Rīm, also called Maryam or Maryem (died 1360), was a consort of

Yusuf I of Granada Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Ismail (; 29 June 131819 October 1354), known by the regnal name al-Muayyad billah (, "He who is aided by God"), was the seventh Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada on the Iberian Peninsula. The third son of Ismail ...

, and the mother of

Ismail II of Granada Abu al-Walid Ismail II ibn Yusuf (, 4 October 1339 – 24 June or 13 July 1360) was the ninth Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada on the Iberian Peninsula. He reigned from 23 August 1359 until his death. The second son of Yusuf I, he ...

Early life and concubinage

Her origin and her original name is unknown. The Nasrid rulers of the

Emirate of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Emirate, Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western ...

customarily married their cousins, but also kept

slave concubines Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in accordance with Islamic custom. The identity of these concubines is unknown, but they were originally Christian women (rūmiyyas) bought or captured in expeditions in the Christian states of Northern Spain, and given a new name when they entered the royal Nasrid harem. Rīm was given her name when she entered the royal harem at an unknown date before 1338; Modern authors identify her with two possible names: Antonio Fernandez-Puertas and Francisco Vidal Castro name her "Maryam" (مريم) while Bárbara Boloix Gallardo names her "Rīm" (ريم). Boloix Gallardo argues that the name Maryam is a misreading of the Arabic texts: in the Arabic script, bi-Rīm (بريم, "by Rīm") appears very similar to Maryam (مريم), only differing by a single letter. Rīm was described as Yusuf's favorite, and reportedly tried to convince Yusuf I to appoint her son as his successor.

Later life and politics

When Yusuf I died in 1354, a power struggle outside of the harem ended with the chief minister placing Butayna's son on the throne as

Muhammad V of Granada Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Mose ...

. Having given birth to her enslaver's children, Rīm was manumitted when Yusuf I died in accordance with the

umm walad In the Muslim world, the title of ''umm al-walad'' () was given to a Concubinage in Islam, slave-concubine who had given birth to a child acknowledged by her master as his. These women were regarded as property and could be sold by their owners, ...

law, though as a free Muslim woman she still had to observe seclusion. Her stepson Muhammad V had his stepmother Rīm and her daughters removed from the royal harem and banished to a separate harem. Before she left, Rīm obtained a substantial sum of money from the royal treasury, which had been situated in the harem and not sufficiently guarded in the events following the death of the sultan. Rīm married her daughter to her son's cousin prince Muhammad, and staged a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

with her son-in-law financed by the money she had obtained from the treasury. In August 1359, Rīm and her son-in-law deposed Muhammad V and placed Rīm's son on the throne as Ismail II of Granada. Rīm became the mother of the sultan and thus had the highest rank in the royal harem. In 1360, however, her son-in-law deposed her son, took the throne as Muhammad VI and had Ismail II and his mother Rīm executed.Boloix Gallardo, Bárbara (2013). Las sultanas de La Alhambra: las grandes desconocidas del reino nazarí de Granada (siglos XIII-XV). Patronato de la Alhambra y del Generalife. ISBN 978-84-9045-045-1. Muhammad VI himself was to be overthrown in 1362, when Muhammad V returned from exile with his mother and reclaimed his throne.

Issue

With Yusuf Rīm became the mother of two sons and three daughters *

(4 October 1339 - 24 June or 13 July 1360) ruled for brief time from 1359 to 1360, executed alongside his mother. *Qays (died 24 June or 13 July 1360) executed alongside Ismail *Fatima *Mu’mina *Jadīŷa *Shams *Zaynab

In fiction

Novel

The novel series ''Sultana: Two Sisters och Sultana: The Bride Price'' by Lisa J. Yarde focus on the dynamic between Maryem (Rīm) and Butayna.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rīm 1360 deaths Slave concubines Women from the Emirate of Granada Slaves in al-Andalus 14th-century slaves Nasrid dynasty 14th-century people from al-Andalus