Yahya ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya
Yahya ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya , Arabic يحيى بن إسحاق بن غانية, DMG yaḥya ibn isḥāq ibn ġānīya , was the last representative of the Almoravid dynasty of the Ghaniyids , who fought the Almohads almost indefatigably in North Africa from 1188 until his death in 1237 .
ancestry
Yahya ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya, sometimes just Yahya ibn Ishaq or Yahya ibn Ghaniya , was the son of Ishaq ibn Muhammad ibn Ghaniya , who ruled the Taifa of Mallorca as emir from 1155 to 1183 . Yahya had four brothers who all ruled as emirs in Mallorca for a period of time : Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya , Ali ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya , Tasfin ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya and Abd Allah ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya . Yahya was the father of three daughters.
Life
In 1184 Yahya joined the campaign of his brother Ali, who had crossed with a huge force to the north coast of Algeria and had conquered Bejaja . Ali put Yahya in Bejaja as a commander. When the Almohad army arrived in 1185, however, the two Ghaniyid brothers were forced to move towards southern Tunisia . From Djarid they undertook campaigns of conquest in Tunisia ( Ifrīqiya ) between 1186 and 1188 . Ali died in 1188 and so Yahya took the further lead in the fight against the Almohads.
There followed two attempts at conquest by Constantine , but each time they were rejected. Yahya then withdrew into the desert, where he, like his brother Ali before , entered into an alliance with the Armenian Qaraqush , who commanded an Oghuz mercenary army. Together they made various raids in Ifrīqiya. This alliance with Qaraqush was to last until 1195. After the break, Yahya won the support of the Banu Sulaym and together they were able to seize the cities of Tripoli in Libya and Gabès in Tunisia, which had previously been under the rule of Qaraqush.
Yahya then advanced into Noden and occupied Mahdia . In a two-year campaign, he achieved rule over Béja , Biskra , Tébessa , Kairouan , Annaba and finally on December 14, 1203 Tunis , whose Almohad governor Sid Abu Zayd had surrendered. This success was overshadowed by the news of the fall of the Balearic Islands , which in 1203 had completely passed to the Almohads. In 1204 Yahya had to take action against the Kharijites on the Jabal Nafusa because they had revolted against him. He was able to master the rebellion and at the same time impose a high war tax on the Kharijites. He then returned to Tunis.
When Yahya learned that the Almohad caliph Muhammad an-Nasir was advancing with a huge army against Tunis, he wisely preferred to evade to Djarid. However, the Almohads caught up with him in October on the plain of Tadjra and inflicted a heavy defeat on him. An-Nasir then conquered Tunis and Mahdia - both cities had opened their gates to him. In Mahdia, an-Nasir set up Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Hafs as the new governor in 1205 instead of al-Mutawakkil ala Allah and set about aiming for the complete reconquest of Ifrīqiyas as a new war goal. Yahya, on the other hand, intended to intercept the caliph on his return to Marrakech and then to rise to rulership in the central Maghreb (Algeria). In the plain of the Cheliff , however, he was defeated again and had to escape into the desert. There he succeeded in gathering his supporters again and so he attacked in Wadi Shabru near Tébessa ibn Abi Hafs, who, however, was able to break up his troops.
Yahya then moved with his remaining stocks further west to the Tafilalet . Here he could take and plunder Sidschilmasa . Loaded with spoils of war, he headed north-east towards Tlemcen , where he was able to win a victory against the armed forces of the Arab governor. He then invaded the central Maghreb and wreaked unprecedented devastation there. Cities like Tiaret (Tahart) and many others were completely destroyed. In the battle of the Guelaf in October 1207, however, the contingent of the Proalmoravid tribes raised by him was defeated.
After he had left northern Algeria again, there was a battle with Ibn Abi Haf's army, which, although negative for Yahya, was still able to keep the majority of his troops together. Yahya then returned to the Jabal Hafusa, where he met Ibn Abi Hafs a second time in 1209. The outcome of the resulting battle was quite devastating for Yahya as he suffered enormous losses.
Yahya then fled to Waddan in southern Tripolitania , where his former ally and current enemy Qaraqush had also withdrawn. After being besieged by Yahya there, Qaraqush had to surrender in 1212. Yahya had him executed and took over his position. Later he wrested Banu Matruh from all of Tripolitania .
In Ifrīqiya, the governor Ibn Abi Hafs had been replaced by the Almohad prince Abu l-Ala , who resumed the fight against Yayha. The latter, after the ranks were replenished, directed his troops towards Biskra and occupied the city. Yahya also had his sights on Tunis, but he suffered such high losses near Madjdul that he had to leave for Waddan again in 1223.
After reorganizing his troops and receiving support from the nomadic Arab tribes, Yahya returned to the central Maghreb and occupied Bejaja, Dellys , Mitidja (where he defeated the Emir of the Banu Mandil ) and Algiers in 1224 . In Tlemcen he was able to stir up the population to a revolt, which was on the verge of success in 1226 when an Almohad army arrived from Tunis. He evaded this again, this time in the direction of Sidschilmasa.
Yahya continued his attacks on the Almohads for another eleven years, but now renounced Ifrīqiya, which was very well defended. Instead, it continued to devastate part of the central Maghreb.
In 1234 the Hafsids seized the region around Constantine and also occupied Tripolitania.
Yahya fell in battle on the banks of the Cheliff near Miliana in 1237. He left three daughters, whom he entrusted to Hafsidenemir Abu Zakariya Yahya I (1228 to 1249), who placed them in a ksar , which is now known as Kasr al-Banat (girls' fortress) and after which the Bab Banat in Tunis was named .
See also
literature
- A. Bel: Les Benou Ghanya, derniers représentants de l'Empire almoravide et leur lutte contra l'empire almohade . In: Publications de l'Ecole des letrres d'Alger . París 1903.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Yahya ibn Ishaq ibn Ghaniya |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Yahya ibn Ishaq, Yahya ibn Ghaniya |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Warlord in North Africa |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 12th Century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1237 |