Abu'l-Walid Ismail I ibn Faraj (3March 12798July 1325) was the fifth Nasrid ruler of the Emirate of Granada on the Iberian Peninsula from 1314 to 1325. A grandson of MuhammadII on the side of his mother Fatima, he was the first of the lineage of sultans now known as the al-dawla al-isma'iliyya al-nasriyya (). Historians characterise him as an effective ruler who improved the emirate's position with military victories during his reign.
He claimed the throne during the reign of his maternal uncle, Sultan Nasr, after a rebellion started by his father Abu Said Faraj. Their forces defeated the unpopular Nasr and Ismail was proclaimed sultan in the Alhambra in February 1314. He spent the early years of his reign fighting Nasr, who attempted to regain the throne from his base in Guadix, where he was initially allowed to rule as governor. Nasr enlisted the help of Castile, which then secured a papal authorisation for a crusade against Ismail. The war continued with intermittent truces and reached its climax in the Battle of the Vega on 25 June 1319, which resulted in a complete victory for Ismail's forces, led by Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula, over Castile. The deaths in the battle of Infante Peter and Infante John, the two regents for the infant King AlfonsoXI, left Castile leaderless and forced it to end support for Nasr.
After an initial truce, Ismail followed up his victory with the capture of castles on the Castilian border in 1324 and 1325, including Baza, Orce, Huéscar, Galera, and Martos. This campaign included the first use of cannons in a siege on the Iberian Peninsula, and atrocities during the assault of Martos which became infamous in Muslim chronicles. He was murdered by his relative, Muhammad ibn Ismail, on 8 July 1325, for personal reasons. During his life Ismail added buildings to the Alhambra palace complex, its Generalife palace, and the Alcázar Genil palace.
Background
Abu'l-Walid Ismail ibn Faraj was the son of Fatima bint al-Ahmar and Abu Said Faraj ibn Ismail. Ismail's mother Fatima was the daughter of Sultan MuhammadII () and the sister of the sultans MuhammadIII (r. 1302–1309) and Nasr (r. 1309–1314), the two immediate successors to and sons of MuhammadII. Ismail's father, Abu Said Faraj was also a member of the royal family, the son of Ismail ibn Nasr, who was a brother of the dynasty founder MuhammadI (r. 1238–1273). Therefore, Ismail was related to the ruling Nasrid dynasty in two ways: through his mother he was the grandson of MuhammadII and great-grandson of MuhammadI, while through his father he was a great-nephew of MuhammadI. Abu Said married Fatima during the reign of her father, MuhammadII, for whom he was a trusted advisor as well as a cousin. Abu Said was also appointed governor of Málaga by MuhammadII. Málaga was the second largest city of the Emirate of Granada after the capital, Granada, and its most important Mediterranean port, without which "Granada was no more than an isolated mountain-girt city," according to the historian L. P. Harvey. Abu Said's father, Ismail ibn Nasr, had also served as its governor until he died in 1257.
The emirate was the last Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula, founded by MuhammadI in the 1230s. Through a combination of diplomatic and military manoeuvres, the emirate succeeded in maintaining its independence, despite being located between two larger neighbours: the Christian Crown of Castile to the north and the Muslim Marinid Sultanate in Morocco. Granada intermittently entered into alliance or went to war with both these powers, or encouraged them to fight one another, in order to avoid being dominated by either. From time to time, the sultans of Granada swore fealty and paid tributes to the kings of Castile, an important source of income for Castile. From Castile's point of view, Granada was a royal vassal, while Muslim sources never described the relationship as such, and MuhammadI, for instance, on occasions declared his fealty to other Muslim sovereigns.
Early life
Ismail was born on 3 March 1279 (17 Shawwal 677 AH), shortly after his father Abu Said was sent to Málaga as governor on 11 February. He was likely born in the Alhambra, the royal palace complex in Granada, because his mother was in late pregnancy at the time of Abu Said's departure, and the Nasrid rule in Málaga was still unstable because it had just been recaptured after a long rebellion by the Banu Ashqilula. Ismail and his mother subsequently moved to Málaga, where his father served as an effective governor and a trusted advisor for MuhammadII and later MuhammadIII. Ismail had a younger brother, named Muhammad, whose birth date was unknown. During his youth Ismail was said to be well-loved by his father and by his maternal grandfather, MuhammadII. Biographers described him as a person who loved hunting and who had long, dark-red beard.
Ismail's maternal uncle Sultan Nasr became unpopular at court in the last years of his reign. The near-contemporary historian Ibn Khaldun wrote that this was due to his and his vizier's "tendencies towards violence and injustice", while Harvey rejects this explanation as propaganda and writes that "exactly why Naṣr fell is not clear." The historian Antonio Fernández-Puertas links Nasr's unpopularity to his activities in science, especially astronomy, which were deemed excessive by his nobles. Furthermore, Nasr was suspected of being too pro-Christian, because of his education by his Christian mother and his good relationship with FerdinandIV. His vizier, Ibn al-Hajj, was also unpopular as he was believed to have too much power over the Sultan. Compounding their image problem, they both often dressed in the Castilian manner. Harvey also opines that Nasr was blamed "perhaps unfairly" for Granada's losses in the war that occurred during his reign against the Marinid Sultanate and the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Initially, he faced an attempted coup to restore his predecessor, the dethroned MuhammadIII, in November 1310. That attempt failed, but Abu Said Faraj, encouraged by an anti-Nasr faction he met at court, started another rebellion the following year in the name of his son Ismail, who had a stronger claim to the throne thanks to the lineage of his mother. According to Fernández-Puertas, Abu Said's decision was partly prompted by the drowning of MuhammadIII at the order of Nasr after the failed coup, but there are conflicting reports of when this assassination happened; other historians such as Francisco Vidal Castro considered the most likely date to be in February 1314, long after the start of Abu Said's rebellion.
The pro-Ismail rebels, led by Abu Said, took Antequera, Marbella, and Vélez-Málaga; advanced to the Vega of Granada; and defeated Nasr's forces at a place called al-Atsha by Arabic sources, possibly today's Láchar. Abu Said proceeded to besiege the capital but lacked the necessary supplies for a protracted campaign. Castile's forces under the brother of King FerdinandIV (r. 1285–1312), Infante Peter, defeated Abu Said and Ismail on 28 May 1312. Abu Said sought peace, which was signed on 5 August, under which Abu Said was able to retain his post as governor of Málaga and resumed paying tributes to the sultan.
Rise to power
Fearing the sultan's vengeance, Abu Said sent his katib (secretary) Ibn Isa to negotiate a secret deal with the Marinids, in which he was to yield Málaga in exchange for the governorship of Salé in North Africa. The negotiations became known to the people of Málaga and were considered treachery; the citizens rose up and deposed him as their leader in favour of Ismail. Ismail did not arrest his father but kept him under watch in Málaga. During a visit outside the city, Abu Said was suspected of attempting to flee and was captured by Málaga's citizens. Ismail arrived before his father was harmed, then ordered his imprisonment in the castle of Cártama. Later, during Ismail's reign, he was moved to the castle of Salobreña, where he died in 1320.
Opposition to Nasr continued, and members of the anti-Nasr faction fled the court to Ismail's stronghold of Málaga. Soon Ismail restarted the rebellion, with help from his mother Fatima and Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula, the commander of the North African Volunteers of the Faith garrisoned in the city. As Ismail moved towards Granada, his army swelled and the capital's inhabitants opened the city gates for him. Ismail entered the city from the Elvira (Ilbira) Gate and besieged Nasr, who remained in the Alhambra complex. Nasr tried to request help from Infante Peter, who was now one of the regents of Castile after the death of FerdinandIV and the accession of the infant King AlfonsoXI (r. 1312–1350), but Castilian help did not come in time. Meanwhile, Ismail took residence in the old castle (qasba qadima) of the Albayzín district. According to Vidal Castro, he declared himself sultan on 14 February 1314 (27 Shawwal 713 AH). Ismail and Nasr then agreed to a settlement by which the former sultan abdicated and surrendered the Alhambra to his nephew. Ismail entered the palace complex on 16 February, and an accession ceremony for Ismail took place in the Alhambra on 28 February (12 Dhu al-Qaida). Nasr was permitted to leave for the eastern city of Guadix on the night of 19 February, where he ruled as governor. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam's entry of the Nasrid dynasty, Nasr's departure for Guadix took place on 8 February (21 Shawwal).
Reign Defending the throne
The first years of Ismail's reign were marked by conflict with the deposed Nasr, who called himself "King of Guadix" and ruled the city independently. He accused Ismail of violating his guarantee of Nasr's security and enlisted the help of his relatives and servants to attempt to regain the throne. He was also supported by the exiled North African princes Abd al-Haqq ibn Uthman and Hammu ibn Abd al-Haqq, who followed him to Guadix. Ismail put his border regions on alert to anticipate Castilian interventions in favour of Nasr, whom the Castilian king considered to be his vassal. He also appointed Uthman ibn al-Ula as the commander of the western section of the jund (regular army), in charge of facing the Castilian threat, in addition to his post as the commander of the Volunteers of the Faith.
Ismail laid siege to Guadix in May 1315 but left unsuccessfully after 45 days. Nasr requested help from Castile and Aragon: King James II of Aragon did not pledge any specific assistance, but Peter summoned the nobles of Castile in the spring of 1316, securing support for a military campaign in Granada. Castile sent a supply column to Nasr, again besieged in Guadix, but it was intercepted by Granadan forces led by Uthman ibn Abi al-Ula, resulting in a major battle on 8 May at Guadahortuna/Wadi Fortuna near Alicún. Contemporary Muslim and Christian sources disagreed on the victor of this battle, but modern historians have concluded that Castile won the battle: Harvey and Fernández-Puertas infer that the Castilians achieved a narrow victory based on the fact that they advanced closer to Granada after the battle, while Joseph F. O'Callaghan wrote that it was a "complete victory" which resulted in the death of 1,500 Muslims. Ismail was forced to lift the siege and withdraw to Granada, and in the following month Peter captured various castles, including Cambil, Alhamar, and Benaxixar, and burned the outskirts of Iznalloz. Meanwhile, Ismail allied himself with Yahya ibn Abi Talib, the Azafid governor of Ceuta, who defeated Castile in a naval battle and then laid siege to Gibraltar. The siege was abandoned when Castile sent a relief force. Later in the summer of 1316, Peter and Ismail agreed to a truce until 31 March 1317.