IFAO

Rares sont les souverains andalous dont la vie se prêta autant à l’élaboration d’un mythe que celle d’al-Muʿtamid Ibn ʿAbbād, dernier roi ʿabbādide de Séville. Ce mythe, forgé et entretenu par les auteurs andalous, repris et amplifié par l’historiographie des xixe et xxe siècles, repose sur la personnalité de ce prince, grand combattant tout autant qu’excellent poète, mais aussi sur un destin exceptionnel : il fut le plus glorieux des princes andalous du xie siècle, mais, démis par les Berbères almoravides à la fin du siècle, il finit sa vie miséreux et en exil. Le destin d’al-Muʿtamid serait sans aucun doute beaucoup moins romanesque si ce roi ne s’était pas trouvé, de surcroît, au centre d’une constellation familiale et amicale aussi complexe que fascinante, au sein de laquelle la pratique de l’art poétique joue un rôle fondamental. Nombreux sont les textes qui abordent ses relations ombrageuses avec son père, le terrible al-Muʿtaḍid, sa passion pour celle qu’il fit reine sous le nom d’Iʿtimād, son attachement pour son compagnon et vizir Ibn ʿAmmār et enfin sa tendresse pour ses enfants, qu’il exprima dans ses poésies composées en exil.

Mots-clés : al-Andalus – poésie arabe – al-Muʿtamid Ibn ʿAbbād

Very few are the Andalusian princes whose lives led to the coining of such a myth as that of al-Muʿtamid Ibn ʿAbbād, last Abbadid king of Sevilla. This myth, forged and kept alive by the Andalusian authors, taken up and enhanced by the 19th and 20th century historiographers, lies in the personality of this prince, a great warrior as well as an excellent poet, but also in his outstanding fate : he was the most glorious Andalusian prince of the 11th century, but, dismissed from his duties by the Almoravid Berbers, he ended up his life, destitute and in exile. Al-Muʿtamid Ibn ʿAbbād’s fate would no doubt be far less romantic had he not spent his life in the bosom of a family and friendly circle, which was both complex and fascinating and where the art and practice of poetry played a prominent part. Many are the texts that tackle his prickly relationship with his father, the great al-Muʿtaḍid, his passion for the lady he made queen under the name of Iʿtimād, his affection for his companion and vizir, Ibn ʿAmmār, and to finish, the tenderness for his children he expressed in the poems he composed when he was in exile.