Ismail Ibn Sharif
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif (Arabic: مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف), born around 1645 in Sijilmassa and died on 22 March 1727 at Meknes, was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727, as the second ruler of the 'Alawi dynasty.[3] He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north of Morocco from 1667 until the death of his half-brother, Sultan Moulay Rashid in 1672. He was proclaimed sultan at Fez, but spent several years in conflict with his nephew Moulay Ahmed ben Mehrez, who also claimed the throne, until the latter's death in 1687. Moulay Ismail's 55-year reign is the longest of any sultan of Morocco. During his lifetime, Isma’il amassed a harem of over 500 women with more than 800 confirmed biological children, making him one of the most prodigious fathers in recorded history.
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif
مولاي إسماعيل بن الشريف
1672–1727
14 April 1672[2]
1667–1672
c. 1645
Sijilmassa, Morocco
22 March 1727 (aged 81–82)
Meknes, Morocco
March 1727
among 525 sons and 343 daughters:
Moulay Mohammed Zeydan
Lalla Sitt al-Mulk
Moulay Abdalmalik
Moulay Ahmed
Moulay Abdallah
The reign of Moulay Ismail marked a high watermark for Moroccan power. His military successes are explained by the creation of a strong army, originally relying on the 'Guichs' (especially the Udaya) and on the Black Guard (or Abid al-Bukhari), black slaves who were totally devoted to him. As a result, the central power could be less reliant on tribes that often rebelled. Moulay Ismail failed against the Regency of Algiers during the Battle of Moulouya in 1692, as he tried to expand his territory towards Tlemcen. Moulay Ismail once again attempted to capture Oran, which was under Spanish rule, he had some success in pushing back the tribes of the Regency of Algiers until the Algerian Bey Mustapha cooperated with the Spaniards in pushing back Moulay Ismail's army. Moulay Ismail engaged in the Maghrebi War against the Regency of Algiers, he was successful in conquering the Western Beylik, he even looted the palace of the Bey. His army was subsequently pushed back in the Battle of Chelif in 1701. He participated in other minor battles such as Laghouat in 1708 which ended successfully. He expelled the Europeans from the ports they had occupied: Larache, Asilah, Mehdya, and Tangier. He took thousands of Christians prisoner and nearly took Ceuta.
Ismail controlled a fleet of corsairs based at Salé-le-Vieux and Salé-le-Neuf (now Rabat), which supplied him with European Christian slaves and weapons through their raids in the Mediterranean and all the way to the Black Sea. He established significant diplomatic relations with foreign powers, especially the Kingdom of France, Great Britain, and Spain. Often compared to his contemporary, Louis XIV, due to his charisma and authority, Moulay Ismail was nicknamed the 'bloody king' by the Europeans due to his extreme cruelty and exaction of summary justice upon his Christian slaves. He is also known in his native country as the "Warrior King".
He also made Meknes his capital and undertook the construction of an enormous citadel and palace complex next to its old city which included several grand residences, gardens, monumental gates, mosques, and more than forty kilometers of walls. He died following a sickness. After his death, his supporters became so powerful that they controlled the country, enthroning and dethroning the sultans at will.
Moulay Ismail was a serial polygamist.[61] According to the writings of the French diplomat Dominique Busnot, Moulay Ismail had at least 500 concubines and even more children. A total of 868 children (525 sons and 343 daughters) is recorded in 1703, with his seven hundredth son being born shortly after his death in 1727, by which time he had well over a thousand children.[62][63] Historian Abd al-Rahman Ibn Zaydan recorded children of around 68[61] wedded wives[61] and 8 unnamed slave concubines from the royal birth registers kept during the reign of Sidi Mohammed III.[61] He specifies that upon Ismail's death the full number of his wives and harem slave concubines was 700.[61] The final total is uncertain: the Guinness Book of Records claims 1042,[39] while Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer of the University of Vienna put the total at 1171.[64]
The historian Al Zayani, who was in charge of royal protocol under Sultan Sidi Mohammed III, recounts that with his own eyes he saw the exhaustive list of Moulay Ismail's children and that his descendants occupied 500 houses in Sijilmasa.[65] He also specified that the list to which he had access did not contain the names of Moulay Ismail's children who had no descendants.[65]
A partial restoration of Moulay Ismail's descent through his wives and slave concubines is listed below. His first recorded marriage took place in 1670, the order of his nuptials are unclear after his first recorded spouse. Posterity did not remember many of the full names of his wives. And in accordance with Muslim traditions, slave concubines do not have a last name, they are renamed at the time of their conversion to Islam. Their birth names were not subject to meticulous safeguarding, which is why few of these women are identifiable by their birth name. The descendants of his wives who have a full name or biography are listed first, then those of his wives who do not have a full name, then a partial list of his descendants through his slave concubines:
Below the name Chaouia means an origin from Chaouia, a geographical area which can also be a tribe. A large number of Moulay Ismail's wives were designated as "Chaouia". Listed below is the descendants he had with his wives, of which only a part of their names are recorded: their tribal origins or their first name. It is unsure wheteher the women whom only their first name is given were all born free Muslims. The fact that only their first name is retained may indicate slave status, therefore lacking a family name or tribal affiliation. His numerous descendants include:
Many of his concubines are only fragmentary documented. As concubines, they were slave captives, sometimes from Europe. Here is list of children he had with some of his slave concubines from the harem, as well as the details known about their mother:
An Irish woman by the name Mrs. Shaw, was at one point in her life a slave concubine of Moulay Ismail. She was brought to his harem after having been enslaved and was made to convert to Islam when the Sultan wished to have intercourse with her, but was manumitted and married off to a Spanish convert when the Sultan grew tired of her. The Spanish convert being very poor, she was described by contemporary witnesses as reduced to beggary,[98][99] before she was helped by John Russell, the British consul general.[100][101]