The Articulation of Power in Medieval Iberia and the Maghrib

Edited by Amira K. Bennison

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Chapters are based on the latest research
The informative and detailed introduction gives a well-rounded overview
A variety of disciplinary approaches to the theme of legitimation

The Articulation of Power in Medieval Iberia and the Maghrib

Edited by Amira K. Bennison

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Description

How do rulers make their rule palatable and appealing to their subjects or citizens? Drawing on the expertise of several international scholars, this volume explores how rulers in medieval Iberia and the Maghrib presented their rule and what strategies they adopted to persuade their subjects of their legitimacy. It focuses on the Nasrids of Granada and the Marinids of Morocco, who both ruled from the mid-13th century to the later 15th century.

One of the book's central themes is the idea that the ways in which these monarchs presented their rule developed out of a common political culture that straddled the straits of Gibraltar. This culture was mediated by constant transfers of people, ideas and commoditities across the straits and a political historiography in which deliberate parallels and comparisons were drawn between Iberia and North Africa. The book adopts this approach to challenge a tendency to see the Iberian and North African cultural and political spheres as inherently different and, implicitly, as precursors to later European and African indentities. While several chapters in the volume do flag up contrasts in practice, they also highlight the structural similarities in the approach to legitimation deployed by the Nasrid and Marinid dynasties in this period.

The volume is divided into several sections, each of which approaches the theme of legitimation from a fresh angle. The first section contains a introduction to the theme as well as analyses of the material and intellectual background to discourses of legitimation. The next section focuses on rhetorical bids for legitimacy such as the deployment of prestigious genealogies, the use of religio-political titles, and other forms of propaganda. That is followed by a detailed look at ceremonial and the calculated patronage of religious festivals by rulers. A final section grapples with the problem of legitimation outside the environs of the city, among illiterate and frequently armed populations.

The Articulation of Power in Medieval Iberia and the Maghrib

Edited by Amira K. Bennison

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Section 1: Laying the Groundwork
1. Introduction, Amira K. Bennison
2. Islam and the 'Great Divergence': The case of the Moroccan Marinid Empire 1269-1465 CE., Maya Shatzmiller
3. Writing History as a Political Act: Ibn Khaldun, Asabiyya, and Legitimacy., Allen J. Fromherz
Section 2: Genealogy, Titulature and Propaganda
4. The Genealogical Legitimisation of the Nasrid Dynasty: The Alleged Ansari Origins of the Banu Nasr., Barbara Boloix-Gallardo
5. Jihad as a Means of Political Legitimation in Thirteenth-Century Sharq al-Andalus., Abigail Krasner Balbale
6. Honouring the Prophet's Family: A Comparison of the approaches to Political Legitimacy of Abul-Hasan Ali al-Marini and Ahmad al-Mansur al-Sa'di., Stephen Cory
Section 3: Ceremonies and Ritual Performances
7. 'Azafid Ceuta, Mawlid al-Nabi and the Development of Marinid Strategies of Legitimation., James A. O. C. Brown
8. On Muhammad V, Ibn al-Khatib and Sufism., Cynthia Robinson and Amalia Zomeno
9. Hospitality, Charity and Political Legitimacy in Pre-modern Morocco., Mohamed El Mansour
Section 4: Legitimation outside the City
10. Drums, Banners and Baraka: Symbols of authority during the first century of Marinid rule, 1250-1350., Amira K. Bennison
11. The Ransom Industry and the Expectation of Refuge on the Western Mediterranean Muslim-Christian Frontier 1085-1350., Camilo Gomez-Rivas
12. Nomadic Populations and the Challenge to Political Legitimacy: Three Cases from the Medieval Islamic West., Russell Hopley

The Articulation of Power in Medieval Iberia and the Maghrib

Edited by Amira K. Bennison

A British Academy Publication

Proceedings of the British Academy

Author Information

Amira K. Bennison is Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College. Her research interests include the medieval Islamic West (Islamic Iberia and Morocco), Maghribi modes of legitimation and cultures of power, and 18th-19th century Muslim religio-political discourse and engagement with modernity. In addition, Amira is an experienced cultural tour lecturer who has led numerous trips to Morocco, southern Spain, Syria and Egypt. She also contributes regularly to television programmes on Islamic history and is a frequent guest on BBC Radio 4's 'In Our Time'. Her publications include The Great Caliphs: the Golden Age of the 'Abbasid Empire, Cities in the Premodern Islamic World: The Urban Impact of Religion, State and Society, edited with Alison L. Gascoigne, Jihad and its Interpretations in Pre-Colonial Morocco, as well as numerous articles.

Contributors:

Abigail Krasner Balbale is Postdoctoral Fellow in Islamic Arts and Material Culture at Bard Graduate Center in New York City.
Amira K. Bennison is Reader in the History and Culture of the Maghrib at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge and a fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
James Brown completed his PhD in Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge in 2009.
Bárbara Boloix-Gallardo has a PhD in the history of al-Andalus from the University of Granada and the University of London (2007).
Stephen Cory teaches in the History and Religious Studies Departments at Cleveland State University, specialising in the Islamic Middle East and North Africa during the late medieval/early modern period.
Allen Fromherz is Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Medieval Mediterranean History at Georgia State University in Atlanta.
Camilo Gómez-Rivas is Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern History at the American University in Cairo.
Russell Hopley is a lecturer in Arabic studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, USA.
Mohamed El Mansour is Senior Professor of Modern History at Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
Cynthia Robinson is Chair and Professor of Medieval and Islamic Art at Cornell University.
Maya Shatzmiller is Professor of Islamic History at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Amalia Zomeño is a researcher at the Institute of Languages and Cultures of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Madrid).