Mahdia Expedition (1087)

A naval campaign fought by mainly Pisan and Genoese forces against the Zirid emirate in North Africa. It resulted in the temporary conquest of the city of Mahdia (mod. al-Mahdiya, Tunisia) with its suburb of Zawila. This enterprise has been seen as a kind of precursor of the First Crusade (1096-1099) and is described in a triumphal poem, the Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, written by a Pisan cleric.

For Pisa and Genoa this campaign was one of a series of

Enterprises mounted against Muslim ports in the course of the eleventh century, often in retaliation for raids. It was organized by Pisa, at the request of the pope, with the aim of attacking the Zirid emir al-Tamim ibn al-Mu‘izz (d. 1108), who had at his disposal the most powerful Muslim fleet in the Mediterranean. The Italian fleet was made up of about 300 Pisan, Genoese, and Amalfitan ships under the command of the Pisan viscount Hugo. It departed in 1087 and stopped at Rome, probably combining the campaign with a pilgrimage, which was probably meant as penitence for temporary support for Emperor Henry IV during his disputes with the papacy. When al-Tamim’s fleet was too far away to defend the coastal cities, the Italian ships attacked and conquered the suburb of Zawila on the feast of St. Sixtus (6 August). It went on to capture Mahdia, al-Tamim’s capital and principal port and an important emporium.

According to the Carmen in victoriam Pisanorum, the towns were offered to Roger I of Sicily, who declined because of his friendship with al-Tamim. The fleet managed to impose a treaty of submission to the See of St. Peter on the emir, and Pisa and Genoa obtained some favorable trading rights in the Zirid territories. Although Mahdia was not held for long and the enterprise did not have any major impact on the Muslims of North Africa, it may have served as an example of a successful “anti-pagan” campaign carried out in connection with a pilgrimage.

-Michael Matzke

See also: Africa; Pisa

Bibliography

Cowdrey, H. E. John, “The Mahdia Campaign of 1087,” The English Historical Review 92 (1977), 1-29.

Hettinger, Anette, Die Beziehungen des Papsttums zu Afrika von der Mitte des 11. bis zum Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts (Koln: Bohlau, 1993).

Scalia, Giuseppe, “Il carme pisano suh’impresa contro i Saraceni del 1087,” in Studi di Filologia romanza offerti a Silvio Pellegrini (Padova: Liviana, 1971), pp. 565-627.