possible Spanish descent from the "the last Almohad king of Mallorca"?
antoine barbry
Tracing some Spanish lines of my girlfriend's ancestors, I came across a family that might be of interest because it could possibly be an additional Moor line with connections in the Western European nobility. However, there are still some uncertainties that I would like to clarify with your help.
- Marie ENRIQUEZ, wife of Juan DE BORJA 2e Duque of Gandía, is daughter of Enrique ENRIQUEZ, Admiral of Sicily, and Maria DE LUNA
- Maria DE LUNA would be daughter of Pedro, 1e Señor de Fuentidueña, and Mencía (or María) de AYALA
- Pedro DE LUNA would be son of Alvaro DE LUNA, Condestable de Castilla and Señor de Cornago y Jubera
- Alvaro would be son of Alvaro MARTINEZ DE LUNA and Juana DE URANZADI (other sources say that she is called instead Juana MARTINEZ de JARAMA)
- Alvaro MARTINEZ DE LUNA would be son of Juan and Teresa DE ALBORNOZ
- Juan would be himself son of other Juan and María PEREZ DE GOTOR (both also parents of Pedro, who would be Pope under the name Benedictus XIII)
- Maria PEREZ DE GOTOR would be daughter of Miguel and Maria PEREZ ZAPATA
- Miguel would be son of Blasco and Sancha GONZALEZ DE ALAGON
- Blasco DE GOTOR would be son of Jaime DE GOTOR and Eva ROLDAN de ALAGON
And here we arrive at the interesting point..
The Chronicle of the conquest of Mallorca and various other sources all agree in saying that Jaime DE GOTOR was the 13 years old son of the last Moor King of Mallorca that was kept after the defeat of his father, baptized as a Christian and given the territory of Gotor by the King Jaime I of ARAGON, conqueror of Mallorca.
But below are a few question marks that make me suspicious about this nice story:
1) it looks almost too good genealogically speaking to be true, and we know that in genealogy these kind of nice stories have often more to see with legend than with trully verified information
2) for some sources, this 13 years old boy was baptized in 1229, for some others in 1234
3) the last Almohad king of Mallorca is called Said Ben Alhaken in the sources that tell the story. But when you look at other historical sources on the history of Mallorca, you find the last governor named Abu Yahie (in Spanish) and Abu Yahya (in English)
My impression: Jaime DE GOTOR might well be originally a Moor that converted, but maybe not the son of the last King.
An interesting source to check would be the account of the conquest of Mallorca written by a Moor scholar in the XIIIth century and translated into Spanish:
Ibn' Amira Al-Mahzumi " Kitab Tarih Mayurqa: crónica arabe de la conquista de Mallorca"
A picture of the cover can be found at http://mallorcaphotoblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/the-festa-de-lestendard/
I would be grateful for any comment, correction or complement on this line.
regards,
Antoine Barbry
Milano
M Sjostrom
as son of a muslim magnate.
Firstly, that story apparently is based on the chronicle, which has
seemingly near-contemporary material.
Secondly, the conquering christian king is plausible to have wanted the boy
baptized, and the king's name (Jaime) given to the formerly muslim boy,
fitst to what often happened when 'godfather'-hood took place.
and a hereditary property (Gotor) is plausible.
The difference between years 1229 and 1234 is by no means alarming. It's
only that sort of usual vagueness when chronicle information is timed by
something else than a direct date in the chronicle. On basis of the
chronicle tradition, tghere is no grave doubt that the boy was baptized - it
only varies wgat was the precise time of that.
Rather, one should worry more about the attestability of the subsequent
generations, who were not so much in 'public spotlight', instead having
become a part of gentry...
There, I think your best proof is IF the estate of Gotor (claimed to have
passed along the pedigree) actually is plausibly attested in
near-contemporary records.
M Sjostrom
Abū Yahyà Muhammad ibn 'Alī ibn Abī 'Imrān al-Tinmalālī
?, segle XIII
Darrer valí independent de Mallorca (1208-29). El califa de Còrdova li
ordenà de passar a l'Àfrica, però Abū Yahyà no l'obeí. Durant el seu govern
Jaume I emprengué la conquesta de Mallorca. Resistí als atacs dels catalans
i contraatacà amb les seves naus. Derrotat, empresonat i torturat, morí al
cap de poques setmanes.
antoine barbry
Below some secondary sources that are of interest for this line. Most of them are in Spanish but I can translate if needed:
http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/12159289779090408532624/not00030.htm
Note that in this "Historia de la conquista de Mallorca", under the paragraph 292, the DE GOTOR line is given on four generations.
http://www.terra.es/personal/bennetty/gothis.htm
a pdf entitled "el celebre y caballeroso linaje de los LUNA.." Unfortunately is a "read only" document that I wasn't able to print so I haven't assessed the seriousness of the study
dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/fichero_articulo?articulo=61638&orden...
http://gotorlibro.com/
A book written by the 27th Baron of Gotor. Unfortunately with not much detail on the presentation web page apart from the fact that the family GOTOR then enters the family MARTINEZ de LUNA of the Pope Benedictus XIII
http://www.limacoedizions.com/public/wordpress/?p=1454
This one with an error: Ximen DE GOTOR, 4th Sir of Gotor is the brother and not the father of Maria DE GOTOR who will marry Juan MARTINEZ DE LUNA
http://ifc.dpz.es/recursos/publicaciones/29/46/08hinojosa.pdf
The most serious academic work that states that the "señorio de Gotor" was indeed given by the King to "Jaime de Mallorca" the 13 years old baptized boy.
I will stop here for now. I will look for further documents and also to secure each one of the intermediary MARTINEZ de LUNA steps (because for me, the GOTOR ones are pretty secured).
However, I am still puzzled by the difference in the name of the last King of Mallorca: Sidi Abu Yahya and Said Ben Alhaken are not precisely close. Could a specialist tell me more on the subject?
And Leo, may I also know the name of this French genealogist who provided you these informations? I might know him, if not personally, at least by name;-)
I take advantage of your response to ask another question. I have found in the archives of the mailing list an old message that you sent to announce that you had posted on genealogics the emirs of Granada and that you could trace a line back to the Lancaster family and a Portuguese noble family. Despite my efforts on your website, I have been unable to find this connection. Could you kindly send me the document that you have written on the subject? It will be very much appreciated
regards
antoine barbry
________________________________
From: Leo <leov...@netspeed.com.au>
To: antoine barbry <antoin...@yahoo.com>
Sent: Wed, March 3, 2010 6:36:58 PM
Subject: Re: possible Spanish descent from the "the last Almohad king of Mallorca"?
Dear Antoine,
The lineage you give I have on my website ( http://www.genealogisc.org )until "Miguel would be son of Blasco and Sancha Gonzalez de Alagaon". Most of the lineage was provided to me by a very reliable French genealogist.
The extra generations you provide are very interesting.
With best wishes
Leo van de Pas
Canberra, Australia
----- Original Message ----- From: "antoine barbry" <antoin...@yahoo.com>
To: <GEN-ME...@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2010 3:02 AM
Subject: possible Spanish descent from the "the last Almohad king of Mallorca"?
Good afternoon,
regards,
Antoine Barbry
Milano
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To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GEN-MEDIEV...@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Christine Czarnecki
Thanks.
________________________________
From: M Sjostrom <mqs...@gmail.com>
To: gen-me...@rootsweb.com
Sent: Wed, March 3, 2010 9:40:59 AM
Subject: possible Spanish descent from the "the last Almohad king of Mallorca"?
enciclopedia catalana narrates:
-------------------------------
M Sjostrom
Abu Yahya Muhammad Ali ibn abi Imran al-Tinmalali (lived in 13th century),
was the last independent vali (wali) of Majorca (1208-1229). The caliph of
Cordoba ordered him to go to Africa, but Yahya did not obey. During his
term, reign, James I of Aragon launched to conquer Majorca. Yahya resisted
catalan attacks, and did counter-attacks.... (and was no success).
Vanquished, imprisone and tortured, he died....
My catalan is by no means perfect, so this is just an outline of what there
generally appears to be, and everyone can do their own translations.
2010/3/3 Christine Czarnecki <czar...@sbcglobal.net>
> Would you please translate this? While this is lovely to behold, my
> Catalan is not just weak, it's nonexistent.
>
> Thanks.
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* M Sjostrom
Christine Czarnecki
________________________________
From: M Sjostrom <mqs...@gmail.com>
To: gen-me...@rootsweb.com
Sent: Wed, March 3, 2010 12:04:44 PM
Subject: Re: possible Spanish descent from the "the last Almohad king of Mallorca"?
2010/3/3 Christine Czarnecki <czar...@sbcglobal.net>
-------------------------------
taf
> However, I am still puzzled by the difference in the name of the last King of Mallorca: Sidi Abu Yahya and Said Ben Alhaken are not precisely close. Could a specialist tell me more on the subject?
>
Depending on how it has been transcribed/transliterated, this may not
be an issue. Sidi and Said could be representations of the same
Arabic name. Vowels in Arabic are mostly unwritten, and there is a
degree of variability as to how it is filled in: Muhammad and Mahmud
are different representations of the same name, and in some scripts
would be written the same (although most would include a diacritical
to indicate a double m in the first).
The other problem is with nicknames. Abu Yahya is "servant of Yahya",
a nickname (where, IIRC, Yahya is one of the names of the Prophet
Muhammad).
Ben Alhaben is a patronymic son of Alhaben, where Ben is the same word
as ibn, more commonly used in recent times to represent the same word
written bn. Alhaben could be a personal name, but Al- is the, so it
looks to me like another nickname (the _____, where I can't tell what
word haben is to represent). Fortoun ibn al-Tawil of Huesca was son
of Muhammad, nicknamed al-Tawil.
Thus Said, servant of Yahya could be identical to Sidi son of 'the
Haben', but could also be, for example, ibn 'Ali - son of 'Ali, 'Ali
being the actual given name of the man known as Al-Haben.
This doesn't mean that the tradition is valid, just that if the
pedigree is to be overturned, it should not be for this reason.
taf
taf
> On Mar 3, 10:03 am, antoine barbry <antoinebar...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > However, I am still puzzled by the difference in the name of the last King of Mallorca: Sidi Abu Yahya and Said Ben Alhaken are not precisely close. Could a specialist tell me more on the subject?
>
> Depending on how it has been transcribed/transliterated, this may not
> be an issue. Sidi and Said could be representations of the same
> Arabic name. Vowels in Arabic are mostly unwritten, and there is a
> degree of variability as to how it is filled in: Muhammad and Mahmud
> are different representations of the same name, and in some scripts
> would be written the same (although most would include a diacritical
> to indicate a double m in the first).
>
> The other problem is with nicknames. Abu Yahya is "servant of Yahya",
> a nickname (where, IIRC, Yahya is one of the names of the Prophet
> Muhammad).
OK, I had a brain lapse there. Both of these are wrong (and I knew it
even as I typed it and meant to change one and look up the other, but
then forgot). Abd is 'servant of' (or 'slave of'). Abu is 'father of'
which could be either literal or something more like 'one who brings
forth' (I saw an example of Abu Turab - literally 'father of dust').
Yahya is a prophet but not THE Prophet - it is John, so Abu Yahya is
'father of Yahya (John)'. The principle is the same: Sidi Abu Yahya
could elsewhere be Said Ben Alhaken.
That being said, it looks to me like Alhaken is a faulty transcript,
as elsewhere I see this individual called ibn Al-Hakim, 'son of the
wise (one)'.
taf