| Mahdia campaign of 1123 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Zirids |  Kingdom of Sicily | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| al-Hasan ibn Ali | Christodulus George of Antioch | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 20 ships 1000~ Horses | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Heavy | ||||||
The Mahdia campaign of 1123 was a military operation launched by the Normans against the Zirid dynasty as revenge for a raid that happened in Nicotera launched by the Almoravids in which the Zirids were accused of helping them.
In 1122, an Almoravid fleet attacked and raided Nicotera. [1] [2] The Normans claimed that the Zirid dynasty assisted the Almoravids in launching this attack. In response, Roger II sent Christodulus and George of Antioch on an expedition to Mahdia in July 1123. [3] [4]
The Norman army was composed of about 20 ships with close to 1000 horses. [5] The Norman forces set sail from the port of Marsala, but a storm scattered them, and many were shipwrecked. What remained of this force attacked Pantelleria, with the island being pillaged and its inhabitants either massacred or enslaved. From there, the fleet headed for Ifriqiya. [5]
The fortress of El-Dimas is placed under siege, and the Norman forces manage to capture the fort. However, the Zirid leader, Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali roused his people into a holy war against the Normans, and two days later, they marched towards the fort of El-Dimas at night. They routed the Norman troops towards their ships, abandoning the Norman garrison in El-Dimas. The Normans left 400 horses, and the Muslims seized all their remains and massacred those who were unable to embark. [5] [6]
The Norman fleet sailed near the coast in vain in an attempt to rescue their comrades in the fort. However, due to bad weather and the efforts of the Zirids, the Normans were unable to land and sailed back home. The Zirids then besieged the isolated Normans in the fort. The Normans launched a sortie against the Muslims, however, they were defeated and slain to the last man after a siege of 16 days that ended on August 9. [5] [6]
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.
Year 1146 (MCXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
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.
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.
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.
Mahdia is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
This is a timeline of notable events during the period of Muslim presence in Iberia, starting with the Umayyad conquest in the 8th century.
The Kalbids were a Muslim Arab dynasty in the Emirate of Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053. They were formally appointed by the Fatimids, but gained, progressively, de facto autonomous rule.
The Mahdia campaign of 1087 was a raid on the North African town of Mahdia by armed ships from the northern Italian maritime republics of Genoa and Pisa.
The Emirate of Sicily or Fatimid Sicily was an Islamic kingdom that ruled the Muslim territories on the island of Sicily between 831 and 1091. Its capital was Palermo, which, during this period, became a major cultural and political center of the Muslim world.
George of Antioch was the first to hold the office of ammiratus ammiratorum in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. He was a Syrian-born Byzantine Christian of Greek ancestry. He was born in Antioch, whence he moved with his father, Michael, and mother to Tunisia following the First Crusade. He found employment under the Zirid emir, Tamim ibn Muizz, rising to the position of governor of the city of Sousse. George fell out with Tamim's son and successor, Yahya, and secretly left for Christian Sicily by stealing away in disguise aboard a Palermitan ship harbored in Mahdia. Upon arrival in the Sicilian capital, George went immediately to the palace and found service with the Norman count, Roger II.
The history of Islam in Sicily and southern Italy began with the first Arab settlement in Sicily, at Mazara, which was captured in 827. The subsequent rule of Sicily and Malta started in the 10th century. The Emirate of Sicily lasted from 831 until 1061, and controlled the whole island by 902. Though Sicily was the primary Muslim stronghold in Italy, some temporary footholds, the most substantial of which was the port city of Bari, were established on the mainland peninsula, especially in mainland southern Italy, though Muslim raids, mainly those of Muhammad I ibn al-Aghlab, reached as far north as Naples, Rome and the northern region of Piedmont. The Arab raids were part of a larger struggle for power in Italy and Europe, with Christian Byzantine, Frankish, Norman and local Italian forces also competing for control. Arabs were sometimes sought as allies by various Christian factions against other factions.
Abu'l-Hasan al-Hasan ibn Ali was the last ruler of the Zirid dynasty in Ifriqiya (1121–1148).
The Muslim conquest of Sicily began in June 827 and lasted until 902, when the last major Byzantine stronghold on the island, Taormina, fell. Isolated fortresses remained in Byzantine hands until 965, but the island was henceforth under Muslim rule until conquered in turn by the Normans in the 11th century.
The Taifa of Granada or Zirid Kingdom of Granada was a Berber Muslim kingdom that was formed in al-Andalus in 1013 following the deposition of Caliph Hisham II in 1009. The kingdom was centered on Granada, its capital, and it also extended its control to Málaga for a period. Four kings succeeded each other during its nearly 80 years of existence, all of them belonging to an offshoot of the Zirid dynasty of North Africa, a Sanhaja Berber clan. The Taifa of Granada was considered to be the wealthiest out of all of the taifa kingdoms. It was eventually conquered by the Almoravids in 1090, putting an end to Zirid rule in Granada.
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.
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.
Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Husayn al-Kalbi, known in Byzantine sources as Boulchasenes and Aboulchare (Ἀβουλχαρέ), was the first Kalbid Emir of Sicily. A member of an aristocratic family within the ruling circle of the Fatimid Caliphate, he helped suppress the great revolt of Abu Yazid in 943–947 and was sent as governor of Sicily from 948 until 953, when he returned to Ifriqiya. He was succeeded in Sicily by his son Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Kalbi, but led several campaigns in Sicily and southern Italy against the Byzantines in 955–958, as well as the raid against Almeria that sparked a brief conflict with the Caliphate of Córdoba in 955. He died at Palermo in 964, during another campaign against the Byzantines.
Ali ibn Yahya was the penultimate Zirid ruler of Ifriqiya, in 1116–1121 CE.
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.