The travelogue of a Moroccan ambassador to Charles II, 1690–91: the Seville MS

Abstract

An unpublished manuscript, containing a unique version of a travelogue, documented the travels of a Moroccan ambassador to the court of Charles II in 1690–91 to negotiate a prisoner exchange as well as the return of a number of Arabic-language manuscripts held at the royal palace near Madrid. After summarising and comparing the travelogue to other known copies, this article explores how this narrative came to reside at the University of Seville's archive. Seeking answers to this question, the reader is transported to the Franciscan missions in Morocco where nineteenth-century missionaries studied the Arabic language. Maghrebi- and Arabic-language documents were subsequently smuggled into Spain by the missionaries. Al-Ghassani's narrative of discovery transformed into an opportunity for missionaries and government officials to discover historical perspectives and knowledge about Spain.

Keywords:

• Morocco
• Charles II
• Larache
• captives
• Seville

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Deborah Wills for her thoughtful comments.

Funding

The author thanks the Marjorie Young Bell Faculty Fund (Mount Allison University) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC, Canada) for their generous support of this project.

Notes

1. His full name is Abou ‘Abd Allah Mohammed, shortened to Hammo, b’. ‘Abd el-Wahhab el-Wazir el-Ghassani. Descending from Andalucían exiles, he was a scholar and bibliophile and died at Fes in 1707–08.

2. Stanley (1868, 359–378), who does not know the author's name, identifies a copy in Arabic at the National Library in Lisbon. It contains details related in the Seville MS but not the Madrid MS, and vice versa. There is also an Arabic copy at the Bibliothèque de Rouen, Or. 62 (Foulché-Delbosc 1896, 89–90; Ulysse 1886, 451). Finally, another copy resides at Al-Khazanah al-Aama, Rabat, 11,329.

3. His work appears to have circulated in the Maghreb. Matar (2006, 203) argues that al-Ghassani's text was so well known there that subsequent ambassadors were not only aware of it but also attempted to verify the information it contained in their own travelogues.

4. Titled Diario que se hizo del viage desde el puerto de Cádiz, para conducir a la Corte de Marruecos a los embajadores Sidi Ahmet Elgacelo, por S.M. y Don Jorge Juan por Su Magestad Catholica. Año de 1767. Bustani dates this journey to 1766. Biblioteca Nacional de España (hereafter BNE), MSS/10913, fol. 46–139r. Another copy from this period is conserved in BNE MSS/6667, fol. 197–230v.

5. It is noted in a letter dated from London 13 January 1682 that the Moroccan ambassador did not try wine from either France or Spain. The presence of the Moroccan embassy in Europe this year may have led scholars to date al-Ghassani's visit to this period. L'Année Burlesque, ou recueil des pieces que le Mercure a faites pendant l'année 1682, Amsterdam: Chez le Sincere (1683), n/p. Martens (1929, 575) argues that the ambassador to London in 1681 also served in this capacity in Spain 10 years later, and that both shared an appreciation for Western music. Vernet (1953, 112) furthermore believes that al-Ghassani's taste for women led him 10 years before to request the hand of a French woman, which was denied by the king, a request he repeated to a Spanish woman during his time in Madrid. García Figueras and Saint-Cyr (1973, 378–379) point out, however, that the request to marry a French woman was made by the sultan and not al-Ghassani (Arribas Palau 1976, 95–115).

6. Lévi-Provençal indicates he arrived at Madrid in January 1691 after departing from Ceuta in October the preceding year, but all other sources date his arrival in Madrid to December 1690. This author bases his dating upon a copy taken from an MS he encountered in Salé. Arribas Palau provides similar dating.

7. According to the Madrid MS, this happened at Yebel Fath (Gibraltar), and it also relates the following of the incident: ‘Mediada la noche se encrespó el mar con furia agitándose sus olas y balanceándose el barco de derecha a izquierda, recolvcándose como se revuelca un animal, a tal punto que tuvimos miedo y pavor’ (Bustani 1940, 9).

8. García Figueras and Saint-Cyr (1973, 320) determine, however, that he arrived at Cádiz a month later, 27 November, after spending considerable time attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. No other source corroborates this timeline.

9. Madrid MS: ‘El Puerto de Gibraltar es grande y posee una amplia bahía. Tiene en su entrada una ciudadela inaccesible’ (Bustani 1940, 6).

10. Madrid MS: ‘la tierra del Islam’ (Bustani 1940, 7).

11. Madrid MS: ‘y en la que iba colgada una bandera del Rey’ (Bustani 1940, 11).

12. Madrid MS: ‘recibiéndonos también todos los musulmanes, hombres, mujeres y niños, cautivos que había en la ciudad. Estos se alegraban y proclamaban su profesión de fe, bendiciendo al Profeta (¡que Dios le bendiga y le salve!), dando gritos de júbilo para nuestro Señor el Victorioso por la gracias de Dios. Hablamos con ellos y les prometimos que todo se arreglaría ya que nuestro Señor – hágalo Dios victorioso – no les abandonaría mientras que gozara del favor divino. Fué para ellos este día de gran fiesta por la llegada de la Buena nueva que Dios les enviaba por mediación de nuestro poderoso Sultán, y sobre todo cuando supieron que nuestro Señor no tenía, al reunir a los cautivos cristianos, otra intención que la de librar a los musulmanes que se encontraban en poder del enemigo infiel. ¡Que Dios les confunda! Con gran satisfacción comprendieron la Buena intención que el Rey abrigaba respecto a ellos’ (Bustani 1940, 11).

13. According to sources cited by Arribas Palau (1985, 245), they spent the day in Cádiz and departed on the 24th for Puerto de Santa María.

14. The Madrid MS adds: ‘pero su mayor parte está en ruinas porque los cristianos no se cuidan de la construcción de murallas y fortificación de las ciudades, excepto algunas de ellas próximas al mar, como Cádiz’ (Bustani 1940, 15).

15. Madrid MS: ‘pretenden que este era el instrumento del Profeta David’ (Bustani 1940, 17).

16. The Madrid MS describes this incident before providing details about Utrera. The sequence given in the Seville MS has been followed in this article.

17. The Madrid MS relates that

Sin embargo demostraba simpatía hacia los musulmanes que encontraba, les refería su ascendencia, mostrando gran contento cuando oía noticias del Islam y de los que lo profesaban, pues me llegó a contra que su madre, cuando estuvo embarazada de él se le antojó comer el ‘alcuscus', diciéndole entonces el padre: ‘No vaya a ser que la preñez que tienes en tu vientre sea un gran señor de los musulmanes', con lo cual bromeaba, pues no le disgustaba su ascendencia, ya que la conocían y sabían que procedían de la Casa Real. ¡Que Dios nos preserve del error y que nos dé la perseverancia en el camino de la rectitud! (Bustani 1940, 16)

18. Madrid MS: ‘los andaluces musulmanes’ (Bustani 1940, 16).

19. There is an extensive insertion here in the Madrid MS about the Río Genil and the site from which it flows, Guadix: ‘Sobre él se han compuesto un número incalculable de poesías de todos los ritmos y medidas’, which the author then cites and quotes (Bustani 1940, 18–20).

20. Madrid MS: ‘mezquita’ (Bustani 1940, 21).

21. Another lengthy addition to the Madrid MS that reflects on poets who celebrated Córdoba and its mosque (Bustani 1940, 22–23). The Madrid MS also comments on the imperial history of Córdoba as it relates to the mosque (Bustani 1940, 24).

22. Madrid MS: ‘es tan grande como “Al-Masyed-Al-Acsa”’ (Bustani 1940, 26).

23. The Madrid MS adds: ‘y cuando oían las reglas de pureza que dispuso el Islam, manifestaban gran satisfacción por ello, las escuchaban y alababan esta religión ante los cristianos’ (Bustani 1940, 29).

24. Madrid MS: He relates how he crossed the river:

pusieron una gran cantidad de maderas juntadas las unas a las otras. De las dos orillas del río fueron cogidas con cuerdas. Cuando llega una caravan, un grupo de gente, de coches, de galeras o de carretas, la balsa se acerca a la orilla del río, el animal la pisa sin fatiga alguna. De la otra orilla un solo hombre tira de la balsa. Pues, la persona, sin dar cuenta, estando en su coche o encima del animal, se encuentra haber atravesado el río y se halla en la otra orilla con mucha facilidad. En cambio, se paga un impuesto de poca importancia. (Bustani 1940, 40–41)

25. Madrid MS: ‘porque el Rey no había recibido nunca personas de nuestra religión’ (Bustani 1940, 43).

26. Madrid MS: ‘a los que no son de nuestra religión, a éstos, decimos “¡La paz sea con los que siguen el verdadero camino!”, nada más’. This ‘nada más', left the count somewhat ‘extrañado, pues no estaba acostumbrado a ello. Pero no pudo sino aceptarlo, porque sabía nuestra decisión de no añadir otra cosa’ (Bustani 1940, 43).

27. The Madrid MS adds:

A su derecha [del rey] se hallaba una mesa de oro, incrustada de piedras preciosas, que había preparado durante nuestra estancia, después de nuestra llegada, para poner encima de ella la ordenanza del Sultán, por respeto y consideración a su remitente. (Bustani 1940, 44)

This ordenanza was handed to the Christian interpreter who helped arrange their accommodation above and who then translated it; the ‘principal de los creyentes’ was asking for ‘cinco mil libros y quinientos cautivos’ (Bustani 1940, 57). If they could not produce 5000 books, however, they could send 1000 slaves, and this is the option that Charles II adopted (58).

28. That is, ‘a learned Muslim of Arabic vernacular language’ (Justel Calabozo 1991, 68).

29.

‘Quintillas a la venida a Madrid del embajador del rey de Mequínez, que llegó a 10 de diciembre de 1690, sin saber a qué’: ‘¿Qué quiere--¿no nos dirá?—/Ese embajador babieca?/Dis que pide el Alcorán,/cassa y zancarrón de Meca,/y los libros de Durán./Y hablando más en razón,/lo que yo del casso siento/es que viene este bribón/a pedir en casamiento/una hija de Orejón.’ Durán and Orejón were administrators; the former oversaw a local income tax whereas the latter served as ‘escribano del ayuntamiento de Madrid’. (Justel Calabozo 1978, 192)

Indeed, al-Ghassani mentioned meeting a scribe who he believed descended from Spanish Islamic heritage, who at that time was accompanied by his daughters: perhaps he proposed marriage while in Madrid.

30. At the turn of the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the conquest of Tremecen was avoided once its king furnished the Spanish king with tributary monies, a number of horses, a hollow golden hen, a beautiful virgin, as well as 130 Christian prisoners (Gómez Vozmediano 2008, 15–16).

31. The Moroccan ambassador to France in 1681

a vu la bibliothèque du college des Quatre-Nations, autrefrois celle de M. le Cardinal Mazarin. M. l'abbé de La Poterie, qui en est bibliothécaire, vint le recevoir. Temim fut étonné de la quantité de libres arabes qu'on lui fit voir, et crut qu'il y en avait plus en France que dans son pays. (Penz 1949, 62, 69 and 72)

32. The prison experience for Spanish captives has been documented by Friedman (1983, 60–61, 69), who concluded that Christian captives were accorded comparatively more freedoms under Moroccan overlordship. In Spain, a noble class of captives was similarly granted comparatively greater comfort. Many of these exiles were financially supported by Spanish kings, given a salary and lodged at properties belonging to the estates of other noblemen (Alonso Acero 2006, 72–73). The treatment of noble captives became a means of sustaining good relations with their place of origin.

33. Dated 18 December 1690 and reproduced by Vernet (1953, 116–117).

34. The Christian prisoners that concerned the al-Ghassani embassy are also enumerated in an Auto dated 22 August 1691 identifying the Spaniards captured at the Plaza de Larache (Archivo Histórico Nacional, Sección de Nobleza, Priego, C. 15, D. 86).

35. 28 May, according to Arribas Palau (1985, 288).

36. García Figueras and Saint-Cyr (1973, 329) argue that he never left Spain.

37. (Castries 1927, vol. 3, 428–429). García Figueras and Saint-Cyr (1973, 329) argue that the exchange took place during the month of September, requiring several days for Moroccan authorities to verify the identities of the slaves.

38. This dating is evidently problematic due to the distance between Ceuta and Meknes.

39. Other unpublished works of his now residing in the library of the University of Seville include a collection of books and documents ‘recogidos de los mismos árabes’ in 1802; Libro del Khartas. Historia de los soberanos del Magreb; a copy dated 1806 of an original copy located at Jerez; and two undated works, Tabla cronológica para la Hégira, and a Spanish-Arabic lexicon. Other collections of works prepared in Arabic were donated in the same period (Justel Calabozo 1981, 37–50).