Traitor, hero, man of destiny? Sultan Muhammad XI and the fall of the Islamic empire in the west

CIS Public Talk given by Elizabeth Drayson

In 1482, Abu Abdallah Muhammad XI, known as Boabdil, became the twenty-third Muslim emir of Granada. He would be the last. His bitter defeat by Christian forces brought over seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain to an end in a story of intrigue, treachery, bravery and tragedy. This talk is focused on a man demonized by history as a cowardly traitor yet seen in a different light in his time, as original historical documents and contemporary sources suggest. It aims to tell the story of the fall of Muslim Granada from his point of view, and to present him as a man who might be seen as a modern-day hero.