Sultana

Sultana

Lisa J. Yarde

SULTANA

Copyright © Lisa J. Yarde 2011

ISBN-10: 1456487612

ISBN-13: 978-1456487614

This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, locations, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locations or events is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the Author.

www.lisajyarde.com

Cover Artwork

A Jewish Girl of Tangiers
, Charles Landelle, undated

File source: Creative Commons, Attribution License

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Landelle.jpg

Innenhof der Alhambra
, Adolf Seel, 1892

File source: Creative Commons, Attribution License
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Seel_Innenhof_der_Alhambra.jpg

Cover design by Lance Ganey

www.freelanceganey.com

Dedication

To Anita K. Davison and Mirella Sichirollo Patzer, dear friends who have always believed in this story

Acknowledgments

This book has been a labor of love and commitment. The members of my critique groups were invaluable sources of help, especially Anita Davison, Jen Black, Philip Essely, Jennifer Haymore, Laura Hogg, Sheila Lamb, Mirella Patzer, Rosemary Rach, Ginger Simpson, Steve Vissel and Anne Whitfield.

To the readers of the final manuscript, Judith Arnopp, Victoria Dixon, Kristina Emmons, Mirella Sichirollo Patzer and Tricia Robinson, you have my enduring thanks. Lastly, I appreciate the skill and patience of Cindy Vallar, who worked on this book in the early stages.

As always, to my loving family, my work would not be possible without you.

Foreword

Dear Reader,

The events in this book take place during a turbulent period for thirteenth-century Moorish Spain, in the kingdom of Granada. Historians have referred to the rulers of Granada as princes or kings. I refer to them as Sultans. While the first four Sultans of Granada are members of the Banu’l-Ahmar, and other clans were the Banu Ashqilula and Banu Marin, I have chosen the more commonly accepted names, such as the Nasrids for the Banu’l-Ahmar, then the Ashqilula, and the Marinids. Many of the male characters bear the name Muhammad. I have distinguished between them by using titles where possible. I have used Arabic words for Moorish cities, regions and certain terms. The chronology of events differs in a variety of sources, but I have kept the narrative close to the best-documented dates in the Moorish period.  

I am indebted to invaluable research materials for an understanding of thirteenth-century Spain and its inhabitants, including Simon R. Doubleday’s
The Lara Family: Crown and Nobility in Medieval Spain,
Shirley Guthrie’s
Arab Women in the Middle Ages
, and L.P. Harvey’s
Islamic Spain 1250 to 1500.
Other vital sources of information on the detailed history of the Alhambra and Moorish architectural achievements came from Antonio Fernandez Puertas’ masterwork,
The Alhambra: Volume 1 from the Ninth Century to Yusuf I
, and Michael Jacobs’
Alhambra
.

Months of the Hijri Calendar

Dates approximate the equivalent periods of the Hijri and Gregorian calendars. The sighting of the crescent moon determines dates in the Hijri calendar. The term AH refers to events occurring in numbered periods after the year of the Hijra or the emigration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in September AD 622.

Months

Muharram: the first Islamic month

Safar: the second Islamic month

Rabi al-Awwal: the third Islamic month

Rabi al-Thani: the fourth Islamic month

Jumada al-Ula: the fifth Islamic month

Jumada al-Thani: the sixth Islamic month

Rajab: the seventh Islamic month

Sha`ban: the eighth Islamic month

Ramadan: the ninth Islamic month, a venerated period of abstinence and fasting from sunrise to sunset

Shawwal: the tenth Islamic month

Dhu al-Qa`da: the eleventh Islamic month

Dhu al-Hijja: the twelfth Islamic month, a period of pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia

Characters

The Nasrids

Fatima bint Muhammad,
daughter of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah,
the first Sultan of Gharnatah (r. 632-671 AH), Fatima’s grandfather

Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah,
the second Sultan of Gharnatah (r. 671-702 AH), Fatima’s father

Muhammad ibn Muhammad,
Fatima’s elder brother

Muna bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s first sister

Alimah bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s second sister

Azahra bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s third sister

Tarub bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s fourth sister

Nadira bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s fifth sister

Abu Said Faraj ibn Ismail
, the Sultan’s nephew and Fatima’s husband

Muhammad ibn Ismail,
the Sultan’s nephew and Faraj’s brother

Faridah,
sister of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah, mother of Abu Muhammad

Maryam,
daughter of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah

Hamda,
the second wife of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah

Qamar,
the third wife of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah

Lateefah,
the favorite of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah

The Ashqilula

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim,
a chieftain of the Ashqilula, former son-in-law of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah, Raïs of Qumarich

Abu Muhammad,
a chieftain of the Ashqilula, maternal nephew of Muhammad I ibn al-Ahmar of Gharnatah, Raïs of Malaka

Aisha bint Ibrahim,
Fatima’s mother, first wife of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Abdallah ibn Ibrahim,
Fatima’s maternal uncle, Raïs of Naricha

Saliha bint Muhammad,
Fatima’s maternal grandmother

The Marinids

Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Marini,
the Sultan of the Marinids (r. 656-685 AH)

Abu Zayyan,
son of Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Marini

Shams ed-Duna,
daughter of Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Marini, second wife of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Ibn Yala,
chief minister to Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Marini

Umar of Mahalli,
the Shaykh al-Ghuzat, commander of Marinid forces in al-Andalus

The Royal Court of Castilla-Leon

King Alfonso X, the Wise,
the King of Castilla-Leon (r. AD 1221 – 1284) 

Queen Violante de Aragon,
wife of King Alfonso X, the Wise

Doñ Nuño Gonzalez de Lara,
the chief advisor of King Alfonso X, the Wise

Retainers, Slaves and Others

Ibn Ali,
chief minister to Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah, former royal tutor, head of the Sultan’s chancery

Abu Omar,
minister to Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Nur al-Sabah,
Galician favorite of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Hasan,
chief eunuch of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah

Halah,
governess of Abu Abdallah Muhammad II of Gharnatah’s children

Ulayyah,
a maidservant of the Ashqilula, Halah’s sister

Niranjan al-Kadim,
Fatima’s eunuch-guard

Leeta,
Fatima’s maidservant, Niranjan’s first sister

Amoda,
Fatima’s maidservant, Niranjan’s second sister and twin of Leeta

Marzuq,
Faraj’s chief steward

Baraka,
Faraj’s Genoese concubine

Hayfa,
Faraj’s Nubian concubine

Samara,
Faraj’s Provençal concubine

Ayesha
, a Sicilian slave girl

Abu Umar of al-Hakam,
a pirate chieftain

Sitt al-Tujjar,
a Jewish merchant

Chapter 1

 Pawns in the Game

Princess Fatima

Gharnatah, al-Andalus: Muharram 664 AH (Granada, Andalusia: October AD 1265)

A hot, dry hand covered Fatima’s mouth, smothering the scream in her throat. She awoke to a nightmare unfolding in the darkness of the bedchamber she shared with her siblings.

A lonefigure in a black hood and cloak hovered in silence next to her on her pallet. An unwelcome weight and warmth from a burly hand held her pressed against the pillow beneath her head. The odor of saffron and rosewater filled her nostrils. In the fading glow of a dying iron scone on the wall, she could hardly tell where the folds of the cloak began or ended. She guessed by the rough touch and strength of the hand on her mouth, as well as the husky shape in the darkness meant her captor was a man. Raspy breaths escaped the stranger’s throat, as if he had been running and fought for each breath now.

  Though her heart pounded steadily, she forced herself to remain calm. She did not know what this stranger intended or what he might do to her. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness of the shadowy chamber, she made out the images of three others, cloaked and hooded like the one who held her captive. Two of the intruders stood on either side of the olive wood door, occasionally peeking through the slats of the entryway. Another who stood taller than the other two walked toward the window and closed the lattice, shutting out the sounds of crickets chirping and owls hooting at night, before crossing the room and standing beside the boy who slept closest to the door. The intruder bent and moved closer to Muhammad, peering into his smooth, olive-skinned face.

Fatima froze, paralyzed interror. Her brother Muhammad ibn Muhammad, only a year older than her, slept peacefully on a pallet below the wall scone. The ebbing light revealed the disheveled mass of his dark hair on the silken pillow. Thin and lean like her, he stretched out on his back and snored lightly. He must have kicked off his woolen blanket during the night. One arm dangled off the pallet and touched the floor immediately below, while he had thrown the other back behind the pillow. In a deep slumber, he did not know the danger they faced.

One thought filled Fatima’s mind, mirroring herwhimpering plea behind her captor’s hand. “No! Don’t hurt my brother!”

Muhammad was only nine years old, the eldest child of her parents and herfather’s heir. She could never let anyone harm him.

She clawed wildly at the hand pressed against her mouth, but her little fingers could not fight off the heavy hold. Then hercaptor pinched her nostrils closed with his other hand. A choking wave of terror swelled in her throat and squeezed her chest. Tears trickled beneath the lashes, blinding her.

On a low table at her side, the sparrow in its gilded cage whistled cries of alarm and battered its wings against the metal bars.

The person beside her brother stood and approached her pallet, bypassing the white marble alcoves where her younger sisters Muna, Alimah, Azahra and Tarub also slept. Only the baby Nadira, born two months before, was absent. Fatima prayed Nadira’s wet-nurse would keep her safe and away from harm.

Each noiseless footfall brought the intruder closer to Fatima. Her fingers stillscratched at the hands that cut off her breathing. The tightening sensation grew inside her throat. Her body went limp and her limbs slackened.

The silent figure knelt beside the cage and withdrew a square of black cloth. Fatimapanicked, fearing for her pet as much as she worried for her family. The cloth went over the cage and covered it. The sparrow quieted except for a few clicks and chirps.