Zayd Abu Zayd (ابو زيد, 1195 – 1265/1270) was the last

Almohad The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...

governor of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. He succeeded as governor of Valencia to his uncle Abū `Abd Allāh Muhammad. At the death of the

Almohad caliph The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire fou ...

Yaqub al-Mansur Abū Yūsuf Yaʿqūb ibn Yūsuf ibn Abd al-Muʾmin al-Manṣūr (; c. 1160 – 23 January 1199 Marrakesh), commonly known as Yaqub al-Mansur () or Moulay Yacoub (), was the third Almohad Caliph. Succeeding his father, al-Mansur reigned from 118 ...

, he gained complete autonomy thanks to dynastic struggle that ensued. However, due to its position surrounded by enemies, in 1225 he decided to declare himself a vassal of King

James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( es, Jaime el Conquistador, ca, Jaume el Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and Valencia from 1238 to 1276 ...

. In 1227 he recognized

al-Mamun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...

, former governor of Córdoba and

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, as legitimate Almohad caliph. Two years later, after having been expelled from the

Taifa of Valencia The Taifa of Valencia () was a medieval Moorish taifa kingdom which existed, in and around Valencia, Spain during four distinct periods: from 1010 to 1065, from 1075 to 1099, from 1145 to 1147 and last from 1229 to 1238 when it was finally co ...

(Balensiya) by

Zayyan ibn Mardanish Zayyan ibn Mardanish or Zayán Ibn Mardanix (b. ?, Onda – d. 1270, Tunisia) also known as ''Zahén'' or ''Çaèn'', was the last king of the Taifa of Valencia before it fell to the Kingdom of Aragon in the Reconquista campaign led by James I of ...

, he fled to

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

, where he obtained by James the right to invade the Muslim territory of Valencia. Abu Zayd remained a loyal ally of James I, and in 1236 he converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, adopting the name of Vicente Bellvis, a fact which he however kept secret until the fall of Valencia. Under the protection of the Christian king, he held the seigniory over several localities in the

Sierra de Espadán Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

, which were inherited by his son Fernando after his death.

References

General references

* * Burns, p. 112. * Barceló Torres, María del Carmen. ''El Sayyid Abu Zayd: Príncipe musulmán, señor cristiano''. Awraq. Studies in Contemporary Islam and the Arab World, 3 (Madrid: Institute for Cooperation with the Arab World, 1980), p. 101-109. * Burns, Robert I. ''Príncipe almohade y converso mudéjar: Nueva documentación sobre Abū Zayd''. Sharq al-Andalus: Estudios árabes, 4 (Alicante: University, 1987), pp. 109–122. People from the Almohad Caliphate 1190s births 1260s deaths 12th-century Berber people 13th-century Berber people Andalusian former Muslims Berber Christians Converts to Roman Catholicism from Islam 13th-century people from al-Andalus Christians from al-Andalus Taifa of Valencia Governors of the Almohad Caliphate {{Islam-bio-stub

See also

References

General references