Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman

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Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman : biography

1297 – 1351

In 1336 or 1337, Abu al-Hassan suspended the siege of Tlemcen to campaign in southern Morocco, where his troublesome brother, Abu Ali, who ruled an appanage at Sijilmassa, was threatening to divide the Marinid dominions.

In May 1337, after a two-year siege, Tlemcen finally fell to a Marinid assault. Ibn Tashufin died during the fighting. His brothers were captured and killed and the Sultanate of Tlemcen (covering roughly modern western half of Algeria) was annexed by the Marinids. Abu’l Hasan received delegates from Egypt, Granada, Tunis and Mali congratulating him on his victory, by which he had gained complete control of the trans-Saharan trade.

Tarifa

Flush from these victories, in 1339, Abu al-Hassan received an appeal from the Nasrid ruler Yusuf I of Granada to help roll back the Castilians. The assembly of a large Marinid invasion force in Morocco prompted the Castilian king Alfonso XI to wrap up his quarrel with Afonso IV of Portugal.

In April 1340, a Castilian fleet of some 32 galleys under admiral Alonso Jofre Tenório set out against the Marinid invasion fleet being outfitted at Ceuta. The Marinid fleet, under the command of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Azafi destroyed the Castilian fleet at the naval battle of Gibraltar (April 5, 1340). The Castilian admiral Tenorio was killed in battle and only five Castilian galleys managed to make it safely out.

With the sea now clear for an invasion, Abu al-Hassan spent the rest of the summer calmly ferrying his troops and supplies across the straits to Algeciras, crossing himself with the bulk of the Marinid forces in August 1340. The Marinid invasion force made junction with Granadan forces under Yusuf I in September, and proceeded to lay siege to Tarifa together.

A desperate Alfonso XI appealed to his father-in-law, the Portuguese king Afonso IV for assistance. In October, a Portuguese fleet under Manuel Pessanha, supplemented by a leased Genoese fleet, managed to move into position off Tarifa and cut off the besiegers’ supply line to Morocco. In the meantime, Afonso IV of Portugal led an army overland to join Alfonso XI of Castile near Seville, and together moved against the besiegers at Tarifa. The Marinid-Nasrid forces were defeated at the battle of Río Salado in October, 1340, and Abu al-Hassan forced to retreat back to Algeciras. After this defeat, Al-Hasan ended his campaigns in the Iberian Peninsula. A few years later, Alfonso XI of Castile had only a little difficulty taking Algeciras (March 1344)

Ifriqiya

In 1346 the Hafsid Sultan, Abu Bakr, died and a dispute over the succession ensued. Several Ifriqyian parties appealed to the Marinid ruler for assistance. In a campaign in early 1347, Abu al-Hassan’s Moroccan army swept through Ifriqiya and entered Tunis in September, 1347. By uniting Morocco, Tlemcen and Ifriqiya, the Marinid ruler Abu al-Hassan effectively accomplished the conquest of dominions as great as the Almohad empire of the Maghreb, and the comparison was not lost on contemporaries.

Revolt and death

However, Abu al-Hassan went too far in attempting to impose more authority over the Arab tribes, who revolted and in April 1348 defeated his army near Kairouan. His son, Abu Inan Faris, who had been serving as governor of Tlemcen, returned to Fez and declared that he was sultan. Tlemcen and the central Maghreb revolted. The Zayyanid Abu Sa’id Uthman II (1348-1352) was proclaimed king of Tlemcen.

But the homeward fleet got wrecked by a tempest off Bougie, and the once-mighty sultan was left stranded in the heart of enemy territory. Abu al-Hassan escaped capture and made his way to some of his partisans in Algiers. He managed to gather enough forces to attempt a march to recover Tlemcen, but was defeated by the resurgent Abdalwadid princes near the Chelif river.

As many of his former supporters defected, Abd al-Hassan was forced to proceed to Sijilmasa, in southern Morocco, which he hoped to use as a base to recover his sultanate. But Abu Inan’s armies descended on the area, forcing Abu al-Hassan to flee with what remained of his supporters to Marrakesh. In May 1350, Abu Inan defeated Abu al-Hassan by the banks of the Oum er-Rebia. With Abu Inan on his heels, Abu al-Hassan fled into the high Atlas Mountains, taking refuge among the Hintata tribes. Broken, ill and without resources, the once-mighty Abu al-Hassan, finally agreed to abdicate in favor of Abu Inan in late 1350 or early 1351.

Abu al-Hassan died in May, 1351, still in his Atlas mountain hideout. His body was transferred by Abu Inan, allegedly with great public mourning, to the Marinid necropolis at Chellah. In 1352 Abu Inan Faris recaptured Tlemcen. He also reconquered the central Maghreb. He took Béjaïa in 1353 and Tunis in 1357, becoming master of Ifrikiya. In 1358 he was forced to return to Fez due to Arab opposition, where he feel sick and was killed.