Zaida of Seville

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Princess Zaida Of Seville (c. 1071 – c. 1107) was a refugee Muslim princess who was a mistress and then queen of Alfonso VI of Castile.

She is said by Iberian Muslim sources to have been the daughter of Al Mutamid, the Muslim King of Seville. She was the mother of Alfonso VI of Castile's only son, Sancho, who, though illegitimate, was named his father's heir (but was killed in the Battle of Ucles of 1108, during his father's lifetime).

Zaida converted from Christianity to Islam. She was not the wife and then widow of the son of Al Mutamid, as few said, but was the daughter of Al Mutamid, some said that the motive for which was removed Al Mutamid from teh Al Moravid was that the Scholar of Islam, Al Tartushi issued a fatwa, (Islamic opinion) to remove Al Mutamid for the marriage of the daughter with a Christian.

She's buried in Sahagun under the inscription "H.R. Regina Elisabeth, uxor regis Adefonsi, filia Benabet Regis Sevillae, quae prius Zayda, fuit vocata" (cited by Marin Guzman) In Spanish: "Aqui descansa la reina Isabel, mujer del rey Alfonso, hija de Aben-Abeth, rey de Sevilla; que antes se llamaba Zayda". In English: "here lies Queen Elizabeth, wife of King Alfonso, daughter of Aben-abeth, king of Seville; previously called Zayda. Zayda was originally buried at the monastery in Sahagun but later moved to Leon where her sepulchre and inscription can be found.

The old iscription are already proof that Zayda was daughter of Al Mutamid, Muhammad bin Abbad Al-Mutamid, of the Bani Abbad.

Zaida/Isabel died in childbirth, but the date is unknown, and it is unclear whether the child being delivered was Sancho, Sancha (if she were indeed identical to Queen Isabel), or an additional child, otherwise unknown.

Sources in Morocco are convinced she was the daughter of the Emir. They claim that the Christians in Spain removed and altered records that indicated a Muslim ancestory for their Royal houses. The Emir was exiled in Morocco after being expelled from Spain, and it is claimed records from this time are still in Morocco.

The Spanish Reconquista was completed in 1492, with the final conquest of Granada by the armies of Ferdinand V. Ironically, Ferdinand (husband of Queen Isabella, who sent Christopher Columbus on his mission) was a descendant of Isabella of Denia, who had been born Zaida, daughter of Mu'tamid. When Seville was conquered by Alfonso VI, Zaida was forcibly converted to Catholicism and equally forcibly married to her city's conqueror. The great irony of this is that the Abbadids could claim direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad. Through this forced marriage, the bloodline of the Prophet entered the dynastic intermixture of European royalty and nobility, ensuring that most European nobles - and all the currently ruling monarchs of Europe, are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.

When Alfonso took Toledo, Spain in 1085, Abbad called in Yusuf ibn Tashfin , the Almoravides ruler. During the six years which preceded his deposition in 1091, Abbad behaved with valour on the field, but with much meanness and political folly. He endeavoured to curry favour with Yusuf by betraying the other Muslim princes to him, and intrigued to secure the alliance of Alfonso against the Almoravides. Probably during this period his beautiful daughter Zaida married the Christian king, who made her his concubine — some authorities suggest he married her after she bore him a son, Sancho. The vacillations and submissions of Abbad did not save him from the fate which overtook his fellow-princes. Their scepticism and extortion had tired their subjects, and the mullah s gave Yusuf a fatwa authorizing him to remove them in the interest of religion. In 1091 the Almoravides stormed Seville. Muhammad, who had fought bravely, weakly ordered his sons to surrender the fortresses they still held, in order to save his own life. He died in prison in Africa in 1095.