Squire to the Moor King: Christian administrators for Muslim magnates in late medieval Murcia

ABSTRACT In 1266, the kingdom of Murcia lost its status as a semi-independent protectorate of Castile after the Mudejar Rebellion. This failure created two Muslim vassal states under the Banū Hūd in Murcia and the Banū Hudayr at Crevillente. As these Muslim lords continued in the service of the kings of Castile and Aragon, their records in royal registers testify to an increasing dependence on Christian squires as their administrators. The Banū Hūd and the Banū Hudayr entrusted these Christian agents to manage their affairs and interact with Christian and Muslim courts, especially in relaying sensitive information to Aragon about the Granadan frontier. Although the charters in the Cathedral of Murcia and the Archive of the Crown of Aragon surrounding the employment of these squires indicate that they received lands in Murcia for their service to these failing Muslim houses, other records reveal that the administrators served without further inducement or compensation. Furthermore, several Christian administrators performed their role in ways that allowed the small Muslim states and their lords to endure into the fourteenth century. This study of the reciprocal relationships between Muslim lord and Christian administrator demonstrates how the task of preserving power in post-conquest Murcia transcended religious boundaries.