (Muslim); the Latin (Christian) sources are scanter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banu Khurasan</span>

The Banu Khurasan or Khurasanid dynasty was a Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled an independent principality centered on Tunis, in present-day Tunisia, between approximately 1058 and 1159. They rose to power following the political vacuum left behind by the Zirids when they abandoned Kairouan for Mahdia in 1157, in the face of pressure from the Banu Hilal. While de facto independent, they continued to recognize the suzerainty of either Zirids or the Hammadids for much of this period. Their rule was interrupted by Hammadid annexation from 1128 and 1148, and their authority came to a final end with the Almohad conquest in 1159.

Zughba was an Arab tribe and a sub-tribe of Banu Hilal, a confederation of Arabian tribes that migrated to the Maghreb in the 11th century. They primarily live in western Algeria and Morocco. An example of a sub-tribe of this is Beni Amer.

'Abdallah ibn Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ghaniya, known as 'Abdallah ibn Ghaniya was a member of the Banu Ghaniya dynasty who fought against the Almohad Caliphate in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. In c. 1187 he captured the former Bani Ghaniya stronghold of Majorca in the Balearic Islands, and ruled over it until his defeat and death at the hands of the Almohads in 1203.

Abu Muhammad Abd al-Wahid ibn Abi Hafs al-Hintati, or simply Abd al-Wahid, was the Almohad governor of Ifriqiya from 1207 to 1221 and the father of the first Hafsid sultan Abu Zakariya Yahya.

Abu Muhammad Abdullah ibn Abd al-Wahid, or Abdullah, was the second ruler of the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya from 1224 to 1229.

The siege of Mahdia was a seven month siege led by the Almohad Caliph Abd al-Mu’min against the Norman forces of King William I of Sicily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banu Thabit</span> Dynasty in 14th-century Tripoli, Libya

The Banu Thabit or Banu 'Ammar were a Berber dynasty that ruled Tripoli in present-day Libya during the 14th century. The dynasty's founder, Thabit ibn 'Ammar, was a member of the Zakūğa tribe from the Huwwara tribal confederation.

Riyah is an Arab tribe and one of the most powerful sub-tribes of Banu Hilal, a confederation of Arabian tribes that emigrated from Najd to the Maghreb in the 11th century. At the time of the Arab migration to the Maghreb in the 11th century, their chief was Munis bin Yahya of the family of Mirdas.

References

  1. Fage, J. D.; Oliver, Roland Anthony (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa: From c. 500 B.C. to A.D. 1050. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-20981-6.
  2. 1 2 3 Abun-Nasr, Jamil M. (1987-08-20). A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-33767-0.
  3. Lower, Michael (2018). The Tunis Crusade of 1270: A Mediterranean History. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-874432-0.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Baadj, Amar (2013). The Struggle for North Africa between Almohads, Ayyubids, and Banū Ghāniya (Late Twelfth to Early Thirteenth Centuries A.D.). University of Toronto. pp. 105–106–107.
  5. 1 2 Le Tourneau, Roger (1969). The Almohad movement in North Africa in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. --. Internet Archive. Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press. pp. 56–57.
  6. 1 2 Baadj, Amar S. (2015-08-11). Saladin, the Almohads and the Banū Ghāniya: The Contest for North Africa (12th and 13th centuries). BRILL. ISBN   978-90-04-29857-6.