Individual Page

Person Info

• Name: Zaida/Isabella
• Sex: F
• Death: 12 Sep 1107 ^d


Parents:

• Father:
  
• Abn-Alhaje King Of Denia

Family:
Marriage:

• Al Mamun Prince Of Seville on 1 .^m1
  
• Al Mamun Prince Of Seville

Marriage:

• Alfonso VI King Of Castile And Leon on Abt 1098 .^m2
  
• Alfonso VI King Of Castile And Leon Birth: Before Jun 1040 Death: 30 Jun 1109 in Toledo

Children:

1. Elvira Of Castille Death: 8 Feb 1135
2. Sancha Of Castile And Leon Death: 1135

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

father:

(Agn-Alhaje Kg v Denia) [Ref: ES II #57]

Sources for death Information

date:

[Ref: ES II #57]

1103 [Ref: CMH p824]

1107 [Ref: DeVajay Aragon p289]

Sources with Information about marriage to Al Mamun Prince Of Seville

date:

first marriage of Isabel [Ref: ES II #57]

Sources with Information about marriage to Alfonso VI King Of Castile And Leon

date:

1098/99 [Ref: ES II #57]

1101 [Ref: DeVajay Aragon p289]

fourth marriage of Alfonso [Ref: CMH p824],

child:

[Ref: CMH p824, CMH p825, ES II #57, Nat Taylor SGM 9/7/1995-A, Taylor SanchaDeAyala p46, Taylor SanchaDeAyala p47]

Research Notes:
Wwe v Pz Al Mamun v Sevilla T v (Abn-Alhaje Kg v Denia) [Ref: ES II #57]

Here is some further explanation of the Alfonso VI/Zaida/Teresa problem, taken partly from Bernard F. Reilly's The Kingdom of Leon-Castilla under King Alfonso VI, 1065-1109 (Princeton, 1988). The children and wives of Alfonso are fairly well evidenced from original charters and documents. I'll try to summarize what I think is important to this case.
It is important to realize that much of what we now think of as Spain and Portugal had been under the rule of Arabs for centuries. They ruled over all but the northernmost quarter of the Iberian peninsula in the eleventh century.
By the time of Alfonso, central power had been broken, and there were a number of petty Arab kingdoms that had been set up. The Abbadids of Seville became the most successful of these kingdoms, absorbing much of the others. But they summoned the Almoravids (Berbers) from Africa to help in the struggle with Alfonso VI, defeating him at Zallaka/Zalaca in 1086. These Berber mercenaries soon became a threat to the rulers of Seville.
Also remember that Alfonso VI was a king without a male heir. Even though he had the mistress Ximena/Jimena Munoz, she had only born him a daughter, Teresa. He also had a legitimate daughter, Urraca. So it was partly because of the very real threat of invasion by Arab Spain that Alfonso accepted Zaida as a mistress in 1092. She was the widow of Fath al-Mamun of Cordoba (who died in March of the previous year), daughter-in-law of al-Mutamid of Sevilla.
Importantly, Zaida became the mother of Alfonso's only son, Sancho, who would eventually be named his heir, in spite of his being illegitimate. Bishop Pelayo's chronicle (already quoted in the last post), states that she was baptized and given the Christian name Elizabeth (which was then equivalent to Isabel).
Zaida's monumental inscription states that she died on 13 [or 12, depending on the source] September in childbirth, but the year of her death does not survive. Thus the controversy. Levi-Provencal had concluded that she died during the birth of her son Sancho, on 12 September 1093.
But if you equate Zaida with Queen Elizabeth, who did not die until 1107, you arrive at a death date of 12/13 September 1107 (hence the varying dating given by different authorities). It is known that Queen Elizabeth was the mother of two daughters, and that Zaida was mother of Alfonso's only son. So if you equate the two women, it means she was mother of three children. But as she may not have died in 1093, the birth date of Zaida's son Sancho is problematic too. [Ref: Paul Reed SGM 12/10/1998]

There isn't enough surviving evidence to resolve these disputes. Different scholars interpret the evidence in different ways. BUT there is NO dispute that Teresa was Ximena's daughter, not a daughter of Zaida or Elizabeth.
By taking Zaida into his court, Alfonso VI could claim to be a protector of Spanish Islam against the incursions of the African Murabits/Almoravids, giving him an excuse for further conquest of Arab lands in Spain.
Since Alfonso's only son Sancho died at the battle of Ucles in May 1108, he must have been reaching some type of maturity (i. e., he must have been at least about fifteen in 1108) or the life of the heir to Alfonso's kingdom would not have been allowed to be risked on the field at that battle (Reilly, pp. 234-5). Therefore a birth date of about 1093 is a logical conclusion.
Also, as the kingdom of al-Mutamid fell with his capital in September 1091, it would place the political act of sending Zaida to Alfonso's court between the death of her husband 26 March 1091 and September of the same year. It would seem almost unthinkable that the emir would give his own daughter to a Christian king, but a daughter-in-law, ..., hmmmm, she might be expendable, yet still important enough to be a valid symbol. And if Zaida then bore the king a male heir in 1092 or 1093....
Alfonso VI did not have a legitimate grandson until the birth of Alfonso Raimundez, son of the Infanta Urraca and Count Raymond. This would mean legitimate contention for the succession to his throne. Alfonso was then a fairly old man (for those times) of about sixty-eight. He therefore (within a year of his grandson's birth) took action to proclaim his illegitimate son Sancho his heir.
A document dated 27 March 1106 reads in part "regnante rege illdefonso in legione eiusdem helisabet regina sub maritali copula legaliter aderente" [Reilly, pp. 338-9]. This is evidence that Alfonso married Sancho's mother. Reilly interprets this to explain a proper marriage for a formal mistress, and we know from Bishop Pelayo that Zaida had been baptized with the name Elizabeth. Alfonso's queen in named as Elizabeth in at least seventeen documents between 1102 and 1106.
TERESA was daughter of Jimena Munoz, apparently daughter of the Austirian 'count' Muno Munoz. It is known from documentary evidence that the Infanta Elvira [Jimena's elder daughter, according to Bishop Pelayo's account] was married by 1094 [their daughter Sancha Raimundez was born by 11 November 1095]. Teresa was married by 1096. Alfonso VI bestowed all of the Portuguese lands from the Rio Mino in the north to Santarem in the south to Henry in 1096, apparently in an effort to change Henry from an ally of his cousin Raymond into his rival [Reilly, pp. 253-5]. This reduced the territories controlled by Raymond in half, lessening his threat. Henry and Teresa confirmed a charter of Count Raymond to Tuy on 11 Feb. 1095, but the dating of this charter is in dispute. [Ref: Paul Reed SGM 12/10/1998]

A charter dated 25 January 1100 by Alfonso was witnessed by the king's sister, Urraca, his two daughters, Urraca and Teresa, and their husbands, Counts Raymond and Henry [Reilly, p. 296]. They also witnessed a charter dated 15 April 1100 [Reilly, p. 297]. That Queen Berta was not there is taken by some as meaning she was dead, and by others [Reilly] as meaning she was simply ill.
There is a funerary inscription to Queen Elizabeth in the royal pantheon of San Isidoro of Leon which states that she was daughter of Louis VI of France [Hic requiescit Helisabeth Regina filia Lodovici Regis Franciae] and that she died in 1107, but this alleged French origin is not mentioned by the chroniclers Bishop Pelayo and the anonymous author of Sahagun, both fairly contemporary. And there is no evidence that Louis the Fat had a daughter named Elizabeth [Louis was born in 1081]. As Elizabeth is known to have born Alfonso two daughters before her death, this seems to preclude this allegation.
Alfonso had definitely married Elizabeth by 14 May 1100, when a charter stated, in part, "una cum voluntate et assensu conjugis meae Elisabeth iperatricis..." [Reilly, p. 298]. Queen Elizabeth, Count Raymond and the Infanta Urraca, and County Henry and the Infanta Teresa were present at a charter dated 25 January 1103 [Reilly, pp. 313-14]. Sancho Alfonsez also confirmed the document as "Sanctius infans quod pater fecit confirmo."
The first documentary evidence of Queen Elizabeth's two daughters, the infantas Sancha and Elvira, was a royal charter granted to the Bishop of Oviedo on 16 March 1104. Alfonso's son Sancho, Counts Raymond and Henry, and the infantas Urraca and Teresa also confirmed the document [Reilly, p. 318]. Elizabeth confirmed a charter dated 19 March 1106, with Sancho and all of Alfonso's other children and sons-in-law (Count Raymond and Count Henry spent a great deal of time at the Spanish court) [Reilly, p. 339]. Queen Elizabeth and Sancho confirmed another charter dated 8 May 1107, and in a charter dated eight days later, Sancho was called "regnum electus patri factum" [Reilly, p. 340]. Elizabeth [Zaida] died 12/13 September 1107. It was on that same date that we know Count Raymond was sick with what would prove a mortal illness (he died on 20 September 1107) [Reilly, p. 341].
Alfonso married Beatrice, a French noblewoman, by 28 May 1108, when she was named in a private document of the church of Astorga [Reilly, p. 345]. ES II 57 states that Alfonso's third wife Bertha died 19 May 1097/8. [Ref: Paul Reed SGM 12/10/1998]

SO, WAS ZAIDA QUEEN ELIZABETH?
The facts are not clear. Zaida arrived at Alfonso's court as part of a political maneuver to gain support of the Spanish Arabs who were threatened by the Berber armies from Morocco. She would have arrived between 26 March and September 1091. She was the mother of a male child, Sancho, born about 1092 or 1093, who though illegitimate, was eventually named as his father's heir.
Levi-Provencal assumed Zaida died in childbirth on 1093, but there is no true factual basis for this conclusion. We know that Zaida was named Elizabeth when she was baptized as a Christian. Alfonso's third wife, Bertha, did not die until 19 May 1097/8. So Alfonso would not have been free to marry Zaida/Elizabeth until after that date. We know a woman named Elizabeth was his consort and Queen by 14 May 1100. And we know that this Queen Elizabeth was mother of two daughters, Sancha and Elvira.
Combined evidence suggests that Queen Elizabeth died 12 or 13 September 1107. The very old Alfonso VI married his last wife, Beatrice, by 28 May 1108.
It is logical to conclude that Alfonso, after having decided that he wanted his ONLY son Sancho to succeed him--instead of the legitimate son of his legitimate daughter the Infanta Urraca--would do everything to try and legitimize him. Marrying his mother, Zaida/Elizabeth, would be a logical step.
So it seems logical to me to conclude that Zaida was Queen Elizabeth, but this is still in dispute, and barring the discovery of some ancient document, it is likely to remain in dispute for the reasons spelled out in the above discussion. David Kelley stated that Szabolcs de Vajay assured him that "the concubine Zaida followed a not uncommon pattern in moving from a secondary status to a primary status, i. e., she became the queen" [TAG 69:113]. [Ref: Paul Reed SGM 12/10/1998]

In lines 248-31 and 85-29 Stuart has some brief remarks about Zaida of Seville, which add to the already substantial confusion about that royal lady. Stuart distinguishes a concubine, Zaida, from Queen Zaida, fourth wife of Alfonso VI. Szabolcs de Vajay assures me that the concubine Zaida followed a not uncommon pattern in moving from a secondary status to a primary status, i.e. she became the queen. Stuart suggests that she was also known as Ximena Nunez, an allegation whose basis I do not know. Zaida was said in some medieval manuscripts and on at least one much later monument to be a daughter of Mohammed II, ruler of Seville, but other sources make it clear that she was actually his daughter-in-law. Charles Evans ("The Princess Zaida") makes a strong case that her only child by Alfonso VI was a son, Sancho, but he did not realize that she had been a mistress before becoming a wife, which obviates much of his argument. Eventually we hope to hear considerably more about Zaida, her true ancestry, and her real descendants. [Ref: Kelley Miscellany p113]

There is an extensive literature on this subject which has failed to resolve the questions of whether the Moorish concubine Zaida was identical with a later queen named Isabel, or whether in fact there may have been two queens Isabel [Ref: Taylor SanchaDeAyala p47(34)]



Pedigree of Zaida/Isabella
 /-----Abn-Alhaje King Of Denia
Zaida/Isabella



Descendants of Zaida/Isabella

2nd generation


3rd generation


4th generation


5th generation