Zaida of Seville

Zaida of Seville, ca. 1070-1100, was a refugee Muslim princess who was a mistress and then perhaps wife of king Alfonso VI of Castile.[1]

She is said by Iberian Muslim sources to have been the daughter-in-law of Al Mutamid, the Muslim King of Seville, wife of his son Abu al Fatah al Ma'mun, ruler of the Taifa of Córdoba, (d. 1091).[2][3][4][5][6] Later Iberian Christian chroniclers call her Al Mutamid's daughter, but the Islamic chroniclers are considered more reliable.[2][4][5][6] With the fall of Seville to the Almoravids, she fled to the protection of Alfonso VI of Castile, becoming his mistress, converting to Roman Catholic Christianity and taking the baptismal name of Isabel.[2][4][5][6]

She was the mother of Alfonso VI of Castile's only son, Sancho,[2][4][5][6] who, though illegitimate, was named his father's heir but was killed in the Battle of Uclés of 1108 during his father's lifetime. It has been suggested that Alfonso's fourth wife, Isabel, was identical to Zaida,[7][6][8][9] but this is still subject to scholarly debate, others making Queen Isabel distinct from the mistress[2][4][5] or suggesting that Alfonso had two successive wives of this name, with Zaida being the second Queen Isabel.[10] Alfonso's daughters Elvira and Sancha, were by Queen Isabel, and hence may have been Zaida's.[2][5][6][10]

She died in childbirth, and it is unclear whether the child being delivered was Sancho, Sancha or Elvira (the younger of the two if Zaida is indeed identical to Queen Isabel, their order of birth not being known), or an additional child, otherwise unknown.[2][5][6] A funerary marker once at Sahagun bore the inscription:

H.R. Regina Elisabeth, uxor regis Adefonsi, filia Benabet Regis Sevillae, quae prius Zayda, fuit vocata
("Queen Isabel, wife of King Alfonso, daughter of Aben-abeth, king of Seville; previously called Zayda.")

The tomb was later moved to Leon where the sepulchre and inscription can now be found. A second inscription memorializes Queen Isabel, making her daughter of Louis, King of France (although there was no such king in the generation prior to Queen Isabel). Both memorials are non-contemporary and neither is generally viewed as credible.[2][4][5][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Reilly 1995, p. 92.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Canal Sánchez-Pagín 1991.
  3. ↑ Lévi-Provençal 1934.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Montaner Frutos 2005.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Palencia 1988.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Salazar y Acha 1992.
  7. ↑ Martínez Díez 2003.
  8. ↑ Salazar y Acha 2007.
  9. ↑ Fernández-Montes y Corrales 2017.
  10. 1 2 Reilly 1988.

References

  • Canal Sánchez-Pagín, José María (1991). "Jimena Muñoz, Amiga de Alfonso VI". Anuario de Estudios Medievales. 21: 11–40.
  • Fernándes-Montes y Corrales, Luis Miguel (2017). "La Mora Zaida o la Reina Isabel, ¿De Concubina a Reina". Antigua, Cápsula Histórica.
  • Lévi-Provençal, Évariste (1934). "La 'Mora Zaida' femme d'Alfonse VI de Castile et leur fils l'Infant D. Sancho". Hesperis. 18: 1–8, 200–1.
  • Martínez Díez, Gonzalo (2003). Alfonso VI: Señor del Cid, conquistador de Toledo.
  • Montaner Frutos, Alberto (2005). "La Mora Zaida, entre historia y leyenda (con una reflexión sobre la técnica historiográfica alfonsí)". Historicist Essays on Hispano-Medieval Narrative: In Memory of Roger M. Walker. pp. 272–352.
  • Palencia, Clemente (1988). "Historia y leyendas de las mujeres de Alfonso VI". Estudios sobre Alfonso VI y la reconquista de Toledo. pp. 281–90.
  • Reilly, Bernard F. (1988). The Kingdom of León-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065–1109. Princeton University Press.
  • Reilly, Bernard F. (1995). The Contest of Christian and Muslim Spain, 1031-1157. Blackwell.
  • Salazar y Acha, Jaime de (1992–1993). "Contribución al estudio del reinado de Alfonso VI de Castilla: algunas aclaraciones sobre su política matrimonial". Anales de la Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genealogía. 2: 299–336.
  • Salazar y Acha, Jaime de (2007). "De nuevo sobre la mora Zaida". Hidalguía: la Revista de Genealogía, Nobleza y Armas. 54: 225–242.
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