[May 24] Abu al-Hasan, sultan of Morocco

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True Name: Abu Al-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Othman (أبو الحسن علي بن عثمان‎)
Surnamed: The Black Sultan
Parents: Abu Sa'id Uthman II, sultan of Morocco, and an Abyssinian woman

Date of Birth: circa 1297

House: Marinid
Spouse: Fatima, daughter of Abu Bakr, ruler of Ifriqiya

Predecessor: Abu Sa'id Uthman II

Reign: 1331 – 1351

Summary: Abu al-Hasan was the descendant of a recent line of Moroccan sultans. His mother was Abyssinian, making her sub-Saharan in origin and dark in complexion. Throughout his life, Abu al-Hasan was known as "the Black Sultan."He became sultan in 1331 and quickly married Fatima, the daughter of a local rival. The marriage created an alliance between the Marinids and Hafsids which was quickly used in a war against the Abdalwadids of Algeria. In 1333, the ruler of Grenada asked for help in fighting the Christians and Abu al-Hassan landed a large army in Hispania. After two months, he took Gibraltar from Castile and began moving north. The Grenadans suddenly became afraid and assassinated their own sultan, Muhammad IV. The new sultan, Yusuf I, maintained the alliance with Morocco. In 1335, al-Hasan invaded Algeria to back up the army of his uncle. A three-year siege outside of the city of Tlemcen created nearly a second city beside the besieged. In 1336, he was forced to deal with a rebellious brother in the south. Meanwhile, Tlemcen finally fell and the entire territory—roughly half of modern Algeria—was annexed to Morocco.

The war with Castile escalated in 1339 when Yusuf I called for help again. Seeing the threat, Alfonso XI of Castile allied with his one-time rival Afonso IV of Portugal to face the onslaught. In 1340, Castilian forces met Moroccan ships at Ceuta. At the battle of Gibraltar, the Castilian fleet was almost completely destroyed. al-Hasan spent the rest of the summer sending troops to Grenada and then attacked Castile directly. A joint Portuguese-Genoese fleet managed to cut off the supply line to Morocco late in 1340 while the Portuguese and Castilian kings joined forces outside of Seville to attack the Muslims. The Moroccan and Grenadan forces were destroyed at the Battle of Rio Salado and al-Hasan fled to Morocco. He never returned. When his father-in-law died in 1346, al-Hasan decided to take over the rest of the old Almohad Empire and conquered his wife's hereditary lands. He then attempted a reformation of the government, replacing tribal leaders with bureaucrats. In 1348, Arab and Moorish tribesmen attacked and defeated the Moroccan army and Morocco lost control of Tunisia and northern Algeria. Tlemcen was recovered by the disinherited sons of the former ruler. The entire Moroccan empire fell soon after. In 1349, al-Hasan left Tunisia and had to take to the seas because Algeria was no longer under his control. His ship crashed on foreign shores and he rallied troops to try and retake Tlemcen but failed. His son, seeing his father's recent failures, took over the government and much of the government joined him. His son forced his father into southern Morocco then pursued him further south. In 1351, al-Hasan was finally compelled to abdicate in favor of his son. He died a few months later in his refuge in the Atlas Mountains.

Date of Death: 24 May 1351

Successor: Abu Inan Faris

Other Monarch Deaths:

David I, king of Scots (1153)

Taejo, king of Korea (1408)