Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ALMORAVIDES (properly Murabtis, the n...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 718 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ALMORAVIDES (properly Murabtis, the name being corrupted through the See also:Spanish) , a See also:Berber See also:horde from the See also:Sahara which, in the i i th See also:century, founded the See also:fourth See also:dynasty in See also:Morocco. By this dynasty the Moorish See also:empire was extended over See also:Tlemcen and a See also:great See also:part of See also:Spain and See also:Portugal. The name is derived from the Arab. Murdbit, a religious ascetic (see See also:MARABOUT). The most powerful of the invading tribes was the Lamtuna (" veiled men ") from the upper See also:Niger, whose best-known representatives now are the See also:Tuareg. They had been converted to Mahommedanism in the See also:early times of the Arab See also:conquest, but their knowledge of See also:Islam did not go much beyond the See also:formula of the creed—" there is no See also:god but God, and See also:Mahomet is the apostle of God,"—and they were ignorant of the See also:law. About the See also:year 1040 or a little earlier, one of their chiefs, Yahya See also:ibn See also:Ibrahim, made the See also:pilgrimage to See also:Mecca. On his way See also:home he attended the teachers of the See also:mosque at See also:Kairawan, in See also:Tunisia, who soon learnt from him that his See also:people knew little of the See also:religion they were supposed to profess, and that though hiswill was See also:good, his own See also:ignorance was great. By the good offices of the theologians of I.airawan, one of whom was from See also:Fez, Yahya was provided with a missionary, `Abd-See also:Allah ibn Yazin, a zealous See also:partisan of the Malekis, one of the four orthodox sects of Islam. His See also:preaching was for See also:long rejected by the Lamtunas, so on the See also:advice of his See also:patron Yahya, who accompanied him, he retired to an See also:island in the Niger, where he founded a ribat or Moslem monastery, from which as a centre his See also:influence spread. There was no See also:element of See also:heresy in his creed, which was mainly distinguished by a rigid formalism and strict obedience to the See also:letter of the See also:Koran and the orthodox tradition or Sunna. `Abd-Allah imposed a See also:penitential scourging on all converts as a See also:purification, and enforced a See also:regular See also:system of discipline for every See also:breach of the law, even on the chiefs.

Under such directions the Murabtis were brought to excellent See also:

order. Their first military See also:leader, Yahya ibn See also:Omar, gave them a good military organization. Their See also:main force was See also:infantry, armed with javelins in the front ranks and pikes behind, formed into a See also:phalanx and supported by camelmen and horsemen on the flanks. From the year 1053 the Murabtis began to impose their orthodox and puritanical religion on the Berber tribes of the See also:desert, and on the See also:pagan negroes. Yahya was killed in See also:battle in ro56, but `Abd-Allah, whose influence as a religious teacher was See also:paramount, named his See also:brother See also:Abu Bakr as See also:chief. Under him the Murabtis soon began to spread their See also:power beyond the desert, and subjected the tribes of the See also:Atlas. They then came in contact with the Berghwata, a Berber people of central Morocco, who followed a heresy founded by Salab ibn Tarif 300 years previously. The Berghwata made a fierce resistance, and it was in battle with them that `Abd-Allah ibn Yazin won the See also:crown of martyrdom. They were, however, completely conquered by Abu Bakr, who espoused the defeated chief's widow, Zainab. In io6r Abu Bakr made a See also:division of the power he had established, handing over the more settled parts to his See also:cousin, Yusef ibn Tashfin, as See also:viceroy, resigning to him also his favourite wife Zainab, who had the reputation of a sorceress. For himself he reserved the task of suppressing the revolts which had broken out in the desert, but when he returned to resume See also:control he found his cousin too powerful to be superseded, so he had to go back to the Sahara, where in 1087 he too attained martyrdom, having been wounded with a poisoned arrow in battle with the pagan negroes. Ibn Tashfin, who was largely guided by Zainab, had in the meantime brought what is now known as Morocco to See also:complete subjection, and in 1062 had founded the See also:city of See also:Marrakesh (" Morocco City ").

He is distinguished as Yusef I. In ro8o he conquered the See also:

kingdom of Tlemcen and founded the See also:present city of that name, his See also:rule extending as far See also:east as See also:Oran. In ro86 he was invited by the See also:Mahommedan princes in Spain to defend them against See also:Alphonso VI., See also:king of See also:Castile and See also:Leon. In that year Yusef passed the straits to See also:Algeciras, and on the 23rd of See also:October inflicted a severe defeat on the Christians at Sacralias, or in Arabic, Zallaka, near See also:Badajoz. He was debarred from following up his victory by trouble in See also:Africa which he had to See also:settle in See also:person. When he returned to Spain in 1090 it was avowedly for the purpose of deposing the Mahommedan princes and annexing their states. He had in his favour the See also:mass of the inhabitants, who were worn out by the oppressive See also:taxation imposed by their spendthrift rulers. Their religious teachers detested the native Mahommedan princes for their religious indifference, and gave Yusef a fetwa—or legal opinion—to the effect that he had good moral and religious right to dethrone the heterodox rulers who did not See also:scruple to seek help from the Christians whose See also:bad habits they had adopted. By 1094 he had removed them all, and though he regained little from the Christians except See also:Valencia, he reunited the Mahommedan power and gave a check to the reconquest of the See also:country by the Christians. After friendly See also:correspondence with the See also:caliph at See also:Bagdad, whom he acknowledged as See also:Amir el Muminin, " See also:Prince of the Faithful," Yusef in 1099 assumed the See also:title of " Prince of the Resigned "— Amir el Muslimin. He died in iro6, when he was reputed to have reached the See also:age of roo. The Murabti power was at its height at Yusef's See also:death, and the Moorish empire then included all See also:North-See also:West Africa as far as See also:Algiers, and all Spain See also:south of the See also:Tagus, with the east See also:coast • as far as the mouth of the See also:Ebro, and the Balearic Islands.

Three years afterwards, under Yusef's son and successor, `See also:

Ali III. of Morocco, See also:Madrid, See also:Lisbon and See also:Oporto were added, and Spain was again invaded in 1119 and 1121, but the See also:tide had turned, the See also:French having assisted the Aragonese to recover See also:Saragossa. In 1138 `Ali Tawas defeatedbyAlphonso VII. of Castile and Leon, and in 1.139 by Alphonso I. of Portugal, who thereby won his crown, and Lisbon was recovered by the Portuguese in 1147. 'Ali III. was a pious nonentity, who fasted and prayed while his empire See also:fell to pieces under the combined See also:action of his See also:Christian foes in Spain and the agitation of the Muwahhadis or " See also:Almohades " (q.v.) in Morocco. After 'Ali's death in 1142, his son Tashfin lost ground rapidly before the Muwahhadis, and in 1145 he was killed by a fall from a precipice while endeavouring to See also:escape after a defeat near Oran. His two successors Ibrahim and Ishak are See also:mere names. The conquest of the city of Marrakesh by the Muwahhadis in 1147 marked the fall of the dynasty, though fragments of the Murabtis continued to struggle in the Balearic Islands, and finally in Tunisia. The amirs of the Murabti dynasty were as follows:—Yusef I., See also:bin Tashfin (1o61);'Ali III. (1106); Tashfin I. (1143) ; Ibrahim II. (1145); Ishak (1146). See Budgett Meakin, The Moorish Empire (See also:London, 1899) ; the See also:anonymous Raod el Karts (Fez.1326),translated by Baymier as Roudh el-Kartas (See also:Paris, 186o) ; Ibn Khaldun, Kitab el `Aibr . fi Aiydm el Maghrib, &c. (cir.

1405), partly translated by de Slane as Histoire See also:

des See also:Berbers, vol. ii. (Algiers, 1852–1856) ; Makkari, See also:History of the Mahommedan Dynasties in Spain, translated by Gayangos (London, 1840) ; Histoire des Mussulmans d'Espagne, by R. See also:Dozy, vol. iv. (See also:Leiden, 1861). (B. M.*; D.

End of Article: ALMORAVIDES (properly Murabtis, the name being corrupted through the Spanish)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
ALMORA 		[next]
ALMQVIST, KARL JONAS LUDWIG (1793-1866)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries