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In the first webinar of our series, we welcomed Abdelhak Boumsied, a fourth-year joint PhD candidate at École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) in Paris and at Universiteit Antwerpen. He completed his Master's degree at Aix-Marseille University with a dissertation on diplomacy between Aragon and Tlemcen. His PhD research focuses on the diplomatic activity of the post-Almohad states of the Maghreb—the Hafsids, Marinids, and Abdelwadids—during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Through a close study of diplomatic correspondence and political practice, he examines how these North African dynasties managed their relations with neighbouring Muslim powers and with the Crown of Aragon. During his academic training, he was also lecturer of medieval history at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

In this seminar, entitled A Few Cases of Aragonese Ambassadors Accused of Inappropriate Behaviour During Diplomatic Exchanges between the Crown of Aragon, Fez, and Tunis in the Fourteenth Century, Abdelhak presented a fascinating case study drawn from his broader doctoral research. His presentation explored what happened when diplomacy failed—or, more precisely, when diplomats themselves became the source of diplomatic tensions.

At the heart of Abdelhak's research lies a remarkable collection of Arabic diplomatic documents preserved in the Archives of the Crown of Aragon. Known as the Cartas Árabes, these letters constitute one of the richest surviving collections of diplomatic correspondence exchanged between Christian and Muslim rulers in the medieval western Mediterranean. For the post-Almohad states of North Africa—whose own archives have survived only fragmentarily—these documents offer a rare opportunity to investigate how diplomacy functioned in practice. They provide valuable evidence for understanding diplomatic norms, expectations, and the people responsible for conducting relations between states.

The central focus of the seminar was a series of complaints directed against Aragonese ambassadors by Hafsid and Marinid authorities during the fourteenth century. These accusations are particularly revealing because they expose moments when diplomatic relations became strained. Rather than presenting diplomacy as a smooth process of negotiation and agreement, the sources reveal a world in which trust could be broken, reputations challenged, and diplomatic missions derailed by the conduct of individual actors. Several letters mention ambassadors accused of fraud or deception. Others describe representatives who allegedly failed to honour promises made during negotiations. In some instances, diplomatic agents were even accused of participating in acts of piracy or privateering—activities fundamentally at odds with their official role as intermediaries between rulers.

Such cases raise important questions. What standards of conduct were expected from medieval ambassadors? How were diplomatic representatives selected, and what degree of accountability did they face? To what extent did rulers judge ambassadors according to shared norms that transcended political and religious boundaries? By examining these incidents, Abdelhak demonstrates that diplomatic misconduct was not merely a personal matter. Complaints against ambassadors reveal broader expectations about honesty, loyalty, and trustworthiness in diplomatic exchanges. They also suggest that Christian and Muslim courts shared common assumptions regarding the behaviour expected from official representatives. These episodes therefore provide a unique perspective on the practical functioning of intercultural diplomacy in the medieval Mediterranean.

The seminar also highlighted another group of actors who played an important role in diplomatic relations: viziers and high-ranking court officials. Several letters in the Cartas Árabes collection bear the autograph signatures of prominent viziers. Far from being a minor administrative detail, these signatures reveal the growing political influence exercised by powerful ministers within the post-Almohad states during the fourteenth century. Negotiations often depended upon influential intermediaries who managed correspondence, organised embassies, and participated directly in discussions with foreign powers. The letters allow historians to observe these actors at work and to reconstruct their role within broader diplomatic networks. In doing so, they offer valuable insight into the internal political dynamics of the Hafsid, Marinid, and Abdelwadid states.

The seminar was discussed by Dr. Roser Salicrú i Lluch, Senior Researcher of Medieval Studies at the Milà i Fontanals Institution of the Spanish National Research Council, in Barcelona. Her research interests focus on the relations between Christianity and Islam in the Western Mediterranean in the Late Middle Ages, with emphasis on diplomacy and intercultural entanglements and specific attention to Iberian Peninsula and the former Crown of Aragon. Her extensive academic production also focuses on captivity and slavery, travel and travellers, and trade, navigation and shipbuilding in the medieval Mediterranean.