Mujer y poder en el reino nazarí de Granada: Fāṭima bint al-aḥmar, la perla central del collar de la dinastía (Siglo XIV)

Abstract

Within the history of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, a number of women tresspassed the threshold of their harem to play important roles in different aspects of the court. This was specifically the case of the sultana Fāṭima bint al-Aḥmar (d. 749/1349), the daughter of emir Muḥammad II, who can be considered the first lady of this lineage to participate in the political affairs of the kingdom. Due to the great influence that this woman exerted in the political arena, this article will be devoted to reconstructing both her life and her personality, according to the information provided by the preserved Arabic sources. Her political activities, developed throughout the complex rules of her two brothers, Muḥammad III y Naṣr, her first-born son Ismā῾īI I, and her two grandsons Muḥammad IV y Yūsuf I, will be also analyzed in depth because of their importance for the kingdom’s history.