Zirides

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The Zirids ( tamazight ⵉⵣⵉⵔⵉⴻⵏ Izirien , Arabic بنو زيري, DMG Banū Zīrī ) were a Berber dynasty in Ifrīqiya (972–1149).

history

The Zirids were Ṣanhāǧa - Berbers in what is now Algeria . In the 10th century they served as loyal vassals to the Fatimids . So they struck under ibn Ziri månad the uprising of (935-971) Kharijites under Abu Yazid down (943-947). Since then, the Zirids have been appointed governors in the central Maghreb / Algeria and founded the residential city of Aschir southeast of Algiers with the support of the Fatimids as early as 935 .

When the Fatimids moved the center of their empire to Egypt (972), Buluggin ibn Ziri (971-984) was installed as viceroy in Ifrīqiya . The Zirids advanced twice as loyal vassals against northern Morocco (974 and around 1000). However, the Fatimids took the state treasure and the fleet with them to Egypt. Because of the lack of a fleet, control over the calbites in Sicily was lost. In 1014 the related Hammadids from the Zirids made themselves independent in Algeria , so that their empire was now limited to Tunisia and Tripolitania . In 1027 an intervention in Sicily in favor of Islam in Italy failed .

Relations with the Fatimids as overlords were changeable. Thousands of Shiites were killed in the 1016 uprisings in Ifriqiya and the Fatimids promoted the secession of Tripolitania from the Zirids, but relations between the two dynasties remained close. It did not break until 1045, when the Zirids recognized the Abbasids in Baghdad as legitimate caliphs .

The Fatimids now directed the Bedouins of the Banu Hilal and the Banu Sulaym to Ifriqiya. After the fall of the Berber troops, the Zirids were defeated and the land was devastated by the Bedouins. As a result of the anarchy that has now broken out , the country's previously flourishing agriculture has been severely affected. Because of the uncertainty of the trade routes, the coastal cities and sea trade gained importance.

After the loss of Kairuan (1057) the territory of the Zirids was limited to the coastal cities, while several Bedouin emirates formed inland. Al-Mahdiya now became the capital of the empire . As the Zirids were cut off from the hinterland, piracy against Christian trade in the Mediterranean became increasingly important. However, between 1146 and 1148 the Normans of Sicily conquered all coastal cities except Tunis . The last Zirids were able to stay in Algiers until 1152. Then this dominion had to be handed over to the Almohads .

A branch of the family ruled the Taifa kingdom of Granada in the 11th century until the arrival of the Almoravids in 1090. See also the Zirids of Granada .

List of rulers of the Zirids

literature