Valencia Changing Hands

The takeover of the Taifa (Kingdom) of Valencia by the Almoravids lasted for a couple generations, and then there was swiftly shifting chaos.

In the 1140s, the Almoravid dynasty was losing respect and control, so the surrounding areas started forming their own independent small states again. One problem with the Almoravids was difficulty paying their Andalusian military. In March 1145, a local qadi ("judge"), Marwan ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, tried to manage the increasing mistrust, but the soldiers would not change their attitude about the political leadership and pressured Marwan to take control of the city.

Marwan still did not have the resources to pay the soldiers, so they replaced him with one of their own leaders, Ibn 'Iyad. Months later, in January 1146, Ibn 'Iyad called for a son of the ruler of Zaragoza to come and take control of Valencia. This was Sayf al-Dawla ibn Hud, who took the title of Caliph but was killed within days during a battle with Christians. Ibn 'Iyad then asked Muhammad ibn Sa'd ibn Mardanish to take over. Ibn 'Iyad was killed in battle in August 1147.

Christians weren't the only problem for Mardanish. The Almohads were replacing the Almoravids and becoming the dominant force in northwestern Africa, and were crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to Iberia. Mardanish allied himself with Castile to defend against the Almohads, but he died in 1172 and the Almohads had no trouble conquering the Kingdom of Valencia.

The Almohads in Valencia also lasted just a couple generations, weakening so much that the last Almohad ruler, Zayd Abu Zayd, in 1226 agreed to pay tribute to James I of Aragon to avoid war. Abu Zayd's people resented this and rebelled a couple years later. Zayd Abu Zayd and the Almohads abandoned Valencia and a descendant of Mardanish, Zayyan ibn Mardanish, was put in charge.* It was Mardanish who failed to keep Valencia when James I reconquered it after a months-long siege, told about here.

The story of Valencia does not end there. Let's look tomorrow at the later Middle Ages, the Black Death, and that Valencia had a good climate for growing white mulberry.

* Zayd Abu Zayd stayed friendly with James I and even converted to Christianity in 1236, changing his name to Vicent Bellvis. He married a "local girl," Isabella Roldán, and was gifted some localities to rule in Spain.

El Cid and the Almoravids

After the Almoravids were invited to help control Valencia by a usurping judge and were ultimately driven from the city by El Cid—Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099)—they continued to consider Valencia a goal. There were two different attempts in 1097 to defeat El Cid and take the taifa (Kingdom) of Valencia. The first attempt came to naught. In the second, the ruler of the Almoravids decided to take matters into his own hands.

Yusuf ibn Tashfin was an Almoravid ruler of Maghreb and the co-founder of Marrakesh. He had, a few years earlier, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar at the request of various Muslim groups in the Iberian Peninsula to help them fight against Christians. In 1090 he deposed the king of Granada, defeated Córdova, and drove the ruler of Seville into exile. Now, in 1097, he set out from Córdova on a mission of conquest. El Cid sent troops to counter him, but did not go himself. Although Tashfin did not capture any fortresses that were part of the Taifa of Valencia, he caused great damage to the land, and El Cid's son Diego was killed in one of the battles.

That same year, Tashfin's son, Muhammad ibn 'A'isha, succeeded in defending against El Cid's military at the city of Alcira. Tashfin was sufficiently confident of their dominance that he went back to Marrakesh, only to return two years later to continue assaults on the eastern provinces. That was in 1099, the same year El Cid died. El Cid's widow, Jimena Diaz, continued ruling Valencia, but in late 1100 an Almoravid force besieged Valencia against. After seven months, afraid of starvation, Jimena ordered the mosque to be set on fire (although her husband had converted it to a church), and fled.

Yusuf ibn Tashfin's Almoravid forces now took control of Valencia, as well as southern Iberia and Western Africa. This empire didn't last, however: in a couple generations it would break up due to civil war. What happened to Valencia then? We'll see tomorrow.

Valēntia

In 138 BCE, Rome founded a colony on the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The name means "strength" or "valor," and according to Livy was given due to the valor of soldiers who had fought against a Lusitania rebel. After Rome fell, the city became part of the Visigothic Empire. Moorish invasions caused it to change hands in 714. Abd al-Rahman I (731 - 788) ravaged the city, after which it is referred to as Balânsia or Balansiyya, and also called Medina at-Tarab ("City of Joy"). It was controlled by the Caliphate of Cordova, until a civil war that broke up the caliphate and created the opportunity for Valencia to become its own kingdom, called the Taifa of Valencia.

In the last decade of the 11th century, a Castilian noble named Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar—but better known today as "El Cid" (c.1043 - 10 July 1099)—was in change of the garrison. While he was temporarily away, a coup d'état took place by a local judge. The judge called for help from the Almoravids, who not only forced out the rest of the Castilian garrison but also killed Valencia's ruler.

When he learned of this, El Cid returned with a combined Christian-Muslim army much larger than the Almoravids, setting up a siege and denying the city any food. The judge agreed to end the siege, and the Almoravids were escorted out of the city. This was in 1092. Negotiations with the judge continued. Another Almoravid force approached the city in 1093, but declined to fight El Cid and turned away.

With the city starving in April 1094, the judge surrendered. El Cid re-entered Valencia on 15 June, taking control as king. The Almoravids later that year returned, starting their own siege. El Cid took a two-pronged approach, sending a force out of the main gates to directly attack, then himself leading a smaller force from a different gate to attack their base camp. Realizing that the judge's existence might be motivation for another attempt to attack the city, El Cid executed the judge by a public burning. (see illustration)

El Cid set about shoring up defenses with a chain of fortresses, and none too soon. An Almoravid army of 30,000 besieged one of these fortresses in 1096. El Cid managed to break up the siege, but the enemy set a trap, ambushing he Christians in a narrow valley. El Cid managed to escape the trap, however.

Hostility between the Almoravids and El Cid continued for the rest of his life, as I'll describe tomorrow.