Isabel de Solís

Isabel de Solís (fl. 1485), was the slave concubine and later the consort of Abu l-Hasan Ali, Sultan of Granada. Originally a Christian from Castile, she converted to Islam under the name of Zoraya. She excerted a strong influence over her spouse.

Solis was the daughter of the Castilian noble Sancho Jiménez Solís. Isabela had become acquainted with Boadil during a marriage ceremony and eventually fell in love with him. However, when Granada under their new king refused to continue paying tribute to the crown of Castile and Aragon, the Christian armies began raiding the Kingdom of Granada. In repraisal Al-Zagal, the sultan's brother began conducting raids on Castile and on one occasion Isabel de Solis was captured, while taking refuge in a church. At the time it was common practise to ransom captured prisoners who came from noble families. Even though Isabel de Solis was noble by birth, her family refused to pay the ransom because of Isabel's previous rebellious behavior towards her father, who had condemned her to live in a convent for the rest of her life. For this reason she was taken to the Alhambra in Granada and sold as a slave to Mulay Hasan (Abu l-Hasan Ali the sultan of Granada). Isabel was forced to become one of the sultan's concubines, however, Abu l-Hasan Ali fell in love with her and married her, exiling his first spouse Aixa from the palace. Upon her conversion to Islam, she took the name Turai, Soraya or Zoraya. She had two sons with Abu l-Hasan Ali, Nasr and Said. In 1482, Because of the fact that Aixa (known as Fatima) was a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, all the people especially the religious leaders known as an Imam caused a civil war in Granada. Mulay Hasan ended up being deposed by his first wife Aixa with the help of Aliatar the warlord of Loja. Isabel de Solis was taken captive by the Aixa faction and allowed to live on condition that Mulay Hasan give up the throne to his son Boabdil. Later Mulay Hasan dedicated his life to conducting many successful raids on Castile, which caused him to regained his popularity with the people of Granada. As a result, he ended up rescuing Isabel de Solis and recovering some of his lost power in Granada for a short while before dying.

Isabel de Solís has been the inspiration for many authors.. After the death of her husband, Isabel and her sons converted to Catholicism and they took the names Juan de Granada and Ferdinand de Granada.

Sources

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.