Spanish Moor marriages to Catholics
W David Samuelsen
had one of 4 wives - Maria Isabel Ximena Ziada, a converted Moor Moslem,
dau of Muhammad III (Abu-I-Kasim) al-Mutamid, King of Granada (1050,
died 1128
rather than Ximena de Guzman, dau of Nuon Rodriguez de Guzman and Ximena
of Leon per Douglas Richardson and Michael Call
I recalled reading the lengthy article more than 15 years ago about the
attempts by the Catholic Spain to erase any trace of links to the
Moslems around the time of Ferdinand and Isabella era (prior to 1492).
So the question, is this one marriage that was passed off as Ximena de
Guzman rather than Maria Isabel Ximena al-Mutamid?
W. David Samuelsen
Todd A. Farmerie
Oh, where to start . . . .
Most of this is confused, to say the least.
Alfonso VI married:
Agnes of Aquitaine
Constance of Burgundy
Bertha
Isabel (perhaps two successive Isabels)
Beatrix
He also had mistresses:
Ximena Muñoz
Zaida, baptized as Isabel
We know all this from a chronicler writing immediately afterward, and
there is not the slightest evidence that anything was done to cover up a
moorish connection - in fact, these supposed attempts of later Spaniards
to cover up muslim blood does not match up with the preserved legendary
traditions, where over and over we see a celebration of muslim/christian
marriage (the Miragaia and the tale of the Infantes de Lara both involve
such mixed blood, as does one chanson de geste from Toulouse involving
William of Gellone, while the Codice de Roda, the earliest surviving
medieval Iberian genealogy, shows several christian/muslim marriage,
without negative mention, and unexpurgated). All too often this is
presented by a modern genealogist as an excuse to introduce/invent a
muslim connection where none can be documented.
Now as to these individuals, Ximena was not identical to Zaida, nor was
she daughter of Nuño Rodriguez, nor was she de Guzman. Her parentage
remains unknown, although there has been some recent speculation that
she was kinswoman to the Laras. Zaida, baptized Isabel (not Maria, not
Ximena) was daughter-in-law of Mohammad of Seville (not Grenada), but
her own parentage is unknown. She may be identical to the Queen Isabel,
but the chronicler who names them treats them as different individuals
(if there were two Isabels, she would be the second).
As to the children, Alfonso had
by Ximena: Elvira, wife of Raymond of Touluse, then of Count Fernando
Fernandez (ancestress of the Osorio, and later of the English Blounts);
and Teresa, 'Queen' of Portugal, wife of Henry of Burgundy.
by Constance: Urraca, Queen of Leon and Castile, wife of Raimond of
Burgundy, then of Alfonso I of Aragon.
by Zaida/Isabel: Sancho, killed in battle prior to his father's death.
by Queen Isabel (perhaps, but doubtfully, identical to Zaida if there
was only one Queen Isabel; if there were two, she is the first while
Zaida was the apparently the second): Elvira, wife of Roger, King of
Sicily; Sancha, wife of Rodrigo Gonzalez de Lara (no known descendants
beyond the forth generation).
A lot of time has been wasted looking for muslim descents in medieval
Spain. If your starting point is Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I,
she had no documented descents from muslim ancestors - if you have any
others you have your eye on (e.g. the Ribagorza, Castile, or Navarre
descents from the Banu Qasi), I would be happy to refute them for you.
taf
Paul K Davis
daughter-in-law, rather than daughter, of Muhammad. Here parentage is
unknown.
-- PKD [Paul K Davis, pkd...@earthlink.net]
> [Original Message]
> From: W David Samuelsen <ds...@sampubco.com>
> To: <GEN-MED...@rootsweb.com>
> Date: 2/20/2006 9:23:10 PM
> Subject: Spanish Moor marriages to Catholics
>
> Alfonso VI, King of Castilla y Leon
>
> had one of 4 wives - Maria Isabel Ximena Ziada, a converted Moor Moslem,
> dau of Muhammad III (Abu-I-Kasim) al-Mutamid, King of Granada (1050,
> died 1128
>
> rather than Ximena de Guzman, dau of Nuon Rodriguez de Guzman and Ximena
> of Leon per Douglas Richardson and Michael Call
>
> I recalled reading the lengthy article more than 15 years ago about the
> attempts by the Catholic Spain to erase any trace of links to the
> Moslems around the time of Ferdinand and Isabella era (prior to 1492).
>
> So the question, is this one marriage that was passed off as Ximena de
> Guzman rather than Maria Isabel Ximena al-Mutamid?
>
> W. David Samuelsen
Ford Mommaerts-Browne
From: "Paul K Davis" <pkd...@earthlink.net>
To: <GEN-MED...@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 1:34 AM
Subject: RE: Spanish Moor marriages to Catholics
| I believe previous correspondence here has indicated Zaida was the
| daughter-in-law, rather than daughter, of Muhammad. Here parentage is
| unknown.
|
| -- PKD [Paul K Davis, pkd...@earthlink.net]
The last time that we discussed this, Dave Kelley told me tat she was the qadi's niece; cousin of her first husband. As we had other matters to discuss, (& we were chatting over international-rates telephone), I was not able to collect further information from him.
Ford
'We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness'
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Todd A. Farmerie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul K Davis" <pkd...@earthlink.net>
>
> | daughter-in-law, rather than daughter, of Muhammad. Here parentage is
> | unknown.
> |
> | -- PKD [Paul K Davis, pkd...@earthlink.net]
>
> The last time that we discussed this, Dave Kelley told me tat she was the qadi's niece; cousin of her first husband. As we had other matters to discuss, (& we were chatting over international-rates telephone), I was not able to collect further information from him.
> Ford
This proposed affiliation has been broadly circulated, but I have never
seen any documentation cited, and I am left suspecting that it is little
more than speculation.
taf