The Actors of the Maghribian Diplomacy with the Christian World (12th-15th centuries)

Abstract

One of the originalities of the diplomatic practice of the Maghrebian sovereigns with northern Christian States resides in the use of very different types of ambassadors. Whereas the embassies sent to other sovereigns of the world of Islam are all Moslem, eventually Jewish, one finds many Christians as ambassadors sent for missions to Iberian or Italian States. As mercenaries or merchants mostly, they have certainly a good knowledge of the international relations of the time. But they have also a very ambiguous statute within the framework of the Islamo-Christian relations in the Mediterranean. The Maghrebian sovereigns actually use, according to needs for the mission, Christian or Moslem agents, still keeping an effective control on important political decisions.