Abu Abdallah Muhammad IV al-Mutawakkil () was the

Hafsid The Hafsid dynasty ( ) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. that ruled Ifriqiya (modern day Tunisia, w ...

caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...

Ifriqiya Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna (), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia, eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (roughly western Libya). It included all of what had previously been the Byzantine province of ...

from 1494 to 1526. He came to power following an extended fight over the succession following the death of the caliph

Abu 'Amr 'Uthman Abu 'Amr 'Uthman (; February 1419September 1488), regnal title al-Mutawakkil 'ala Allah (, "he who relies on God") was the Hafsid ruler of Ifriqiya, or modern Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya, who reigned between 1435 and 1488. A Flemis ...

in 1488. Like many of his predecessors he endowed places of learning. The Abdaliyya library which he founded in the

Al-Zaytuna Mosque Al-Zaytuna Mosque, also known as Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and El-Zituna Mosque (, literally meaning ''the Mosque of Olive''), is a major mosque at the center of the Medina of Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. The mosque is the oldest in the city and covers an a ...

around 1500 has survived intact into modern times.

Leo Africanus Johannes Leo Africanus (born al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Wazzān al-Zayyātī al-Fasī, ; – ) was an Andalusi diplomat and author who is best known for his 1526 book '' Cosmographia et geographia de Affrica'', later publish ...

recorded his love of music, singing and the company of female singers performing the

Ma'luf ''Ma'luf'' ( ''Ma'lūf'') is a genre of art music in the Andalusian classical music tradition of Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. It is of Al-Andalus, Iberian origin and was introduced to the Maghreb by Expulsion of the Moriscos, Andalusian refugees.' ...

music of the court. The main political and military events of his reign concerned the rise in corsairing and the Spanish invasion of the Hafsid domains.

Barbarossa brothers and raids on Christian shipping

In 1492 the

fall of Granada The Granada War was a series of military campaigns between 1482 and 1492 during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, against the Nasrid dynasty's Emirate of Granada. It ended with the defeat of G ...

in Spain was followed by the

Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1499–1501) The First Rebellion of the Alpujarras (; 1499–1501) were a series of uprisings by the Muslim population of the Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile), Kingdom of Granada, Crown of Castile (formerly, the Emirate of Granada) against their Catholi ...

and the expulsion of many Muslims from the domains of Castile and

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

. Many of those who had been expelled established themselves in the cities of North Africa and took to corsairing, attacking Christian shipping. Around 1500

Aruj Barbarossa Aruj Barbarossa ( 1474 – 1518), known as Oruç Reis () to the Turks, was an Ottoman corsair who became Sultan of Algiers. The elder brother of the famous Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, he was born on the Ottoman island of Midilli (Le ...

(Oruç Reis) and his brother

Hayreddin Barbarossa Hayreddin Barbarossa (, original name: Khiḍr; ), also known as Hayreddin Pasha, Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1483 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman corsair and later admiral of the Ottoman Navy. Barbarossa's ...

from

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

established themselves in the port of

La Goulette La Goulette (, ), in Arabic Halq al-Wadi ( '), is a municipality and the port of Tunis, Tunisia. La Goulette is located at around on a sandbar between Lake of Tunis, Lake Tūnis and the Gulf of Tunis. The port, located 12km east of Tunis, is th ...

near Tunis with two raiding

galiot A galiot, galliot or galiote, was a small galley boat propelled by sail or oars. There are three different types of naval galiots that sailed on different seas. A ''galiote'' was a type of French flat-bottom river boat or barge and also a fla ...

s. Abu Abdallah Muhammad allowed them to operate from his port in return for a share of their booty. Their first success was the seizing a trading galley and its escort belonging to Pope

Julius II Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...

off

Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...

in 1504, which he towed back into Tunis in triumph. This attracted other captains to their side and their forces grew. Next year, 1505, they captured of a large Spanish ship heading towards Naples carrying five hundred soldiers, and a great quantity of gold coins to recruit and pay the army in the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples (; ; ), officially the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302). Until ...

. In 1510 they moved to their base from Tunis to

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

, perhaps because feared punitive attacks by the Spanish. Nevertheless, a 1513 Genoese raid by

Andrea Doria Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was an Italian statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime. From 1528 until his death, Doria exercised a predominant influe ...

destroyed a number of Barbarossa ships in La Goulette.

Spanish invasions

The raids of the

Barbary corsairs The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barba ...

were one reason that prompted Spain to pursue the

Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...

across the Straits of Gibraltar into North Africa. In 1510 they struck at both the western and eastern extremities of the Hafsid domains, and

Pedro Navarro Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto ( 1460 – 28 August 1528) was a Navarrese military engineer and general who participated in the War of the League of Cambrai. At the Battle of Ravenna in 1512 he commanded the Spanish and Papal infantry, but wa ...

took first

Béjaïa Béjaïa ( ; , , ), formerly known as Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean seaport, port city and communes of Algeria, commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province. Geography Location Béjaïa owes its ...

(in modern Algeria) and

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

(in modern Libya). Pedro Navarro then attempted to seize Djerba, but the Barbarossa brothers helped defend the island and drive them off. Nevertheless, the position of Abu Abdullah Muhammad continued to deteriorate. He enlisted the assistance of the Barbarossas to try to regain Béjaïa in 1514 and again in 1515. The Spanish drove them off but they succeeded in taking the coastal town of

Jijel Jijel (), the classical Igilgili, is the capital of Jijel Province in north-eastern Algeria. It is flanked by the Mediterranean Sea in the region of Corniche Jijelienne and had a population of 131,513 in 2008. Jijel is the administrative and trad ...

. As their hold on the North African coast grew stronger the Spanish turned for assistance to

Emperor Charles V Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...

and the Barbarossas, in their turn, to

Selim the Grim Selim I (; ; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite lasting only eight years, his reign is notable for the enormous expansion of ...

. In Algiers, the Barbarossas established a government rather than merely a base, and in 1519 they recognised Ottoman suzerainty. After this Algiers became a base for Ottoman expansion and the former Hafsid domains of Béjaïa and

Annaba Annaba (), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River and is in the Annaba Province. With a population of about 263,65 ...

were lost to them in 1522, while in 1520 Djerba fell to the Spanish under

Hugo of Moncada Hugo de Moncada (also Ugo de Moncada), (born Chiva, Valencia, circa 1476 - died Gulf of Salerno, 28 April 1528) was a Spanish political and military leader of the late 15th and early 16th century. He served as General of Ocean and Land, Viceroy ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Abdallah Muhammad 04 al-Mutawakkil 15th-century Hafsid caliphs 1526 deaths Year of birth unknown 16th-century Hafsid caliphs