Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi and Conquest of Ceuta

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Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi vs. Conquest of Ceuta

Abu Zakariya Yahya ibn Ziyan al-Wattasi (died 1448) (abū zakarīyā' yaḥyā ben ziyān al-waṭṭāsī أبو زكرياء يحيى بن زيان الوطاس. was a vizier of the Marinid sultan of Fez, regent and effective strongman ruler of Morocco from 1420 until 1448. He is the founder of the Wattasid dynasty of viziers and later sultans, and as such often designated as Yahya I in Wattasid lists. He was also known by his nickname Lazeraque (the wall-eyed), as found in Portuguese chronicles. The Wattasids (or Banu Wattas) were a Moroccan Berber clan related to the Marinid sultans of Morocco.C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, (Columbia University Press, 1996), 48. They were traditionally established in the Rif, holding the citadel of Tazuta as their base. The Portuguese capture of Ceuta in 1415 had taken the Moroccans by surprise. In 1418, the Marinid sultan Abu Said Uthman III of Morocco led an army to recover it, but the siege failed. This led to widespread disaffection with the sultan and instability in the Marinid state. This culminated in a coup in Fez in 1420 (sometimes dated 1419), in which the sultan Abu Said Uthman III was assassinated, leaving behind only a one-year-old child, Abu Muhammad Abd al-Haqq II as son and heir, supported by Abu Zakariya. A succession struggle broke out immediately as other pretenders quickly emerged. Opportunistically, the Nasrid rulers of Granada and the Abdalwadids of Tlemcen intervened, each sponsoring different candidates for the Moroccan throne. At the time, Abu Zakariya Yahya al-Wattasi was serving as the long-time governor of Salé for the Marinids. Hearing the news of the sultan's assassination, Abu Zakariya hurried from Salé and seized control of the royal palace of Fez, proclaiming the orphan child Abd al-Haqq as the new Marinid sultan and appointing himself his regent and chief minister (vizier). Abu Zakariya's intervention had been facilitated by the old Marinid palace bureaucracy, who feared the other candidates would deliver Morocco to foreign domination. But the writ of Abu Zakariya did not extend much beyond the palace. Refusing to recognize the Wattasid minister, Morocco quickly descended into disorder and strife. Granadan and Tlemcen interventions and intrigues continued, regional governors seized control of their districts, selling and re-selling their allegiance to the highest bidder, Sufi-inspired religious radicals drummed up mobs to seize control of urban centers and take to the field, while rowdy rural nomads, the Hilalian Bedouin tribesmen, availed themselves of the general breakdown of law and order to launch a series of bandit raids on smaller towns and settlements. With Morocco in disorder, pressure on the Portuguese in Ceuta was lifted, (save for the occasional makeshift puritan column that marched up to the walls of Ceuta to demand a trial of arms). The Portuguese used this respite to entrench themselves firmly in Ceuta. Anarchy would continue to prevail in Morocco for the next several years, as Abu Zakariya struggled to defeat the string of pretenders and stich the country back together, in the name of the young Marinid child-sultan. The Marinid sultan Abd al-Haqq II came of age by 1436, but Abu Zakariya Yahya refused to step down from the regency. Sensing a new political crisis was brewing, the Portuguese thought it an opportune moment to take another bite out of Morocco and began organizing an expedition to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier. The Portuguese expeditionary force, personally commanded by Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, landed in August 1437. But he was unable to take the well-fortified city. For Abu Zakariya Yahya, the Portuguese attack turned out to be a political opportunity. Appealing for national unity to expel the foreign intruders, forces were dispatched from all corners of Morocco, placing themselves at the disposal of the Wattasid mayor. Abu Zakariya led a massive army to Tangiers, and quickly encircled the Portuguese siege camp by early October 1437. The Portuguese expeditionary force was starved into submission, and, on October 15, Prince Henry agreed to a treaty to deliver Ceuta back to Morocco, in return for being allowed to withdraw his army unmolested. The victory over the Portuguese at Tangier turned Abu Zakariya from reviled regent to national hero overnight. Sufi activists who had long led the grassroots opposition the regent, now rallied for him. Rivals and regional governors quickly came back under the fold. Any ideas that the Marinid sultan Abd al-Haqq II might have about dismissing his now-popular and powerful minister were shelved. Abu Zakariya was able to cement and extend his power over Morocco. The astute Abu Zakariya celebrated the triumph by erecting the magnificent shrine of Zaouia Moulay Idriss II in Fez, over the alleged tomb of Idriss II (the founder of the Idrisid dynasty back in 807). The remains of Idris II was long-assumed to be buried with his father Idris I in Moulay Idriss (near Volubilis), but popular belief and reverence had switched when an uncorrupted body was discovered at the new location around 1307. Hoping to tap into the popular Idrisid cult, Abu Zakariya's ensured religious authorities and the living members of the Idrisid family confirmed it. Thus, in a way, the new tomb of Idris II served also as a monument to Abu Zakariya's triumph at Tangier. In the end, the Portuguese refused to fulfill the treaty, and allowed their hostages, including the royal Ferdinand the Saint Prince, to rot in Moroccan captivity, rather than give up Ceuta. Ferdinand would die in 1443. But this did not diminish Abu Zakariya's new prestige. After the long years of anarchy and disorder, a bit of a springtime prevailed over Morocco after 1437. Abu Zakariya continued ruling Morocco until his death in 1448. His popularity and power was still strong enough to secure the appointment of his nephew, Ali ibn Yusuf, to succeed him as the new all-powerful Wattasid vizier of Morocco, for the dissolute and increasingly irrelevant Marinid sultan Abd al-Haqq II. Abu Zakariya's own son, Yahya ibn Abi Zakariya would succeed his cousin as vizier in 1458. In the Portuguese chronicles of Frei João Álvares and Ruy de Pina, Abu Zakariya is referred to as Lazeraque, a nickname which Álvares explains was "because of his wall-eyes, his proper name was Bazaquary, of the generation called Benvotaçy, by his father related to the Marinids, and by his mother, descended from Christians.". Álvares, who was imprisoned alongside Ferdinand in Fez, impugns Abu Zakariya's personal character mercilessly, a person of 'low' background, who seized power by malice and deception, who brutally broke the Marinid nobility and kept the sultan in thrall, universally feared, but nonetheless disarmed his opponents with the affectation of mildness, piety and courtesy. The conquest of Ceuta by the Portuguese on 21 August 1415 marks an important step in the beginning of the Portuguese Empire in Africa.

Ceuta

Ceuta (also;; Berber language: Sebta) is an Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa, separated by 14 kilometres from Cadiz province on the Spanish mainland by the Strait of Gibraltar and sharing a 6.4 kilometre land border with M'diq-Fnideq Prefecture in the Kingdom of Morocco.

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Emirate of Granada

The Emirate of Granada (إمارة غرﻧﺎﻃﺔ, trans. Imarat Gharnāṭah), also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (Reino Nazarí de Granada), was an emirate established in 1230 by Muhammad ibn al-Ahmar.

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Ferdinand the Holy Prince

Ferdinand the Holy Prince (Fernando o Infante Santo; 29 September 1402 – 5 June 1443), sometimes called the "Saint Prince" or the "Constant Prince", was an infante of the Kingdom of Portugal.

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Kingdom of Portugal

The Kingdom of Portugal (Regnum Portugalliae, Reino de Portugal) was a monarchy on the Iberian Peninsula and the predecessor of modern Portugal.

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Marinid dynasty

The Marinid dynasty (Berber: Imrinen, المرينيون Marīniyūn) or Banu abd al-Haqq was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Zenata Berber descent that ruled Morocco from the 13th to the 15th century.

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Prince Henry the Navigator

Infante D. Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15th-century European maritime discoveries and maritime expansion.

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Tangier

Tangier (طَنجة Ṭanjah; Berber: ⵟⴰⵏⴵⴰ Ṭanja; old Berber name: ⵜⵉⵏⴳⵉ Tingi; adapted to Latin: Tingis; Tanger; Tánger; also called Tangiers in English) is a major city in northwestern Morocco.

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