Muhammad VI of Granada

Abu Abdullah Muhammad VI ibn Ismail (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن إسماعيل, 1332 – 27 April 1362), also known by his Castilian nickname el Bermejo ("The Red One"), and the regnal names al-Ghālib bi 'llāh (Arabic: الغالب بالله, lit. 'Victor by the Grace of God') and al-Mutawakkil ʿalā 'llāh (Arabic: المتوكل على الله, lit. 'He who relies on God'), was the tenth Sultan of the Emirate of Granada. A member of the Nasrid dynasty, he ruled for a brief period between June or July 1360 and April 1362.

A second cousin and brother-in-law of both Muhammad V and Ismail II, Muhammad VI led a coup that deposed the former and enthroned the latter in August 1359. He increasingly held the power of government during Ismail's rule, and in June or July 1360 he had the new Sultan killed and took the throne to himself. Muslim chronicles portrayed him negatively, describing him as a tyrannical ruler with coarse manners. In October 1360, he allied himself with Peter IV of Aragon against Peter I of Castile in the War of the Two Peters, but had to face Castile alone when Aragon agreed to a separate peace in May 1361. Castile allied itself with Muhammad V, who returned from exile in August. The war against this coalition began with partial successes for Muhammad VI, but from February 1362 onwards, Peter I and Muhammad V won a string of major victories. On 13 April Muhammad VI fled Granada, allowing his rival to retake the throne. The desperate Muhammad VI then unexpectedly surrendered himself to Peter I in Seville. However, the Castilian king—still outraged at his previous alliance with Aragon—personally killed him with a lance on 27 April and sent his severed head to Granada.

The Emirate of Granada was the last remaining Muslim state on the Iberian Peninsula, founded by Muhammad I in the 1230s. Through a combination of diplomatic and military manoeuvres, the emirate succeeded in maintaining its independence, despite being located between two larger neighbours: the Christian Crown of Castile to the north and the Muslim Marinid Sultanate in Morocco. Granada intermittently entered into alliance or went to war with both of these powers, or encouraged them to fight one another, in order to avoid being dominated by either. From time to time, the sultans of Granada swore fealty and paid tribute to the kings of Castile, an important source of income for Castile. From Castile's point of view, Granada was a royal vassal, while Muslim sources never described the relationship as such.

Muhammad ibn Ismail was born on 18 March 1333, likely in Granada, and a member of the ruling Nasrid dynasty. He was the grandson of Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Faraj, the brother of Sultan Ismail I (r. 1314–1325), and therefore he was related to the Ismail I's sons and grandsons who took the throne before his reign. In 1327, Muhammad ibn Faraj claimed the throne in Andarax, but he was defeated by Muhammad IV (r. 1325–1333) in the ensuing civil war. Muhammad VI was a second cousin to his immediate predecessors, Muhammad V (r. 1354-1359 and 1362-1391) and Ismail II (1359–1360). He was further linked to the royal lineage by his marriage to a daughter of Yusuf I (r. 1333–1354) during Yusuf's reign. The name of the princess he married was unknown, but she was a full-blooded sister of Ismail II and a half-sister of Muhammad V, who was born of a different mother. The marriage took place some time before Yusuf's death in 1354, and they had at least one daughter, whose name is unknown. She married Muhammad ibn al-Mawl, a member of a prominent family originally from Cordoba, and this marriage produced Muhammad's grandchildren: the future sultan Yusuf IV ibn al-Mawl (r. 1432) and a daughter called Maryam.

Muhammad was nicknamed el Bermejo ("The Red One")—apparently referring to his reddish hair and beard, originally by the Christians, but the name is also attested in Muslim sources. Before his accession, he was titled al-rais (Spanish: arráez), as per Nasrid customs for a member of the royal family.

During the first reign of Muhammad V, el Bermejo was involved in a conspiracy that eventually deposed the Sultan in favour of Ismail II. The other key participant of this conspiracy was Maryam, Ismail's ambitious mother, who had control of a substantial amount of wealth after the death of Yusuf I. She frequently visited her daughter who was married to el Bermejo, and during these meetings they planned the conspiracy. With Maryam's financial backing, el Bermejo led about 100 men to carry out a coup on 23 August 1359, a date predicted as auspicious by an astrologer. Under cover of the night during the holy month of Ramadan, they scaled the walls of the Alhambra—the fortified palace compound of the Nasrids—taking advantage of a gap that was left unrepaired, and overwhelmed the guards. They killed Muhammad V's chief minister, the hajib Abu Nu'aym Ridwan, in front of his family, demolished his house, and took his rich possessions. Muhammad V happened to be outside the Alhambra, and fled to the eastern city of Guadix after failing to retake the palace compound. The conspirators found Ismail, who was barely twenty years old, in his assigned palace and declared him the Sultan.

The historian Ibn al-Khatib—a minister of Muhammad V—depicted the new Sultan as a weak ruler with poor personal character. Soon, el Bermejo grew in influence and became the real power behind the throne. Muhammad V left for exile in North Africa after unsuccessfully trying to extend his control beyond Guadix and to secure help from his ally Peter I of Castile.

El Bermejo's power grew so much that Ismail began to oppose him. Before the Sultan could act, el Bermejo started a violent coup which resulted in his accession, either on 24 June 1360 (8 Shaban 761) or on the night of 13 July (27 Shaban), less than a year after Ismail's accession. El Bermejo's men surrounded the sultan, who barricaded himself in a tower overlooking the capital. Ismail was forced to surrender and offered to live in seclusion, but el Bermejo took him, barefooted and bareheaded, to a dungeon for criminals (tabaq), where he was executed. His head was cut off and thrown to the people. Next, el Bermejo found Ismail's brother Qays, who was still a child, and executed him as well. Both their bodies were dumped in public covered only with rags, before recovered and buried the next day. Ismail's ministers were then executed as well. According to historian Francisco Vidal Castro, el Bermejo's actions were motivated by fear that either royal would be used in a future court intrigue against him, as Ismail had been to dethrone Muhammad V. Thus el Bermejo took the throne as Muhammad VI.