He was the illegitimate son of a High Justice Officer, Pedro del Marmol, who recognized him as his natural son in 1528. Whether his mother was some sort of slave or personal servant of this High Court Office lawyer, his father, "given" or "bought" after the conquest of Granada, 1492, cannot be confirmed.
He was proficient in Hassaniya Arabic, Berber Tamazight and/or the Algerian Berber Taqbaylit language. lieutenant is well known that after the dissolution of the Caliph of Córdoba in the 11th century, many of the rulers and people from the kingdom of Granada maintained that their identities were essentially Zenata Berber. This may explain their settlements and affinity with the Merinid and after the Wattasids dynasty, (وطاسيون waṭāsīyūn), ruling Fez, until, after 1554, the Saadi´s rulers, (Arabic: سعديون), from Tagmadert, at the Draa river valley, near Tidzi, near Zagora, conquered the town.
lieutenant is said that for eight years Luis del Marmol was imprisoned in Algiers, and that he returned to Spain in his mid-thirties after fighting in Italy, Spain and the North African litoral from the Atlantic shores.
He spent time moving and visiting places, including Libyan Berber areas. Dates for these adventures are given just around 1554, curiously enough after the conquest of Fez.
There is no doubt however Luis del Marmol is a very valuable reference covering a further 50 years the explanations given by Joannes Leo Africanus, (Granada, Spainc 1494 – c 1554?) (or al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi, Arabic:حسن ابن محمد الوزان الفاسي), a Moorish diplomat and author, graduate of the Karaouine University of Fes, Morocco, who is best known for his book Descrittione dell’Africa (Description of Africa, printed at Venice in 1550 describing the geography of North Africa, while having as some sort of Italian Godfather Pope Leo X, a de" Medici} Pope.
