Metamorphosis in the Ifriqiyan Cocoon: Ḥafṣid State Formation

Metamorphosis in the Ifriqiyan Cocoon: Ḥafṣid State Formation, Diplomacy, and Transformation, 1220-1450 Amel Bensalim A thesis submitted to the graduate program in History in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada August 2021 Copyright © Amel Bensalim, 2021 Abstract Over the course of three centuries, from 1229 to 1574, Ifriqiya was ruled by the Ḥafṣid dynasty. Claiming to be inheritors of the great Almohad administrative and ideological tradition, the Ḥafṣids came to power when the Islamicate world, and medieval Mediterranean in general, were particularly tumultuous. Although faced with economic hardship, foreign and domestic threats, diplomatic pressures, and other challenges, the Ḥafṣid state managed to weather them all and survive – in various forms – for several centuries. Using primary source chronicles, correspondences, treaties, and other documents, as well as a solid foundation of secondary scholarship, this thesis explores the phases of Ḥafṣid state formation and how they transformed and adapted over the course of three centuries. Contrary to previous assessments, the Ḥafṣid state was a dynamic polity that utilized diplomatic tactics, trade deals, and maritime activity in order to maintain their state and diplomatic interests. Periods of instability catalyzed transformation and adaptation that eventually yielded a more centralized state with sophisticated ideological, legal, and administrative structures. II Acknowledgements أوﻻً، نشكر هللا عز و جل على نعمة العلم و بركة القدرة، ربي زدني علما. ثانيا، نشكر والد ّي، أمي و بوي، آمنة كريميد و صﻻح بن سليم، إ ّلي ديما يشجعو فيا. ﻻ بد من دعمهم و دعائهم و مساعدتهم ﻷي مشروع أو إنجاز في حياتي. والحق هما يستحقو بعض من الشهادة هذه على خاطر كمية الترجمات إلي ساعدوني فيهم و اﻷسئلة والمناقشات بخصوص دراستي إلي ح ّضروها معاي بكل تركيز و إهتمام. هللا يبارك فيهم!! I can’t thank them, and my siblings – Ayah, Abdulrahman, Muhammed – enough for all their support, laughs, and well wishes. I would not be here without them, especially during such a difficult year. All major writing projects, theses, dissertations, have a veritable army of people and supporters behind it, but arguably none more so than the ones written in the last year, under the conditions of pandemic and quarantine. I would like to thank my mentor and supervisor at Queen’s University, Dr. Adnan Husain, whose knowledge, expertise, and erudition is only outstripped by his patience and understanding nature. I really could not have asked for a better supervisor! I would also like to thank Dr. Ariel Salzmann not only for reading and engaging with this thesis, but for all her mentorship and support over the course of my MA. I’d also like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Richard Greenfield, whose lectures, advice, and support were an invaluable aspect of my MA experience. Endless thanks to all the people and friends who listened to me rant and destress at whatever ungodly hour the phone notifications from me popped up on their screens – Muna, Jess, Layla, Katie, Nia, Ray, Jomaan, Ahmed, Younes, Ben Kato, Mous, Taha, Yasser, Sabrina, Emad, Fatma, Sarra. Huge thank you especially to Shatha for all her help! And to round off this important section, I am immensely thankful for all the support and ,Sarah, Hager, Dania, Nosaiba, Saba, Saja, Khayria :البهلوﻻت encouragement from my darlings Suroor, Sumaya, Mariam, Jomana, Amal, Ghofran, Aya, Muzaina, Sereen, Doua, Rudi, and Malaak <3 III Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... II Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... III A Note on Translation and Transliteration ................................................................................... VI Chapter 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 10 The Ḥafṣids: The Generational Roots ....................................................................................... 10 The Ḥafṣids and the Mediterranean World ............................................................................... 19 Chapter 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 40 Ḥafṣid Bildungsroman, 1277-1318 ........................................................................................... 40 Novel Diplomacies .................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter 4 ....................................................................................................................................... 73 Doctrines, Diplomacy, and the Sea ........................................................................................... 73 Chronicles and Catalysts ........................................................................................................... 87 Epilogue ........................................................................................................................................ 92 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 94 Primary Sources ........................................................................................................................ 94 Secondary Sources .................................................................................................................... 96 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................. 102 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................. 111 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................. 113 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................. 116 IV Figure 1. Western Mediterranean, circa the mid-thirteenth century. Figure 2. Map of Ifriqiya and the Maghreb, with important urban centers marked1 1 Figure 1 from Ramzi Rouighi, “Ḥafṣids.” Map of Ifriqiya. In Encyclopaedia of Islam III, edited by Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Leiden: Brill, 2009. Figure 2 from Pascal Buresi, Hicham El Aallaoui, and Travis Bruce. “Governing the Empire. Provincial Administration in the Almohad Caliphate (1224-1269): Critical Edition, Translation, and Study of V A Note on Translation and Transliteration This thesis covers the pre-modern Ifriqiya region, and uses a variety of primary sources, most especially documents in Arabic. Translations and transliteration of passages, terms, and letters in the main thesis and in the appendices follow a common standard. For terms or names with a commonly known and recognizable spelling – such as “Almohad” – I have stuck with the conventional spelling. The transliteration otherwise follows the Brill Encyclopedia of Islam as الشمس system, although I have elected not to assimilate Solar letters (i.e. rather than render ash-shams, I would transcribe it as al-shams). See table below for a guide. The English translations of Arabic sources provided in the appendices are based on printed transcriptions of those sources. The printings also included either Spanish or Italian translations of the original documents, but I have relied on my own reading of these documents, and have given my own original rendering of phrases and sentences. In any place where I used the provided translations for clarity on a particular term is noted in the footnotes. Arabic Letter Transliteration Guide k ك ḍ ض d د a/ā أ/ا/آ l ل ṭ ط dh ذ b ب m م ẓ ظ r ر t ت h ه ‘ ع z ز th ث ū و gh غ s س j ج ī/y ي f ف sh ش ḥ ح ʾ ء q ق ṣ ص kh خ Manuscript of the Husaniyya Library in Rabat Containing 77 Taqadim (“Appointments”), Brill 3 (2012). 85. VI Chapter 1 Introduction If the center of the medieval world was the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean’s own center was Ifriqiya, the region stretching from Tripoli, in modern Libya, to the east, and to Bijāya in present day Algeria (Figure 1). Connected to both the Sea and Sahara, the region’s importance is underscored by the bevy of empires, trade routes, travellers, and peoples that have passed through and left a mark on it. In the central Middle Ages, Ifriqiya and its urban centres became the seat of the Ḥafṣid dynasty, new and ambitious self-declared descendants of the Almohad Empire. They adopted the caliphal title and ruled in the region for over three centuries, from 1229 to 1574, until the Ottoman Turks wrested the land from both Ḥafṣid and Spanish hands. Over the course of those years, the state underwent a series of transformations and permutations in order to preserve itself. By analyzing both their internal circumstances, external pressures, and the interplay between them, this thesis describes the processes and phases

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