Zaida Isabelle de Sevilla

• Preferred Name: Zaida Isabelle de Sevilla^{[1] [2]}
  
• Gender: F
  
• FSID: LYH3-3NM
  
• Death: Y with note: She either died in the 1090s OR she died in 1107, the latter only if she is identical to Queen Isabella, which is FAR from certain.
  
• Birth: 1070 in Dénia, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain at LATI: N8.8386 LONG: E0.1055
  
• Occupation: Concubina del rey Alfonso VI de León
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  Zaida was the daughter-in-law of the Muslim King of Seville, and when her husband was killed she fled north to the court of Alfonso VI, whose lover she became, bearing the king's only son Sancho. She was baptized under the name Isabella. The only contemporary chronicler to describe Alfonso's various amorous entanglements names her only as his mistress, separate from reference to a later queen also named Isabella. That queen was mother of two of Alfonso's daughters, Elvira and Sancha. It has been suggested by modern researchers that the chronicler was intentionally obfuscating the fact that Alfonso had married a formerly-Muslim queen, that Zaida alias Isabella was identical to the later Queen Isabella. However, the alternative view of other scholars is that they were distinct, or even that there were two successive Queen Isabellas, with the transition from one to the other indistinguishable in the historical record due to them having the same name, with one being the mother of the two daughters, the other being the former Zaida, mother of son Sancho. Zaida is said to have died in childbirth, but when this occurred is entirely subject to which reconstruction one accepts.
  
  === Certaines sources en font la belle-fille ===
  Certaines sources en font la belle-fille de Mohammed II ou sa nièce, la fille de son frère.

1. Title: Wikipedia - The Abbadid Dynasty
   Publication: Name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbadid_dynasty;
   Note: Wikipedia Muhammad al-Mu'tamid (ruled 1069–1095) Main article: Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad (aka King Abenabed) The son of Abbad II, Muhammad al-Mu'tamid (1069–1095) — who reigned under the title al-Mu'tamid — was the third and last of the Abbadids.[2] No less remarkable than his father, and more amiable, he also wrote poetry and favoured poets. Al-Mu'tamid went, however, considerably further in patronage of literature than his father, for he chose as his favourite and prime minister the poet Ibn Ammar. In the end, the vanity and feather-headedness of Ibn Ammar drove his master to kill him.[4] Al-Mu'tamid came even more under the influence of his favourite wife, al-Rumaikiyya, than under that of his vizier. He had met her paddling in the Guadalquivir, purchased her from her master, and made her his wife. The caprices of Romaica, and the lavish extravagance of Abbad III in his efforts to please her, form the subject of many stories;[4] a brief tale of the queen appears in the book 'Libro de los ejemplos del Conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the examples of Count Lucanor and Patronio), as the tale XXX, De lo que aconteció al rey Abenabed de Sevilla con su mujer, Ramaiquía (Of What Happened to King Abenabed of Seville with his Wife, Ramaiquía). On the other hand, the stories about Ibn Ammar and Rumaiqiyya that appear in much later western works probably describe imaginary events. In 1071, al-Mu'tamid took control of Cordoba. This was a weak period of control as he had to re-assert control in 1078 and then lost it permanently in 1081.[2] During this period his vizier Ibn Ammar captured Murcia.[2] This period marked the beginning of the end for the Abbadid dynasty, as the following years saw them growing weaker and weaker due to a number of events: first, was the start of hostilities with Alfonso VI, followed by the Christians succeeding in Aragon, Valencia, and Toledo, finally domestic Muslims created issues at home.[2] When Alfonso VI, from Castile, took Toledo in 1085, Al-Mu'tamid called in Yusuf ibn Tashfin, the Berber Almoravid ruler. He had foreseen probability that Almoravids may overthrow him, nevertheless he choose to ally with them. When his son, Rashid, advised him not to call on Yusuf ibn Tashfin, Al-Mu'tamid rebuffed him and famously said, I have no desire to be branded by my descendants as the man who delivered al-Andalus as prey to the infidels. I am loath to have my name cursed in every Muslim pulpit. And, for my part, I would rather be a camel-driver in Africa than a swineherd in Castile.[16] With the assistance of the Almoravids, they were able to defeat Alfonso in 1086.[3] During the six years which preceded his deposition in 1091, Abbassid behaved with valour on the field, but was politically inept and cruel. At the end what he had foreseen happened to him: in 1095 his kingdom was overthrown by Yusuf ibn Tashfin and Almoravid sympathizers within his city, following which he was deposed.[3] He was exiled to Morocco[2] Al-Mu'tamid was the father-in-law, through his son, Fath al-Mamun (d. 1091), of Zaida, mistress, and possibly wife, of Alfonso VI of Castile.[17] 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, Emir of Cordoba,[18] (d. 1091). Later Iberian Christian chroniclers call her Al Mutamid's daughter, but the Islamic chroniclers are considered more reliable.[19] With the fall of Seville to the Almoravids, she fled to the protection of Alfonso VI of Castile, becoming his mistress, converting to Christianity and taking the baptismal name of Isabel
   
2. Title: Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
   Publication: Name: https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/CASTILE.htm#AlfonsoVIdied1109A;
   Note: Alfonso VI....m fifthly (Mar 1106) as her second husband, ZAÏDA, widow of ABU NASIR al Fatah al Ma'Mun Emir of Córdoba, daughter of --- (-13 Sep 1107, bur Royal Pantheon of San Isidor at León). The Chronicon Regum Legionensium names "Zaida, the daughter of King Abenabeth of Seville, who was baptised…Elisabeth" as the second of two concubines of King Alfonso, and their son "Sancho who died at the battle of Ucles"[516]. The Chronicon de Cardeña records that King Alfonso married “Mora, que decien la Cayda, sobrina de Abenafanle” who was mother of his son Sancho[517]. Her first marriage is confirmed by the Bayan al Mugrib of Ibn Idari which names "le fils d´Alphonse, Sancho, qu´il avait eu de l´épouse d´Al Mamun ibn Abbad" when recording the battle of Uclés[518]. Salazar y Acha attempts to explain these three apparently contradictory sources by suggesting that Zaida could have been the daughter of "un hermano mayor…Ismail ibn Abbad" of Mohammed al-Mutamid, noting particularly the practice of endogamous marriages in the Muslim dynasties[519]. As noted above, Ismail is recorded as the brother of al-Mutatid and so would have been the paternal uncle of al-Mutamid. From a chronological point of view therefore Salazar y Acha´s suggestion appears untenible, although Zaida could have been another relative, maybe the daughter of an otherwise unrecorded brother of al-Mutamid. Alberto Montaner Frutos also discusses Zaïda, in particular relating to legends which have developed in connection with her history[520]. Reilly[521] dates the start of her relationship with King Alfonso to late 1091 or 1092, suggesting its diplomatic importance would have been greatest after the fall of Córdoba in Mar 1091 but before the fall of Badajoz in early 1094. This seems supported by the likelihood that their son Sancho was at least 15 years old when he was killed at the battle of Uclés in May 1108. Zaïda was christened ISABEL[522], date not known. Reilly cites a document of Galician origin dated 27 Mar 1106 which indicates that King Alfonso had married "Helisabet" shortly before[523]?. Reilly[524] quotes a charter granted at Oviedo 19 Mar 1106 which lists members of the royal family, naming "Elisabeth" directly before "Sancho", which presumably refer to Zaïda and her son. "…Helisabet Regina, Reimundus comes, Urraca regis filia, Sancius filius regis…" subscribed the charter dated 14 May 1107 under which "Adefonsus…Toletani imperii rex…cum…uxore mea Helisabet regina" approved the mint of Santiago de Compostela[525]. Reilly assumes that the reference is to King Alfonso´s presumed fourth wife Isabel (Elizabeth)[526], but it appears more likely that the document refers to Zaïda. Reilly says that her sepulchral inscription (presumably now lost) reportedly stated that she had died in childbirth on 13 Sep, without giving the year, and in a later passage that the inscription stated that this was the "second ferial day", which he interprets as meaning a Monday or Thursday[527]. If the charters dated 1106 and 1107 correctly refer to Zaida, the year must have been 1107 assuming that King Alfonso married his sixth wife in 1108. Pérez´s history of Sahagún monastery, published in 1782, states that Queen Isabel was buried "en la Capilla mayor" of the monastery, but does not quote the inscription which confirms this statement[528].