The Making of a Mediterranean Emirate: Ifrīqiyā and Its Andalusis, 1200-1400

The thirteenth century marks a turning point in the history of the western Mediterranean. The armies of Castile and Aragon won significant and decisive victories over Muslims in Iberia and took over a number of important cities including Cordoba, Seville, Jaen, and Murcia. Chased out of their native cities, a large number of Andalusis migrated to Ifrīqiyā in northern Africa. There, a newly founded Hafsid dynasty (1229-1574) welcomed members of the Andalusi elite and showered them with honors and high positions at court.While historians have tended to conceive of Ifrīqiyā as a region ruled by the Hafsids, Ramzi Rouighi argues in__The Making of a Mediterranean Emirate__that the Andalusis who joined the Hafsid court supported economic arrangements and political relationships that effectively prevented regional integration from taking place during this period. Rouighi examines an array of documentary, literary, and legal sources to argue that Ifrīqiyā was integrated neither politically nor economically and that, consequently, it was not a region in a meaningful sense. Through a close reading of narrative sources, especially historical chronicles, Rouighi further argues that the emergence in the late fourteenth century of the political ideology of Emirism accounts for the representation of the rule of the Hafsid dynasty over cities as its rule over the whole of Ifrīqiyā. Setting the activities of Andalusis such as the celebrated historian Ibn Khaldūn (1332-1406) in relation to specific political, economic, and intellectual developments in Ifrīqiyā,__The Making of a Mediterranean Emirate__proposes a counter to the dynastic-centric view of the period that pervades medieval sources and continues to inform most modern generalizations about the Maghrib and the Mediterranean. The thirteenth century marks a turning point in the history of the western Mediterranean. The armies of Castile and Aragon won significant and decisive victories over Muslims in Iberia and took over a number of important cities including Cordoba, Seville, Jaen, and Murcia. Chased out of their native cities, a large number of Andalusis migrated to Ifrīqiyā in northern Africa. There, a newly founded Hafsid dynasty (1229-1574) welcomed members of the Andalusi elite and showered them with honors and high positions at court. While historians have tended to conceive of Ifrīqiyā as a region ruled by the Hafsids, Ramzi Rouighi argues in The Making of a Mediterranean Emirate that the Andalusis who joined the Hafsid court supported economic arrangements and political relationships that effectively prevented regional integration from taking place during this period. Rouighi examines an array of documentary, literary, and legal sources to argue that Ifrīqiyā was integrated neither politically nor economically and that, consequently, it was not a region in a meaningful sense. Through a close reading of narrative sources, especially historical chronicles, Rouighi further argues that the emergence in the late fourteenth century of the political ideology of Emirism accounts for the representation of the rule of the Hafsid dynasty over cities as its rule over the whole of Ifrīqiyā. Setting the activities of Andalusis such as the celebrated historian Ibn Khaldūn (1332-1406) in relation to specific political, economic, and intellectual developments in Ifrīqiyā, The Making of a Mediterranean Emirate proposes a counter to the dynastic-centric view of the period that pervades medieval sources and continues to inform most modern generalizations about the Maghrib and the Mediterranean. Cover 1 Contents 6 Introduction: Orientations 8 PART I. THE LIMITS OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION 30 1. The Politics of the Emirate 32 2. Taxation and Land Tenure 62 3. Between Land and Sea 83 PART II. EMIRISM AND THE MAKING OF A REGION 102 4. The Age of the Emir 104 5. Learning and the Emirate 130 6. Emirism and the Writing of History 155 Conclusion: Departures 180 List of Abbreviations 186 Notes 188 Bibliography 228 Index 242 A 242 B 243 C 243 D 243 E 243 F 243 G 243 H 243 I 243 J 244 K 244 L 244 M 244 N 245 P 245 Q 245 R 245 S 245 T 245 U 245 V 245 W 245 Y 245 Z 245 The author argues that the Andalusis who joined the Hafsid court supported economic arrangements and political relationships that effectively prevented regional integration from taking place during this period. He shows that Ifrīqiyā was integrated neither politcally nor economically and that, consequently, it was not a region in the meaningful sense The Limits Of Regional Integration -- The Politics Of The Emirate -- Taxation And Land Tenure -- Between Land And Sea -- Emirism And The Making Of A Region -- The Age Of The Emir -- Learning And The Emirate -- Emirism And The Writing Of History. Ramzi Rouighi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book argues that between 1200 and 1400 Ifrīqiya was not an economic or political region. It shows how Emirism, a political ideology that emerged at the end of the fourteenth century, led both medieval sources and modern historians to imagine Ifrīqiya as a region. This book argues that between 1200 and 1400 Ifrīqiyā was not an economic or political region. It shows how Emirism, a political ideology that emerged at the end of the fourteenth century, led both medieval sources and modern historians to imagine Ifrīqiyā as a region.