| Zenata Iznaten, Zenata, Zanata | |
|---|---|
| Berber tribal confederation | |
| Ethnicity | Berbers |
| Location | Maghreb |
| Branches | Maghrawa,Banu Ifran, Banu Wasin, Djarawa |
| Language | Zenati languages (Berber languages) |
| Religion | Islam |
TheZenata (Berber languages:ⵉⵣⵏⴰⵜⵏ,romanized: Iznaten;Arabic:زناتة,romanized: Zanāta) are a group ofBerber tribes, historically one of the largest Berber confederations along with theSanhaja andMasmuda.[1][2] Their lifestyle was eithernomadic[3][4] or semi-nomadic.[5]
The 14th-century historiographerIbn Khaldun reports that the Zenata were divided into three large tribes:Jarawa,Maghrawa, andBanu Ifran. Formerly occupying a large portion of theMaghreb, they were displaced to the south and west in conflicts with the more powerfulKutama andHouara.[citation needed]
The Zenata adoptedIslam early, in the 7th century. While other Berber tribes continued to resist theUmayyad Caliphate conquest well into the 8th century, they were quickly Islamized.[6] They also formed a substantial contingent in the subsequentMuslim conquest of Iberia.[1]
As Berbers, the Zenata spoke one of theBerber languages.Ibn Khaldun wrote that their dialect was distinct from other Berber dialects.[7] French linguistEdmond Destaing in 1915 proposed "Zenati" as a loose subgrouping within theNorthern Berber languages, includingRiffian Berber in northeastern Morocco andShawiya Berber in northeastern Algeria.[8]
The history of the Zenata before theMuslim conquests remains largely unknown, as they are primarily documented through Arabic sources. The term Zenata itself is relatively late and has no known roots inantiquity before the conquests.[9] As historian Yves Modéran has argued, this makes it an unreliable basis for theories ofmigration in earlier periods. Their presence may therefore have resulted from movements that occurred after the conquest. The mentions of specific Zenata factions inmedieval sources is uncertain when it comes to their history or the possibility that their affiliation was just in name rather than in origin.[9] Hsain Ilahiane states that by the time of the Muslim conquests, the Zenata ranged betweenTripolitania in present-dayLibya and present-day southernTunisia.[1] According to Modéran, the earliest known Zenata groups formed a tribe or confederation that established itself in Tripolitania by the late 7th century and was quickly integrated into the Arab military forces.[9] In later periods, groups identified as Zenata moved steadily west, where they settled in westernAlgeria nearTiaret andTlemcen, while some of them moved still further west toMorocco.[1]
The Zenata dominated the politics of the westernMaghreb (Morocco and western Algeria) in two different periods: in the 10th century, during the decline of theIdrisids, as proxies for either theFatimid Caliphs or theUmayyad Caliphs of Cordoba, and in the 13th to 16th centuries with the rise of theZayyanid dynasty in Algeria and theMarinids andWattasids in Morocco, all from Zenata tribes.[7] Today, most of the Berbers of theRif region are believed to be of Zenata ancestry.[1]
In the early Islamic period of Morocco, Berber groups and tribes dominated the politics of the region well after theArab conquests. The Zenata confederation did too. A Zenata chieftain,Khalid ibn Hamid al-Zanati, was a leading figure in the Berber revolt of 740 against theArabUmayyad Caliphate, and led Berber rebels to major victories in theBattle of the Nobles and theBattle of Bagdoura.[10]: 38 [11]: 212 While the Umayyads managed to defeat the rebels eventually and reassert some of their authority, the westernmost parts of the Maghreb, including what is now Morocco, remained outside of Arab caliphal rule.[10][11]: 207 In this vacuum, various principalities arose in the region, such as theMidrarid Emirate in eastern Morocco, led by a ZenataMiknasa tribe,[12] to which the foundation of the city ofSijilmasa is attributed.[13][10]: 49
In 868, under the leadership of the Abd al-Razzaq, the BerberKharijiSufri tribes of Madyuna, Ghayata and Miknasa formed a common front against the Idrisids of Fez. From their base inSefrou they were able to defeatAli ibn Umar and occupy Fez. The city's inhabitants refused to submit, however, and the IdrisidYahya III was able to retake the city.[10]: 52 [14] Starting in the early 10th century, however, theFatimids in the east began to intervene in present-day Morocco, hoping to expand their influence, and used the Miknasa as proxies and allies in the region. In 917 the Miknasa and its leader Masala ibn Habus, acting on behalf of their Fatimid allies, attacked Fez and forcedYahya IV to recognize Fatimid suzerainty, before deposing him in 919[14][12] or 921.[10]: 63 He was succeeded by his cousin Musa ibn Abul 'Afiya, who had already been given charge over the rest of the country. The IdrisidHassan I al-Hajam managed to wrest control of Fez from 925 but in 927 Musa returned, captured Hassan and killed him, marking the last time the Idrisids held power in Fez.[14] Thereafter Fez remained under Zenata control.[15]: 50 The Miknasa pursued the Idrisids to the fortress ofHajar an-Nasr in northern Morocco, but soon afterwards civil war broke out among the Miknasa when Musa switched allegiance to theUmayyads of Cordoba in 931 in an attempt to gain more independence. The Fatimids sent Humayd ibn Yasal (or Hamid[10]), the nephew of Masala ibn Habus, to confront Musa, defeating him in 933 and forcing him to fall back into line.[14][10]: 63 Once the Fatimids were gone, however, Musa once again threw off their authority and recognized the Umayyad caliph. The Fatimids sent their general Maysur to confront him again, and this time he fled. He was pursued and killed by the Idrisids.[14] The latter preserved a part of their realm in northern Morocco until the Umayyads finally ended their rule definitively in 985.[14] The Umayyads in turn kept control over northern Morocco until their caliphate's collapse in the early 11th century. Following this, Morocco was dominated by various Zenata Berber tribes.[16]: 91 [10]: 82 Until the rise of theSanhajaAlmoravids later in the century, theMaghrawa controlledFez,Sijilmasa andAghmat while theBanu Ifran ruled over Tlemcen,Salé (Chellah), and theTadla region.[16]: 91
In the 13th century the Banu Marin (Arabic:بنو مرين), a Zenata tribe, rose to power in Morocco.[17][18] Starting in 1245 they began overthrowing theAlmohads who had controlled the region.[10]: 103 At the height of their power in the mid-14th century, during the reigns ofAbu al-Hasan and his sonAbu Inan, the Marinid dynasty briefly held sway over most of theMaghreb including large parts of modern-day Algeria andTunisia.[18] They supported theEmirate of Granada inal-Andalus in the 13th and 14th centuries; an attempt to gain a direct foothold on theEuropean side of theStrait of Gibraltar was however defeated at theBattle of Río Salado in 1340 and finished after theCastilianstook Algeciras from the Marinids in 1344, definitively expelling them from theIberian Peninsula.[19] In contrast to their predecessors, the Marinids sponsoredMalikiSunnism as the official religion and madeFez their capital.[20][18] Under their rule, Fez enjoyed a relative golden age.[15] The Marinids also pioneered the construction ofmadrasas across the country which promoted the education of Malikiulama, althoughSufisheikhs increasingly predominated in the countryside.[18]
Starting in the early 15th century theWattasid dynasty, a related ruling house, competed with the Marinid dynasty for control of their state and becamede facto rulers of Morocco between 1420 and 1459 while officially acting asregents orviziers. In 1465 the last Marinid sultan,Abd al-Haqq II, was finally overthrown and killed by arevolt in Fez, which led to the establishment of direct Wattasid rule over most of Morocco. The Wattasid sultans in turn lasted until the mid-16th century, when they were finally overthrown by theSaadians, who inaugurated the beginning of ArabSharifian rule over Morocco (which continues under the present-dayAlaouite dynasty).[18][12]
Meanwhile, around the same time as the Marinids, the Zenata[21][22][23]Zayyanid dynasty (also known as the Abd al-Wadids) ruled over theKingdom of Tlemcen in northwestern Algeria, centered onTlemcen. The territory stretched from Tlemcen to theChelif bend andAlgiers. At its zenith, the kingdom reached theMoulouya river to the west,Sijilmasa to the south, and theSoummam river to the east.[24][25] The Zayyanid dynasty's rule lasted from 1235 until 1556, when their rule, under pressure from theSpanish inOran and the Saadians in Morocco, was finally ended by theOttomans.[26][12][10]: 157
Zanata tribesmen also played a role aslight cavalry in the armies of theEmirate of Granada. This gave rise to theSpanish termjinete (derived from the name 'Zenata'), which denoted this type of light cavalry.[27][28] They formed the backbone of the Granadan army, serving both in crucial battles as well as in regularraids inside Christian territory.[29][27] They were highly mobile on the field, armed withlances,javelins, and small roundshields known for their flexibility, and used their own characteristic set of tactics.[27][30][31] They were recruited and led by exiled members of the Marinid family and settled within the kingdom of Granada. Their Marinid commander was known as theshaykh al-ghuzāt ('chief of theghazis'), but in 1374 Muhammad V suppressed this office due to their political interference, after which they were commanded by a Nasrid or Andalusi general.[27] They also served as mercenaries in the armies ofChristian kingdoms such asCastile[30] or asauxiliaries sent by the Nasrid emirs of Granada to aid their Castilian allies.[27]
Des Zénètes ne sont attestés au Maghreb que dans les sources arabes, et leur présence peut donc toujours résulter de déplacements postérieurs à la conquête. Mais surtout, comme pour les Lawâta, il paraît extrêmement aventureux de fonder des raisonnements sur la mention au milieu du Moyen Âge de telle ou telle « fraction » zénète, en ignorant tout du passé des groupes ainsi sélectionnés, et en négligeant la possibilité d'une affiliation onomastique purement fictive. Comme nous le verrons dans la dernière partie de ce livre, les premiers Zénètes formaient une tribu ou une confédération seulement implantée en Tripolitaine à la fin du viie siècle, mais qui, en s'intégrant tôt à l'armée arabe, a joui ensuite d'un prestige et d'une puissance qui ont suscité bien des ralliements onomastiques. Le succès ultérieur de leur nom, et la définition d'une « race » zénatienne » sont donc de toute évidence des phénomènes propres à l'histoire du Maghreb arabe, qui n'ont aucune racine dans l'Antiquité, même très tardive, et ne peuvent fonder une théorie des migrations appliquée à cette époque.
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