twelfth-century al-Andalus, focusing on the eventful reign of Muhammad ibn Sad ibn Ahmad
ibn Mardanīsh (r. 1147–1172). Celebrated in Castilian and Latin sources as el rey lobo/rex
lupus and denigrated by Almohad and later Arabic sources as irreligious and disloyal to
fellow Muslims because he fought the Almohads and served as vassal to the Castilians, Ibn
Mardanīsh ruled a kingdom that at its peak constituted nearly half of al-Andalus and served …