Boabdil: Last Sultan of Granada’s Fall Marks End of Islamic Spain

Born in the Alhambra in 1452, Boabdil was the son of King Abou l-Hasan Ali and Queen Aixa (Aïcha bint Mohammed "al-Horra"). From a very young age, he was plunged into the intrigues and rivalries that tore apart the Nasrid court. Impatient to take the reins of power, he did not hesitate to rebel against his father in 1482, with the support of his mother. This family betrayal allowed him to sit on the throne, but his reign lasted only a year. Captured by the Catholic Monarchs in 1483, he was forced to cede his power to his father.

Freed thanks to a circumstantial alliance with the Catholic Monarchs, Boabdil found himself caught in a complex geopolitical chess game. He fought against his father and then his uncle Muhammad XIII az-Zaghall, who had successively succeeded him, weakening the kingdom of Granada and paving the way for its reconquest by the Christians. In 1487, he regained the throne, but faced with the growing threat of the Catholic Monarchs, he signed an agreement with them in 1491, ceding the entire kingdom to them.

This agreement, however, was not respected by the victors. Granada fell into the hands of the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, and the Mudejars, Muslims living in Christian territory, were forced to convert or flee. As for Boabdil, he is said to have ceded the kingdom to Ferdinand and spent the rest of his life in exile in Morocco, haunted by the loss of his kingdom and weeping "like a woman" according to the words of his mother.

The figure of Boabdil remains controversial. Some describe him as a weak and incompetent sultan, unable to defend his people against the invader. Others emphasize the difficult circumstances in which he had to reign, marked by internal struggles and growing military pressure. But the historical sources on this period are often biased and must be analyzed with a critical eye.

Far from being a simple black or white character, Boabdil embodies the complexity of a pivotal era, that of the Christian reconquest of the Iberian peninsula.