Království Malorka [1231–1349]

When James I completed his military invasion of the Balearic Islands in 1231, he was unable to break the resistance of all the local Muslim communities due to the weakened military forces. One such territory was the island of Menorca, to which the sheriff Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi (who had been a tax collector and military commander in the islands since 1227) withdrew with his forces. After negotiations between envoys of James I and representatives of the Muslim community on Menorca, the Treaty of Capdepera was signed on 17 June 1231, making the island a vassal of the Kingdom of Majorca with its own administration and wide autonomy. The treaty granted the island broad political autonomy and military protection of the island by the King of Majorca in exchange for the payment of an annual tribute of three thousand quintals¹⁾ of wheat, one hundred cows and five hundred goats or sheep, later augmented by two quintals²⁾ of fresh butter and two hundred pheasants in return for the right to transport cattle through the kingdom.


In 1234, the island's government was militarily opposed by Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd ibn Hakam al Qurashi, who usurped power for himself on the island and, as Ra'îs of Menorca, negotiated a new treaty with King James I The island under his rule saw the re-establishment of the harsh enforcement of Islamic law, but the economy also prospered. He created his own government made up of ministers and clan representatives, as well as his own small mercenary army. His policies allowed the Muslim community on the island of Menorca to live relatively freely through the Reconquista period, during which other Muslim communities in the Iberian region were one by one subject to Catholic rulers.
Abû 'Uthmân Sa'îd ibn Hakam al-Qurashi died in 1282 and was succeeded by his son Abû 'Umar ibn Sa'îd.


This vassal relationship between the Muslim self-government of the island and the Catholic ruler of the kingdom lasted until 1287, when, during the Aragonese invasion led by King Alfonso III, the local Muslims were defeated and followed the fate of their mainland contemporaries.




¹⁾ unit of volume, 1q=cca 281 l
²⁾ unit of mass, quintal=metric cent, quintal=100 kg

Source: en.wikipedia.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Majorca