Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur

Background

Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur was born in 1160 in Morocco.

Al-Mansur's father, Abu Yaqub Yusuf, was killed in Portugal on 29 July 1184.

Education

Al-Mansur was religiously learned. He favored the Zahirite or literalist school of Muslim jurisprudence per Almohad doctrine and possessed a relatively extensive education in the Muslim prophetic tradition.

Career

Abu Yusuf served as vizier of the Almohad empire during the reign of his father, Abu Yakub Yusuf (1162-1184), and at his death was chosen as his successor as Yakub I. Having gained considerable practical experience as an administrator in the vizierate, Yakub kept firm control of the state in his own hands, continuing the Almohad tradition of active leadership in religious affairs and vigorous military campaigns against the enemies of the state.

The first part of Yakub's reign was spent in repelling an offensive against Almohad territory in North Africa launched by the Banu Ghaniya, the Sanhaja Berbers who had continued Berber rule on the Balearic Islands. The attack came in 1185 against the eastern holdings of the Almohads on the Algerian coast and resulted in the capture of Bougie, Algiers, and other towns. The Almohad army sent by Yakub regained the Algerian possessions in 1186, and the Banu Ghaniya retreated into Ifrikiya (Tunisia). Yakub himself led an army into Ifrikiya and in 1187 defeated the Banu Ghaniya, temporarily restoring the area to the Almohad Empire. However, upon his withdrawal to Morocco and the diversion of his efforts to Spain, the Banu Ghaniya soon succeeded in challenging Almohad sovereignty in the east, which was too far removed from the seat of Almohad power to keep under permanent control without a large army of occupation.

In Spain, Yakub's military success was equally spectacular and equally ephemeral; here, as in North Africa, the Almohad campaign was a response to the invasion of their territory, though in Spain the response amounted to holy war since the invaders were Christians, led by Alfonso VIII of Castile. Between 1190—when Yakub crossed into Spain—and 1195, the fighting was inconclusive and was checked by a loose armistice agreement. But in 1195 the great battle for which Yakub is famous in Islamic history took place at Alarcos, where he won a stunning victory over the Christians and temporarily halted their advance into Moslem Spain. This battle was followed by forays led by Yakub into Christian territory, which were ended by a two-year truce when he withdrew to Morocco.

He died on January 23, 1199 in Marrakech, Morocco.

Achievements

• Abu Yusuf Yakub al-Mansur was the victor against the Spanish Christians at the battle of Alarcos. His reign was distinguished by the flourishing of trade, architecture, philosophy and the sciences, as well as by victorious military campaigns in which he was able to temporarily stem the tide of Christian Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula.
  
  His victory in Alarcos was remembered for centuries later, when the tide of war turned against the Muslim side. It is recounted by the historian Abou Mohammed Salah ben Abd el-Halim in his 1326 Rawd al-Qirtas ("History of the Rulers of Morocco").
  
  The town of Moulay Yacoub, outside of Fez, Morocco, is named after Al-Mansur, and is best known for its therapeutic hot springs.

Religion

Yakub sponsored religious activities, both scholarly and popular, and built many civil and religious edifices in Spain and Morocco. In the last year of his life, weakened from an illness which had befallen him on a trip to Spain, he devoted himself wholly to piety.

Connections

Father:

Abu Ya'qub Yusuf or Yusuf I

(1135 – 14 October 1184)

Son:

Abu al-Ala Idris al-Ma’mun

(died 16 or 17 October 1232)

Son:

Muhammad al-Nasir

( died 1213)

Son:

Abu Muhammad ʿAbdallah 'al-ʿAdil'

(d. October 4, 1227)

References

• History of Morocco.
• Realm of the Evening Star: A History of Morocco and the Lands of the Moors
• A Political History of Muslim Spain
• History of the Arabs: From the Earliest Times to the Present
• Morocco