From Berber State to Moroccan Empire: The Glory of Fez Under the Marinids

by Maya Shatzmiller

Overview

Medieval Fez was a main center of education, art, and commerce from the 13th to the 16th centuries after the Berber tribe of the Marīnids seized power in Morocco and moved the capital from Marrakesh to Fez. As non-Arabs they gained legitimacy by founding medresas, religious universities. They also supported the arts and commerce, and expanded their state into an empire. It was the Golden Age of Fez. Maya Shatzmiller draws a historical panorama of this era, highlighting its movers and shakers in locations from North Africa to the Mediterranean world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781558769052
Publisher:	Wiener, Markus Publishers, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/24/2019
Pages:	246
Sales rank:	935,922
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Maya Shatzmiller, University of Western Ontario, is the author of numerous books, including Her Day in Court: Women's Property Rights and Islamic Law in the Fifteenth-Century Grenada

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	vii
	Abbreviations	ix
	List of Ilustrations	x
	Introduction	xi
I.	The Berbers' Search for Their Place in Islamic History	1
Chapter 1.	An Unknown Source for the History of the Berbers	3
Chapter 2.	The Myth of the Berbers' origin	15
Chapter 3.	Acculturation and Its Aftermath: The Legacy of the Andalusian Berbers	29
II.	Devising an Islamic State	41
Chapter 4.	Rural and Urban Islam in 13th-century Morocco	43
Chapter 5.	Out with Jewish Courtiers, Physicians, Tax Collectors and Minters	55
Chapter 6.	The Fall of the khatib Abu 'l-Fadl al-Mazdaghi	69
III.	Implementing Islamic Institutions	83
Chapter 7.	The Introduction of the Medresas	85
Chapter 8.	Royal Waqf in 14th-century Fez	95
Chapter 9.	The State's Domain: Land and Taxation	115
	Conclusion	133
	Appendix A	135
	Appendix B	141
	Notes	143
	Bibliography	183
	Index	197

Editorial Reviews

Especially germane at a time when Arabs and Islam are reflexively equated, Schatzmiller (U. of Western Ontario) studies the Berbers' search for their place in Islamic history since their 8th century conquest. Atypically, the author points out the strengths of this North African Berber-Islamic state<-->larger than present-day Morocco<-->in the 13th-15th centuries under the rule of Islamophile Marinid tribes. Encompassing her writings from 1976- 93, she discusses the endowment for the public good institution as an example of acculturation to Islamic norms and the history text in terms of Berber identity issues. Appendices provides details on this text and the system. Includes illustrations of texts, artifacts, and mosques. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

"Insightful and provocative study of Marinid history and Berber historical identity ... with an interpretive flair." --The International History Review

"Extremely important [and] invaluable guide" --Arab Studies Journal

"For an in-depth understanding of contemporary problems, this book is a good place to start. Shatzmiller explains skillfully, based on much original research, the uneasy relation of Berbers to Islam and the state over the course of a millennium." --Middle East Forum

From the Publisher