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Joseph’s Journal: 30

14 Marchehvan 4808 (October, 1059)

During my father’s administration, the state of Granada grew and prospered. The realm spread south to the sea and to the east all the way to Baza. To the north our lands went north of Jaen, almost to the Christian territories, then west to Ecija. All of the people who inhabited the cities, villages, mountains, hills, valleys, and lands within these borders paid tribute to King Badis, and answered to his administrator, my father.

Concurrently, Jewish communities prospered, spread, and expanded throughout Andalusia, especially in the cities and towns. There were Jewish agriculturalists, many of them. They brought their skills, ethics, morals, devotion, and love of the land with them from wherever they had lived previously. Jaen’s Jewish community was large, second in size only to that of Granada. Jews engaged in all types of agriculture and trade in Jaen but controlled the tanning and leather producing industries.

Those products were considered to be of the highest quality throughout Andalusia and beyond. I overheard in the Synagogue, that two families from Jaen are moving to Palestine to start a leather products importation business. Due to my father’s influence, and protection, Jews were free to migrate to places of opportunity throughout Andalusia and beyond.

I am thinking back to when I was ten or eleven, maybe twelve years old. My father and I were once again in his study. He quickly scanned the most recent copy I made of one of his long poems.

“This is a good job, Joseph. Your calligraphy has improved significantly in the last two months. Are you beginning to understand more of the references to Torah passages?”

“I think so, Papa, but I’m certain I don’t find or understand all of them.”

“Well, let’s do this. If you think a phrase may be a reference to Torah or Talmud passages, but aren’t certain, you must ask me. If it is, we will find the passage, discuss it and see if we can arrive at an interpretation of the passage that we are both satisfied with.”

“Thank you, Papa. May I ask you about something else?”

“Of course, anything.”

“I know you have had problems with the Hammudite tribe of Malaga but I don’t know the history.”

His eyes squinted and furrows deepened on his forehead making his Semitic nose even more prominent. The smile he produced was more of a half-grimace, involving only the lower third of his face.

“That is a long and complicated history, Joseph, but it will be good for you to learn it.  Perhaps you will obtain a better idea of the kind of people I must deal with almost daily.

It was about fifty years ago when Ali, a former general in the army of Caliph Suleiman who was, incidentally just a puppet Caliph, was given Malaga as a reward for his service to the Caliphate. Ali was a member of the Berber Hammudite tribe of North Africa. The Hammudites were related to the Umayyads who you should remember originally established the Caliphate. Because of that relationship, Ali believed he had the right to claim the Caliphate of Cordoba, so he did. He was a cruel and unpredictable ruler. He managed to alienate almost everyone living in Cordoba. He was assassinated about three years into his rule. His brother Kasim succeeded him as Caliph, but the Caliph of Cordoba, prior to Ali’s arrival, had a son, Yahya. This Yahya, of course, enjoyed a more legitimate claim to the crown than Kasim did. The inevitable result was a civil war. Remember, in those days the Caliph of Cordoba ruled all of Andalusia?”

“That all happened when you were still young didn’t it, Papa?”

“Yes. I was in my early twenties when it happened. Those were very troubling times.”

For a long moment he was lost to me, remembering. Then he shook his head.

“Anyhow, Kasim lost the civil war and fled to Seville, but the governor of Seville turned him and all of his followers out. Seville was rewarded for turning Kasim away by obtaining near total independence from Cordoba. Yahya’s forces fought a few more major battles, but mostly just skirmishes with the very depleted army led by Kasim. Those times were very difficult. There were two forces, mostly consisted of small bands of robbers and thieves, running amok throughout the countryside. Finally, Kasim was captured. Yahya imprisoned Kasim and kept him in prison for thirteen years. When he learned that Kasim was planning an escape he had him strangled.”

“The civil war and the level of independence granted to Seville caused many other cities to strive for equal or even complete independence from the Cordoban Caliphate. Eventually, those desires resulted in the Taifa, the multiple city/states we now have. Yahya tried to retain and maintain the Caliphate, in its entirety, but these efforts required constant warfare. In 1035 he made a pact with the Zenata tribe that controlled the province of Carmona. He brought them back into Cordoba’s sphere of influence as an almost equal ally. Next Yahya invaded Seville, but the Carmona Zenata betrayed him. He died in battle while fighting the army of Seville.”

“My old enemy, Ismail ben Abbad was in command of that victorious Sevillian army. The treacherous Slav, ibn Bakunna, the same evil man who conspired with Zuhair and ibn Abbas of Almeria to destroy the Zanhadja and me, installed Yahya’s brother Idris as Caliph.  But Idris lacked any real power, he was just another puppet of ibn Bakunna.”

“Idris died not long after he became Caliph. Ibn Bakunna tried to engineer the crowning of Idris’ young son, who was also named Yahya. This was all done so he, ibn Bakunna, could continue to rule through a puppet Caliph.”

“Another Slav vizier of Malaga, Naja, supported a cousin of the young Yahya to be a Caliph. This cousin was Hasan. He and Naja moved too quickly for ibn Bakunna. They sent a large fleet into Malaga’s bay. Ibn Bakunna panicked and fled to hide in one of the ancient hill towns northeast of Malaga. Hassan sent a messenger to him promising sanctuary and ibn Bakunna, feeling much relieved, returned to Malaga. He was immediately arrested and brought to his knees to beg for his life at Hassan’s feet. Hassan looked on as ibn Bakunna was slowly strangled to death.”

“Hassan knew that the unpredictable loyalties of the Berber tribes might result in them uniting under Yahya, so he had the boy murdered. One of Hassan’s wives happened to be the older sister of that same Yahya. This wife decided her husband was acting with considered malice and treacherousness against her family, so she poisoned him.”

“That family sounds crazy, Papa.”

“I think so too, Joseph, but wait, the story is not over. After Hassan was murdered by his wife, Naja continued scheming to regain power. He was running out of male Hammudites. Hassan’s young son and Hassan’s younger brother were still in Malaga. Naja made a bold move. He killed Hassan’s young, and threw his brother, a studious, and anything but ambitious, young man, into prison. Subsequently, he convinced the various Berber clans in the Province of Malaga to swear allegiance to him as the new king. They agreed to this but not with great enthusiasm.”

“Naja still had one more Hammudite to deal with, the ruler of the small Taifa of Algecira. So, he mobilized an army to attack Algecira, and eliminate that potential threat. He encircled the Alcazaba at Algecira, but the various Berber Chiefs with him began to disappear with their men. Because of his murderous behavior, and obvious lack of respect for them, they no longer believed Naja was the best possible choice for King. Having lost much of his army Naja assessed the situation and decided to return to Malaga. The road he chose to go back went through a narrow gorge. The Berbers still with him, and some of those who had previously deserted, organized an ambush. Naja’s carcass, as far as we know, is still rotting in that canyon.”

“The Berber Chiefs of Malaga freed Hassan’s brother, and he was crowned ruler, renamed Idris II. This poor fellow was a good man, very pious and reverent. He instituted policies to help the poor and unfortunate, supported artists, musicians, and poets, but he lacked the fortitude and ruthlessness necessary to rule Berbers. He also failed to recognize and counter the ambitions of our King Badis. Badis began by demanding Idris II concede a specific tract of land. This demand was based on a trumped-up claim that it had always been part of Granada. Idris II conceded. So, Badis invented other stories to claim one small village, then another, then towns and fortresses as he expanded Granada to the south. Eventually, Badis took control of Casabermeja only twenty-four kilometers from Malaga itself.”

“Idris II’s Chief Vizier had a large extended family who owned property in and around Casabermeja. This vizier made a crucial mistake. He encouraged his brethren to obstruct the decrees of the Governor Badis appointed to administer the newly annexed territories. The most devastating thing he did was suggest his relatives remit their taxes directly to Idris II in Malaga instead of Granada. Badis demanded the vizier be sent to Granada to answer for his sins. Idris II, afraid to confront Badis, dispatched the poor man into Badis’ clutches.”

“The vizier arrived at our court with his hands bound at his back. I had to avert my eyes and focus on our Master’s smiling face as he watched the poor soul be strangled. After the fellow slumped to the floor dead, Badis turned his gaze on me. With my heart pounding in my ears, like the surf in a storm, I managed to force a smile, and nodded my head to show my agreement with his action. May God have mercy on me for this, and for the many other sins I have committed to appease Badis, and to maintain my authority.”

I went to my father and hugged him, then tried to climb onto his lap in a childish attempt to comfort him. He pulled me off and patted my shoulder.

“You are too old for me to hold you in my lap, Joseph. You must grow up fast and learn even faster. Do you want to know what happened next?”

I took two steps back and sat again on his footstool.

“Yes, Papa.”

“Well, the Berber chiefs of Malaga could no longer countenance such a weak ruler. They sent him into exile with his books and replaced him with a distant cousin, Mohammed. Mohammed is now the ruler of Malaga and he is mean spirited, ambitious, cruel, and foolhardy, a perfect Berber ruler. I doubt he will last long.”

After that evening, I had a different perspective and appreciation for the problems my father faced maintaining his position so he could protect our people. I began to realize the difficulties he had reconciling his actions that were contrary to the teachings of morality and fairness of our religion.

I am writing these accounts thirteen years after the events I describe, but I have my father’s notes and letters and poems to fill in any details that I have forgotten. Much of what happened my father shared with me during our evening “talks” as he called his monologues. I’m not certain if I am blessed or cursed to have almost total recall of those talks.