Zaida ^{1 2 3}

   Another name for Zaida was Isabella.

  General Notes:

"If his best efforts in the field had come to naught in 1092, however, the king could draw on other possibilities inherent in the position of the crown to recoup his position. In that year he moved both to bolster his prestige and to remedy his lack of a male heir. This he did in the only way open to him at the moment, by taking a mistress from Andalucía who was to provide him with the son he had sought since 1074.

"The life and even the death of the Muslim princess Zaida, widow of Fath al-Mamun of Córdoba since March of the previous year, are problematic. Our best authority, Bishop Pelayo, wrongly makes her the daughter rather than the daughter-in-law of al-Mutamid of Sevilla but does identify her as the mother of Alfonso's only son.(9) Her sepulchral inscription, variously reported, informs that she died in childbirth on either Monday, the 13th of September, or Thursday, the 13th of September, without reporting the year of her death. We cannot even be sure that it was the birth of Sancho Alfónsez himself.(10)

"Nonetheless the reasons for dating her relationship with Alfonso VI from late 1091 or 1092 are compelling. For the policy of that monarch, concerned with salvaging something out of the wreck of the taifas of Andalucía, only a date after the fall of Córdoba in March 1091 and before the fall of Badajoz in early 1094 would have made much sense. Zaida could only be of service there as a symbol of Alfonso's claim to be the protector of Spanish Islam against the African Murâbits. In addition, [235] if we consider that her son was to die in the battle of Uclés in May 1108, we are forced to predicate as early a date as possible. Even when one makes allowance for the early age accepted for maturity in the twelfth century, the risking of the only male heir of the realm on the field of battle would seem unlikely before he had attained the age of fourteen or fifteen at least. Then too, the death of Queen Constance in the fall of 1093 was perhaps preceded by serious illness, which would have facilitated the king's decision to take a mistress for reasons of state.

"It is likely, then, that the negotiations for something like a "marriage" alliance began in the spring of 1091 at the instance of al-Mutamid of Sevilla and may or may not have been concluded before the fall of that king and his capital together in September of the same year. Jiménez de Rada in the thirteenth century connected the reception of the princess with a large cession of territory by the Sevillan monarch, which would have been likely under the circumstances, but, as has pointed out, the account is garbled badly.(11) Even if those negotiations had never been completed, the liaison would still have continued to be important for its value in reassuring the Muslim of Badajoz of the serious intents of the Leonese monarch in regard to Andalucía. It is likely, then, that it had become an established fact before al-Mutawakkil of Badajoz ceded Lisbon, Santarem, and Sintra to Alfonso in late April and early May of 1093.(12) All of this diplomatic manuevering, which involved the likelihood and then the fact of considerable territorial gain in the south, would have strengthened the Leonese monarch materially within his own realm. It would have been even more effective if it were accompanied, as seems probable, by the pregnancy of Zaida in late 1092 or early 1093 and thus raised the possibility of a male heir to the throne.
...
"Sometime in 1093, perhaps on September 13, a male heir was born to the king. This was the son of Zaida, Sancho Alfónsez.(38) Although much time would have to pass before it would become clear whether or not the infant would survive, for the mortality rate in the first year was on the order of one in four during the period, his birth at once distanced Raymond, Urraca, and their possible progeny from that succession to the throne which had recently seemed so secure."

From B.Tompsett:

"It may look like Zaida married her brother from this data! This is because of a conflict between sources on who she was. 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. I leave it for future scholars to investigate. Others say she did not mother any children by Alfonso."


Also see Mark Humphrys:
http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~humphrys/FamTree/Islam/index.html

"The line is disputed at Zaida (of course). The modern consensus seems to be that
the descent is real, and that the Christians disputed it for purely political
reasons (they did not want it known that the whole Spanish Christian Royal House
had Moorish Islamic ancestry)."

Zaida married Alfonso VI Ferdinandez, son of Fernando I el Grande of Castilla-Leon and Sancha of León, in 1098. (Alfonso VI Ferdinandez was born before Jun 1040 and died on 29 Jun 1109.)