Sisnando Davidiz, Vizier of Castile, Emir of Toledo, Comtes de Quimbra

I examined the records from "Real Gabinete Português de Leitura" (the old Portuguese library in Rio) to take a look at those old chartae that Mattoso quotes and where one finds all those Mozarab names of Coimbra in order to prove the existence of Jews in this area. I found evidence of Jews in Coimbra as early as 938 C.E.

Sisnando "Sheshna" Dividiz is also known as:

Amīr ʿAbd Allāh, [Tiby%C4%81n García Gómez and Menéndez Pidal, El conde Sisnando Davidizy la politica de Alfonso VI con los Taifas, in al-Andalus, xii [1947], 24-41)]

Sheshna, or Sisna, is the name of the Gaon of Sura abt 677C.E.

According to historians familiar with this subject, Sisnando is prepresented as a native of Tentugal, in the service of al-Muʿṭadid [q.v.], and later in that of Ferdinand I, to whom in 1064 he recommended the conquest of Coimbra, of which he was the first governor: “Ego Sesnandu gratia Dei consul conimbriensis. . . et alvacilem dominum Sisnandum Colimbricensem.” He subsequently became assistant and adviser on Islamic affairs to Alfonso VI, and the one responsible for his policy of economic harassment against the Andalusian petty monarchs (the parias). It is evidently he who was behind the surrender of Toledo and the conditions stipulated for nascent Mudéjarism. This is clearly the case, since the firm and intransigent line taken by the monks of Cluny and Queen Constance were to lead to his replacement as governor of Toledo by Pedro Ansurez. In Portugal Sisnando built or rebuilt the castles of Coimbra, Lousã, Montemor-o-Velho, Penacova, and Penela.

Sisnando was rewarded several times by Alfonso VI. Sisnando (accompanied by Soeiro Mendes da Maia) on the way to Toledo, appointed by King Alsonfo VI as "Wali of Toledo" (Rich Men, infanções ..., p. 52). King Alfonso VI of León (heir of King Garcia of Galicia), granted a part of confiscated property to the (deceased) Nuno Mendes, his daughter and her daughter Loba Nunes, thereby increasing the assets governed by Sisnando.

According Mattoso (Rich Men, infanções ..., p.34) and Monarchia Lusitana (quoting a sale that is in the book fidei of Braga), Sisnando donated or sold, in 1074, to a noble of the second category (Eita Gosende) most of the goods that had been granted to Nuno Mendes' (which eventually donated to the Cathedral of Braga in 1103). If you'll recall, Sisnando's wife, Loba, was the daughter of Nuno Mendes. Nuno Mendes was killed while leading a revolt against the king, Garcia of Galicia in 1071, and died during a battle in Pedroso, between Braga and the river Cávado. From 1065 until his death, Count Nuno Mendes controlled Oporto District of the County of Portugal.

Muslims residing willingly as subjects of a Christian kingdom of the Iberian Peninsula (see Andalusia) were known as Mudejars. The phenomenon of Mudejarism emerged with the Christian capture of Muslim territories, for example Toledo (1085), and concluded with the decrees of compulsory conversion to Christianity (1501, 1515, 1526). The Spanish term mudéjar derives from an Arabic verb connoting inter alia the taming of wild animals. Mudejarism differs conceptually from the Quranic status of dhimmi (protected peoples) that Muslims accorded non-Muslim "People of the Book" residing in Islamic territories. Whereas Islamic law protected non-Muslims, the Mudejars could be disenfranchised and enslaved with impunity.

The survival of Mudejar culture and institutions depended upon whether the capture was accomplished through negotiated surrender or military defeat, the ratio of Muslim to Christian populations, the competing interests of the monarchy and the papacy, and economic exigencies. For instance, during the conquest of the Balearic Islands, the Muslims of Menorca refused to surrender and were enslaved. In Aragon, Navarre, Castile, and Portugal, however, many Mudejars capitulated following negotiations between local Muslim rulers and the Christians. In theory, these treaties safeguarded Mudejar property, customs, and institutions provided they swore loyalty to the monarchy and paid an annual capitulation tax. In practice, however, Mudejar rights were often curtailed.

Congregational mosques were confiscated and converted into churches. In Aragon, the Crown appointed Islamic judgeships and judicial rulings could be overturned in a higher Christian court. In Navarre and especially Valencia, where the Mudejar majority constituted an indispensable economic "royal treasure," Muslims were banned from emigration to Islamic territories. Papal council edicts ordering the use of distinguishing clothing for Muslims (Fourth Lateran Council, 1215) and prohibiting the call to prayer and Muslim pilgrimages (Council of Vienna, 1311) were applied in Castile and Aragon, but rarely enforced in Valencia. Increasingly from the 13th century, Mudejars were confined to ghettos (aljamas).

Mudejar institutions declined as the supply of competent teachers of Arabic and the Islamic sciences diminished. In response, the Mudejars developed strategies of cultural resistance. Isa ibn Jubayr of Segovia translated the Quran and an abridged sunna into Romance (Latin-derived languages) for the Mudejars who no longer understood Arabic. Mudejars banned from travel abroad wrote to Muslim jurists (muftis) to seek legal opinions (fatwas) regarding how to preserve Islam under Christian rule. Mudejar jurists and preachers urged the strict application of Islamic ritual purity and morality codes in everyday life. Such strategies also challenged uncompromising judges such as Averroes Muhammad Ibn Rushd (d. 1122), who condemned the Mudejars for remaining in non-Muslim territory.

Under the patronage of Christian monarchs, Mudejars collaborated in the translation schools that transmitted classical and Islamic knowledge to western Europe. Mudejar architects, artisans, and institutions left their cultural imprint on the Iberian Christian kingdoms. Mudejar arabesque decorations and brickwork appear in churches and palaces built in Spain and Portugal and in the Americas from the 16th century. Following the royal decrees of compulsory conversion to Christianity, Mudejars came to be known as Moriscos.

There is no complete history of Sisnando Davidiz, but general information can be gathered from several sources. Sisnando was the son of David and Sushana (Serrano 1979: 67), rich Mozarab property owners living in lands in Tentugal and Coimbra (Serrano 1968: 848). He was also known to the Arabs by the name Abu Amir’ (Simonet 1967: 655), and Shishnandu’, according to one Muslim chronicler (Tibi 1986: 226, note 241). It should be noted that birth in Tentugal is inferred - please recall that Tentugal and Coimbra, in the year of Sisnando's birth, was controlled from Toledo. Thus we could just as easily suggest that his parents living in Toledo controlled lands that were originally under the control of Jews but was later confiscated by Count Henry of Burgandy... Thus, Sisnando's appointment to position of Count of Coimbra was to recapture family lands.

His general history shows that he was captured in a raid by Abbad II al-Mu'tadid ' the Abbadid ruler of Seville" (Tibyān García Gómez and Menéndez Pidal, El conde Sisnando Davidizy la politica de Alfonso VI con los Taifas, in al-Andalus, xii [1947], 24-41), and he reinforced this himself by saying Tentugal quae fuit haereditas patrum meorum’ in a document (Simonet 1967: 655). He might have been one of the Mozarabs captured in Alafoens (Dozy 1988: 26, n.5), although some sources feel that this is not possible as it was captured in 1020 yet Sisnando did not die until 1091 (Simonet 1967: 655).

Conversely, according to Serrano, he was taken by the Muslims in 1026 (1968: 848) in ransom. Simonet also tells us that Sisnando has been proven not to have been an exile or an immigrant from the free Christian part in the north of the Western Peninsula (1967: 655). It is only safe to say that Sisnando was born in a suburb of Tentugal, to the west of Coimbra, and was captured at some time in a raid by the king of Seville, al-Muqtadir. Sisnando was born a Jew, but was forcibly converted to Islam by the Emir of Seville (Lemay 1984: 412), although Serrano claims that he was a Mozarab (1968: 848). In truth he was both - we could call him the first crypto-Jew operating within Christian lands.

Sisnando had an illustrious military career. Upon his capture by al-Muqtadid, he quickly proved his bravery and talent and was elevated to leading an army against the Christians. The Muslims were victorious under his command (Simonet 1967: 656). At ®rst he worked as a go-between for al-Muqtadid and Fernando I, but he eventually became afraid of the former and changed his loyalties to Fernando and the Christians. After his defection, Sisnando served the kings of LeoÂn as a mediator between other Muslim (taifa) kings. Even though he had been responsible for defeating the christians previously, on transferring his loyalties Sisnando was accepted and given the honour due to one of his fame and achievements in battle. He quickly rose in Christian circles, and it was he who suggested to Fernando that he should invade Lusitania, the land north of the rivers Mondego and Alba where there still remained a reasonable number of Christian residents. As a result of Sisnando’s advice, Fernando was victorious in and around Coimbra and took all the land to the north of the rivers about 1058.

He forced the Muslims to leave and allowed the Christians to stay. As a reward he made Sisnando governor of the newly reconquered country, and gave him land nearby, his jurisdiction extending from the Duero to the Mondego (Simonet 1967: 655±57). Although the date of the capture of Coimbra is disputed by some sources, Sisnando was undoubtedly with Fernando before it fell. The success of the reconquest was due mainly to the co-operation of the Christians living in the area and Sisnando’s good services. When Fernando died in 1065, his sons and successors kept Count Sisnando as the governor of Coimbra and he, in his turn, served them loyally until his death (Simonet 1967: 655, 657).

He accompanied Alfonso VI in his campaign around Seville and Granada (Garcõna Gomez and Menendez Pidal 1947: 34). He was involved with Alfonso in the attacks on Granada in 1073, in an attempt to reconquer the main Muslim strongholds (Tibi 1986: 90). The pursuit of Seville was later called off in 1075 (Tibi 1986: 224, note 226). In the same year, Sisnando was with Alfonso VI in Oviedo twice, first assisting at Court, where the Cid was also present, and later acting as a judge in a dispute over a monastery (Garcõna Gomez and MeneÂndez Pidal 1947: 30). Between 1076 and 1080 Sisnando was in Zaragoza as an ambassador for the King, and was attached to Alfonso VI’s court during the siege of Toledo in 1085. As Sisnando was with Alfonso in 1073 and still with him in 1085 when Toledo fell, it is safe to assume that he was with him in 1075, at some time, in or near Seville. In the documents quoted he was also referred to as a renegade Sevillian’ (Garcõn Gomez and Menendez Pidal 1947: 28±30).

Sisnando thrice (1076, 1080, and 1088) acted as an envoy from Alfonso to the taifa of Zaragoza, and on another occasion to Abd Allah, the last Zirid king of Granada. To the latter Sisnando explained that the parias (tributes) that Alfonso exacted from him were intended to weaken him as a prelude to re-conquest.[Catlos, Brian A. The Victors and the Vanquished: Christians and Muslims of Catalonia and Aragon, 1050–1300. Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, Fourth Series, 59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 0 521 82234 3. ]

Sisnando was appointed the first governor (Emir) of Toledo after its fall in 1085 and he implemented the Alfonsine policy of tolerance to the Mozarabs and Mudéjars (Muslims) of the region. His appointment was probably related to his Mozarabic roots.

Sisnando counseled Alfonso to maintain good relations with al-Qadir of Toledo by acting as the taifa's governor and protector (instead of foreign overlord interfering in its internal affairs), but when this advice was ignored the way was opened for the Almoravid conquest of Toledo, which Alfonso had treated as a tributary state; following that success the Almoravids made several gains against the Castilians. According to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, if Sisnando's far-sighted advice had been heeded, the disaster of the Almoravids and the failure of Alfonso's empire to survive his death could have been averted.

Lemay tells us that Sisnando was originally wazir (vizier) of Seville under al-Muqtadid and later, on joining Fernando and helping him take Coimbra, he was made vizier of that area and held the post from 1063 until his death in 1091, apart from a brief interruption in 1085 (1984: 412±13). During that year, Sisnando went to Toledo with Alfonso VI where, after helping with the reconquest, Alfonso made him governor. However, not liking the French influence of Bishop Bernard de Sedirac, and his patron, Queen Constance of Bourgogne, Sisnando returned to Limia. It is for this coupling of the two place names, Seville and Limia, added to the fact that he was in Seville in 1085 (1963: 649±52), that Lemay suggests that Johannes Hispalensis et Limiensis (Abraham ibn Daud) was Sisnando’s son - a theory rejected by this writer.

According to Garcõna Gomez and Menendez Pidal, Sisnando was named in a charter dated 29th May 1085 as being involved with Alfonso VI in the defeat of Toledo, and subsequently being made governor. The narrative document was confirmed later by Alfonso VI in April 1093 (1947: 36). Alfonso was in Toledo in December 1085 changing the Mosque into a Cathedral; and Sisnando was with him during the endowment of the Cathedral to the city, because he was a signatory to the agreement which took place in Toledo on 18th December that year.

However, on 31st October of that same year, Sisnando was not in Toledo. He was witnessing a document relating to the monastery of San Pedro de Arouca, which was signed in his presence in Coimbra (Garcõna Gomez and Menenndez Pidal 1947: 36, 40±41). Therefore, five months after the fall of Toledo, he was back in Coimbra, and no mention was made of a visit to Seville.

The reason for suggesting Sisnando Davidis is the father of Abraham ibn Daud is due to the fact that this adventuresome personality was attached (stationary) with the royal family of Leon at a time that encompasses Johannes Hispalensis’s early years (Robinson 2000: 62±67).

The history linking Sisnando’s family and Alfonso VI’s had its roots early in 1065 after Fernando I died. If Sisnando had a son sometime during the two years of campaigning in and around Seville and Granada (1073± 1075), that son would have been born a few years before Tarasia. The district of Coimbra, as we have said, included the tract from the Douro to the Mondego, while Oporto, dismembered from it in the land of Santa Maria (Feira), extended to the north and east, and perchance included Alto Minho, and a part of the province of Tras-os-Montes. Inclusively up to Galicia, the territory denominated in the documents and chronicles of the eleventh and twelfth centuries as Portucale, Terra porittcalenses, commenced to appear as a distinct province.

Sisnando called his daughter Elvira, and as his connection with the Royal family was quite profound, and knowing that this was Alfonso VI’s sister’s name (Florez 1763: 274, 315), Sisnando might have named his own daughter after her. Part of Elvira’s history is chronicled because she married Martõn (Martim) Munoz of Montemayor in 1087 (Livermore 1973: 31) but no mention is made of a son born to Sisnando.

A few years after Sisnando’s daughter was born, Alfonso also used this name for his first child by Jimena Munoz. Sisnando’s daughter, and any other children he had, would quite probably have known Alfonso’s illegitimate daughters, Tarasia and Elvira. However, the connection with the royal family did not end there. Sisnando governed in Coimbra until his death when his son-in-law, Martõn (Martim) Munoz, succeeded him (Garcõna Gomez and Menenndez Pidal 1947: 31).

The general historical facts of the time have been put together to form a picture with what we know of Sisnando, his family and Alfonso VI, with the objective of finding a link with Johannes Hispalensis. Until now nothing concrete has been uncovered to associate the two historical figures. However, the discovery of two very important documents adds a different outlook to the conjectures. The first was dated 19th March 1116. It was a testament made by the Bishop of Coimbra, Goncalo, in which mention was made of Tarasia (Azevedro 1980: 6, n.6). One of the witnesses to the document was Sesnandus Iohannis.

Sisnando’s daughter was Elvira Sesnandiz (Smith 1972: 345). The patronymic shows that she was the daughter of Sisnando. The witness to the document has Sesnandus as his Christian name.18 His patronymic denotes son of Iohannes’. However, there could be some doubt cast over the authenticity of this name. As a result of the many transcription errors at that time, perhaps an error was made on transferring the document from the original handwritten version into print. A confusion in reading or transcribing the original Latin could have led to Iohannes Sesnandis (Sesnandis Iohannes) becoming Sesnandus Iohannis’. Faced with a decision to make, a copyist could have decided that the surname was Iohannis and the Christian name Sesnandus (Robinson 2000: App. A.).

After Sisnando died, Alfonso VI was nervous and wanted a family member to rule in place of Martim Munoz - Alfonso avoided that risk by converting the whole of Gauida into one great seigniority, whose government he entrusted to a member of his family, and to whom he also gave Coimbra and Santarem after they were conquered, removing to the district of Arouca Martin Moniz, and subjecting him to the new governor of Santarem, Sueiro Mendes.

The prince to whom Alfonso entrusted the government of this important portion of the monarchy was a naturalised foreigner, Raymund, son of William, Count of Burgandy, who had come over to Spain some time previously — some say in 1079 or 1080 — ^in the suite of Queen Constancia, the second wife of Alfonso VI., or, according to the Lusitanian or Crothic Chronicles, in 1086, on the occasion when many French crossed the Pyrenees to join in the battle of Zalaka, while there are others who say he came after that battle was fought. The King of Leon gave his only legitimate daughter Urraca, by Queen Constancia, in marriage to the Count of Burgandy while still almost a child, being only about thirteen or fourteen years of age (1094). The Infanta was given to the Count, but under the tutorship and care of the youthful Presbyter Peter, master or governor of the youthful princess. The Count was entrusted with the government of the whole western part of the monarchy, and the defence of all that frontier.

In a document dated 18th June 1116, three months after the document in which Sesnandus Iohannis was a witness, Tarasia was referred to as Queen. It heralded the first acknowledgement of Tarasia’s claim from Rome. Sent by Paschal II, Tarasia was referred to as T. Reginae’20 (Reilly 1988: 117). She used the title in May 1117; and later increased it to Queen of Portugal. On 19th March 1116, she was referred to in a document as domna Tharasia’ and in April of the same year as Domna Tarasia’ (Azevedro 1980: 6, doc. 9). Her name was usually spelled out in full, if not always with the same spelling: Tarasia; Tharasia; or Taresia (Monterde Albiac 1996: 42, 65, 206).

On 29th December 1118 she is referred to as Queen Tarasia (Azevedro 1980: 69, doc. 79)22 and again in 1119/1120 (Azevedro 1980: 72, no 6, doc. 84). It would appear therefore that to address her as T. regine’ was an unusual event, rather than a normal one, as she was usually given some rendering of her full name, which included the word Domna’, before being referred to as Queen. After June 1116, she was called Regina Tarasia’ or something similar. The document is therefore significant for more than one reason. It was the first time that Rome had officially acceded to her claims to be queen, and secondly because her name was abbreviated to the first initial.

In Hispalensis’s translation of the Secretum Secretorum we see that he is referring back to a time when the recipient was concerned with her health, and interested in information about a diet. The translation begins:

Lady T. by the grace of God, queen of the Spains, John of Seville gives greetings. When we were once discussing the uses of the body and your nobility was asking from me, as if I were a doctor, that I should compose a short booklet on the observation of a diet, or about the continence of the body.’ (Thorndike 1959: 25±27; Burnett1995: 257).

This could be linked to Tarasia’s giving birth to her first daughter in 1118 or early 1119. If it is feasible that Tarasia had been ill when she spoke to Johannes Hispalensis about her health, evidence of this might be provided by the gap in the documents. In 1119 a doctor is mentioned but no explanation is given, and later the references to Tarasia begin again (Florez 1765: 266, 269, 271). There are two other crucial pieces of evidence to suggest that she must have had her first daughter c. 1118. She had two children from her liaison with Perez, yet by 1120, at the age of forty, she was again heavily involved in battles against Urraca.

From that year onwards, she is mentioned constantly in the documents. The words that Johannes Hispalensis wrote to Tarasia in the Secretum Secretorum now take on a more significant meaning. From the translation, we know that the Queen had asked Hispalensis if he would write a short booklet on diets. All this would be understandable if she had recently had a child.

Although Burnett has suggested that the Secretum Secretorum was written between 1112 and 1128, Tarasia’s personal history provides a nearer estimation to the year being 1118/1119. There appears no doubt that the Secretum Secretorum was Hispalensis’s first translation for he mentions his inexperience. Thorndike tells us that the allusion to this by the translator would seem more appropriate for a beginner than for a Johannes Hispalensis later in his career (1959: 27).

There are various explanations that could be inferred from this. One is that Hispalensis did not need to include the word Limia in the first two works because they were addressed to acquaintances who knew where he was. It cannot be certain that he ever considered translating as a career when he worked on his initial three medical translations, perhaps already more than 40 years of age. It was long before Archbishop Raymond appeared on the scene and his career, assuming he had one attached to Tarasia in some way, would have been of long standing. He knew both Latin and Arabic, but it was not until his translation of the Secretum Secretorum that he made an attempt to use his knowledge of the two languages in this way. The evidence points to nothing more than two personal medical translations dedicated to acquaintances. The addition of the extra place-name, however, adds a different perspective to his intentions. When he translated Costa ben Luca’s De differentia spiritus et animae, he was declaring his place of translation for the first time.

At this point, the emphasis on his translations shifted from personal to professional, possibly with the expectation of translating as a new career. The composition of the Secretum Secretorum had indicated a broad knowledge of Arabic literature (Thorndike 1959: 25). It is an obscure piece whose origin is unclear. All the various versions of this text can be traced back to an Arabic original done in 941 A.D. It was translated from Greek and then into Syriac, and subsequently into Arabic by a ninth-century translator called Yayha ibn-al-Bitriq (Ryan andSchmidt 1982: 1). Although an obscure piece, Hispalensis knew of its existence.

The Secretum Secretorum is followed by the tract on gout and the De differentia spiritus et animae. Coincidentally, Costa ben Luca also wrote an original medical treatise on gout. It was the Kitab fi'awja’ al-niqris’ and was a book on the treatment of the pains of gout. It exists in only one Arabic manuscript in Aleppo, al-Garrah in 476 (Sezgin 1977: 273; Bosworth et al, 1986: 529; Wilcox 1999: 114).

In a comprehensive list of Costa ben Luca’s work, it is classified as a Book of Arthritic Pain’ (Gabrieli 1912-1913: 344, 355). It would appear never to have been translated into Latin, and as far as anyone knows, only three of Costa ben Luca’s works appeared as Latin texts (Robinson 2000: 81). However, there is nothing to indicate that Johannes Hispalensis did not also use the treatise on gout for his Latin translation dedicated to the anti-pope. Only one Latin manuscript exists of the translation to Gregory. If it was sent to the anti-pope during his refuge in Sutri, it may have remained in his personal belongings until his arrest and imprisonment. In these circumstances, it may not have been available to copyists and would not therefore have become a popular translation of interest to scholars.

The myths attached to Hispalensis have shrouded his real identity, and his connection to Sisnando Davidiz. At times it is impossible to separate him from other translators. The whole issue surrounding the identification of Johannes Hispalensis has even influenced library cataloguers. Those who follow Jourdain’s original error in coupling the name Johannes with Avendauth/Ibn Daud, and Hispalensis, have been led to cite manuscripts by Johannes Hispalensis under the name Johannes Avendauth Hispalensis (British Library 1985), when there is no proof to connect the two names (Madan and Craster 1922: 375).

See the entry for the Royal collection where entries for Hispalensis read Johannes Avendeath, Hispalensis. The cataloguer quotes, The translator John was Johannes ibn Daud (Hispalensis)’. bhs , 80 (2003)

The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis lends evidence that reveals a manuscript where the two names form one identity (Robinson 2000: App. A.). In fact, there were various translators working after Hispalensis’s withdrawal from translating in 1142, who include Avendauth / Ibn Daud, Johannes Hispanus, Magister Iohannis and Iohannes Toletanus. They began to appear in manuscripts dated towards the latter half of the decade in which Hispalensis stopped. They were contemporaries of Gundissalinus and some of them formed a team with him in the early stages. As Johannes Hispalensis had been translating from Arabic into Latin as early as 1118, and stopped translating in 1142, he could not have been one of Gundissalinus’s collaborators in the late 1140s. Thorndike and Lemay identify Avendauth as a separate translator to Hispalensis (Thorndike 1959: 27, 30; Lemay 1962: 10).

D’Alverny identifies Magister Iohannes, probably a member of the Toledo chapter, as Gundissalinus’s collaborator, and informs us he is not to be identified with Avendauth (1982 [A]: 445). Allard also mentions that Magister Iohannes’ collaborated with Avendauth, and qualifies this by stating that the attributions of some manuscripts to a Magister Iohannes’, Archdeacon of Toledo, cannot be identified with John of Seville (1992: xviii). Johannes Hispanus also formed part of Gundissalinus’s team at the beginning and continued translating until very late in the century.

According to Lemay in “Dans L'Espagne” pg 650-52, and his “De La Scolastique” Sisnando Davidiz is the great-uncle of Abraham Ibn Daud and Hiyya ben David HaNasi; this therefore implies that Sinando Davidiz was the son of Hiyya ben David ben Zakai HaNasi; Sisnando's Hebrew name was Sheshnan Ibn Dauod who was kidnapped from his family and raised in the Caliph's court.

Sisnando (or Sesnando) Davides (also Davídez, Davídiz, or Davidiz, and sometimes just David; died 25 August 1091) was a Mozarab nobleman and military leader of the Reconquista, born in Tentúgal, near Coimbra. He was a contemporary and acquaintance of El Cid, but his sphere of activity was in Iberia's southwest.

Contemporary historians claim Sisnando Davidiz was captured during a raid by Abbad II al-Mu'tadid of Seville and taken into the service of the latter. However, relations between Jewish Exilarchs and Muslim Caliph's, In al-Andalus, were excellent in this region at that time. It was common for a Jewish Exilarch to send his son to live among a Caliph's Family in order to gain leverage over the Exilarch. To the Arabs he was known as Shishnando. He served al-Mutadid as an administrator and ambassador, but he left Seville and entered the service of Ferdinand I of León in an identical capacity.

In the following years the towns of Galicia from Guimarães down to Coimbra were captured from the Moors, the latter on Sisnando's advice in 1064 or 1069, with Sisnando leading the siege and being granted the countship of the region south of the Douro from Lamego to the sea after his success. He took the title aluazir (vizier) de Coimbra.

Sisnando continued in the service of Ferdinand's successor, Alfonso VI. In March 1075 Sisnando was at Oviedo with the king—his first appearance at court—and El Cid for the opening of the Arca Santa. Later that same month he was one of many judges in a case between the bishop of Oviedo and count Vela Oviéquez concerning the property of the monastery of San Salvador de Tol, though only he and El Cid signed the decision. Later in the year Sisnando was the principal leader of Alfonso's expedition against Seville and Granada. He took part in the expedition against Granada in 1080 as well.

Sisnando, on three (3) separate occassions, (1076, 1080, and 1088) acted as an envoy from Alfonso to the taifa of Zaragoza, and on another occasion to Abd Allah, the last Zirid king of Granada. To the latter Sisnando explained that the parias (tributes) that Alfonso exacted from him were intended to weaken him as a prelude to re-conquest.

Sisnando was appointed the first governor (amir) of Toledo after its fall in 1085 and he implemented the Alfonsine policy of tolerance to the Mozarabs and Mudéjars (Muslims) of the region. His appointment was probably related to his Mozarabic roots.

Sisnando counseled Alfonso to maintain good relations with al-Qadir of Toledo by acting as the taifa's governor and protector (instead of foreign overlord interfering in its internal affairs), but when this advice was ignored the way was opened for the Almoravid conquest of Toledo, which Alfonso had treated as a tributary state; following that success the Almoravids made several gains against the Castilians. According to Ramón Menéndez Pidal, if Sisnando's far-sighted advice had been heeded, the disaster of the Almoravids and the failure of Alfonso's empire to survive his death could have been averted.

The chief mosque of the city was to continue in Muslim hands. Alfonso was, by implication, to receive the free disposition of all other mosques of the city and of their endowment, the property of al-Qadir became his possession including the royal palaces-fortresses of the city and realm, and all Muslim inhabitants were to pay him the annual head tax customarily due from those of another faith. Separate agreements were reached as well with the considerable Jewish population of the city and kingdom and likely mirrored in most respects the accords reached with the Muslim population. Certainly their lives, property, freedom, and the exercise of their religion was guaranteed. Their freedom to leave was also probably granted as well and they too, if they stayed, would be subject to the annual head tax. Whether they possessed more than one synagogue and whether they remained secure in the possession of all of them cannot be asserted definitely. Jewish population of the city has recently been estimated at 4,000, which would be almost 15 percent of the total if Russell's estimate of 28,000 is accepted.

Finally the Christian Mozarabic population of the city and realm had to be guaranteed at least the free exercise of their liturgy according to the Toledan rite, which was being progressively displaced elsewhere in the realm of Alfonso VI. If they had preserved their bishop through the trying events of the previous twenty years, they were nevertheless to find him shortly replaced by a Frenchman and an adherent of the Roman liturgy. Since the prelate of Toledo had been a client of the kings of León-Castilla from the days of Fernando I, such an innovation would have to have been a matter for negotiation. The Mozarabs had long maintained no fewer than six churches in the city dedicated to the use of their own liturgy so that they had been an important part of the population in Muslim times. An estimate that they constituted somewhere between 15 and 25 percent of the population does not seem unreasonable.

When Toledo fell, agreements were negotiated with the Jewish and Mozarabic elements of the city. Certainly, unless he were very enlightened indeed or almost totally dependent on their support, al-Qadir would not have cared to have them complicate his own negotiations with Alfonso on behalf of himself and of the Muslim majority. At the very least the concerns of Jew and Mozarab must have been taken up immediately after May 25, for the Leonese monarch was seriously concerned about the stability of the city population.

Within a short time of the conquest of Toledo Sisnando fell into disfavour with Constance of Burgundy, Alfonso's second queen, and her French court, including Bernard de Sedirac, the archbishop elect of Toledo. Ibn Bassam records that Sisnando sought to convince Alfonso to spare the mosque of Toledo, though he did not. This, however, is false, as it was not Alfonso, but Queen Constance and the new Archbishop Bernard who reconsecrated the mosque as a Christian church.

Within six months of the conquest of Toledo, Sisnando was back in Coimbra, but he was in Toledo for the consecration of the new cathedral in December. As Sisnandus Conimbriensis consul ("consul of Coimbra") his signature appears seventh on the document of reconsecration. He had been replaced as governor of Toledo by Pedro Ansúrez (Petrus Ansuriz).

The appearance of a second ecclesiastical center on the Mondego River at Coimbra seems to have been a result of the operation of local forces rather than Sisnando's initiative, as an interpolated document of 13 April 1086 suggests. According to a diploma of 1086, when Paternus, Mozarab Bishop of Tortosa, came to Ferdinand I at Santiago de Compostela in 1064 on a mission from Moctadir of Zaragoza, he was approached by Sisnando, who offered him the see of Coimbra. Between 1076 and 1080, while he was at Zaragoza, Sisnando is said to have finally convinced Paterno to come west and take up the see of Coimbra. But the document of 1 March 1088 on which this claim is made is not trustworthy and the notion that the king sent Sisnando to Zaragoza for just such a purpose as recruiting a bishop is false. A Paternus was bishop of Coimbra as early as 20 November 1078. He is last mentioned as bishop on 1 March 1088 and never appears as a confirmant of a royal document. The rise of a second ecclesiastical center on the Mondego River in the south at Coimbra seems to have been a result of local forces operating on that far frontier. An interpolated document of Apríl 13, 1086, attributes the appearance there of a Mozárab bishop named Paterno, formerly of Tortosa, to the initiative of Sisnando Davídez, but all we can say with assurance is that Paterno is reliably first cited as bishop on November 20, 1078.

Portugal appears first in the western European world as a frontier district of the kingdom of León created by the Reconquista. Naturally difficult to control from the interior of the peninsula, it had alternated between the Muslim and the Christian worlds from the ninth to the eleventh centuries. Then the definitive reconquest of Coimbra by Fernando I in 1064 secured all of Portugal north of Santarem for León-Castilla. But isolated behind its mountains and easily approachable only from the north, that string of river valley facing the Atlantic presented the most onerous problems of government from this beginning.

During Alfonso VI's reign there is scattered evidence that single individuals held the royal jurisdiction in the region about Braga. In the territory to the south in and around Coimbra a separate jurisdiction under the local Mozárab Sisnando Davídez existed from the early reign of Alfonso VI if not perhaps from the time of Fernando I as has been asserted. Apparently part of the royal agenda for the Council of Husillos of 1088 was the enhancing of royal control over Coimbra and its environs. The sole preserved document of the council was confirmed by a Martin, bishop-elect of Coimbra. Later in the same year a private document of Coimbra cited him, although still just as bishop-elect. Pierre David identified him as prior of the cathedral chapter of Coimbra and as the protégé of Sisnando Davides, who opposed the substitution of the Mozarabic rite (also known as Visigothic or Hispanic rite) for the Roman rite. But if Sisnando had proposed him and Alfonso had accepted him it is difficult to see why he was never consecrated. This obscure dispute continued for in the following year (1089) one Julian appears as bishop and in 1091 a John. They are probably the same person. In the 1091 document the bishop was given permission to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Alfonso VI seems to have lost patience with the state of diocesan affairs in Coimbra and had secured the election of a new bishop at Eastertime of 1091. The new bishop, Cresconius, was the former abbot of Saint Bartholomew of Túy and was essentially a royal choice. He was consecrated by the archbishop of Toledo with the assistance of the bishops of Túy and Orense. The participation of these latter, as well as later events, suggests that Cresconius would have been acceptable to Raymond of Burgundy also. But the consecration and installation of the royal candidate at Coimbra may have had to wait on the death of Sisnando.

He was buried in the Old Cathedral of Coimbra and was succeeded by his son-in-law Martín Muñoz (Martim Moniz) de Montemayor. The County of Coimbra disappeared as an autonomous fief in 1093, having been integrated into the Second County of Portugal at the moment of its restoration in 1095 under Henry of Burgundy.

Sisnando Davidiz o Sesnando Davides, mozárabe de Tentúgal tal vez hijo de judíos, educado en Córdoba y que ha ejercido altos cargos en la corte de Sevilla, convence a Fernando I, de quien ahora es valido y conquista la ciudad de Coimbra (Portugal) a Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Muzaffar (rey de Badajoz), la repuebla y se convierte en gobernador (1064-91?) con rango de conde o alguacil, construyendo varios castillos en sus alrededores y el rey obliga a los reyes taifas de Badajoz, Toledo y Sevilla a pagarle parias. http://cronologiahistorica.com/index.php/siglo-xi-los-reinos-taifas...

Citation

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