ʿAlī () was, according to the ''

Llibre dels fets The (; from Catalan language, Catalan, 'Book of Deeds'; Old Catalan: ) is the autobiographical chronicle of the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276). It is written in Old Catalan in the first person and is the first chronologically of the ...

'', "a Saracen ... from La Palomera" who defected during the

conquest of Majorca The conquest of the Majorca, island of Majorca on behalf of the Roman Catholic kingdoms was carried out by King James I of Aragon between 1229 and 1231. The pact to carry out the invasion, concluded between James I and the ecclesiastical and s ...

and swam out to the fleet of King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( Catalan/Valencian: ''Jaume I or Jaume el Conqueridor''; Aragonese: ''Chaime I'' ''o Conqueridor''; ; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1 ...

with intelligence about the island. The ''Llibre'' is an eyewitness account written by James himself. The story, however, is much more developed in the later account of

Bernat Desclot Bernard Desclot (in Catalan: Bernat Desclot) was a Catalan chronicler whose work covering the brief reign of Peter III of Aragon (1276–1285) forms one of the four '' Catalan Grand Chronicles'' through which the modern historian views thirteen ...

.Ferran Soldevila, ''Les quatre grans croniques: Llibre dels feits del rei En Jaume'' (Barcelona, 2007), p. 145 and n. 537.Bernat Desclot
''Crònica''
ed. Miquel Coll i Alentorn (Barcelona, 1982), p. 86. According to Desclot, ʿAlī was the

majordomo A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a larg ...

of the "king of Majorca" (the governor Abū Yaḥyā). He chose to defect when his mother, an astronomer, warned him that James would conquer the island. In reality, his choice was probably based on opposition to Abū Yaḥyā. He and his family would certainly have preserved their property by siding with the conquerors. The story of ʿAlī and his mother entered the popular tradition in and around

Andratx Andratx () is a municipality on Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands, along the Mediterranean east coast of Spain. It is located on the western tip of the island. Port d'Andratx, located a few miles south of Andratx, is an exclusive resort. His ...

. The family is said to have owned

Sant Elm Sant Elm () is a town on the south-west coast of Majorca in the Balearic Islands of Spain. It lies in the municipality of Andratx. It is a picturesque fishing village at the far Southwest corner of Majorca, only a short drive from Andratx and Por ...

, where his mother observed the stars from the walls. The story was taken up by poets during the

Renaixença The ''Renaixença'' (; also written ''Renaixensa'' before spelling standardisation), or Catalan Renaissance, was a romantic revivalist movement in Catalan language and culture through the mid 19th century, akin to the Galician '' Rexurdimento ...

. The local poet (1823–1906) collected the stories and published a poem on them under the title ''N'Alí de la Palomera'' in 1871. He gave the name Zulema to ʿAlī's mother for the first time. Another poet, (1838–1898), wrote a similar poem on the woman's astrological feats.

References

Further reading