Al‐Mustansir, Charles of Anjou, and the Struggle for the Central Mediterranean

Tunis and Sicily had entangled histories in the Middle Ages. This chapter explores how two powerful Mediterranean dynasts—Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily, and al‐Mustansir, emir of Tunis—struggled to assert themselves in the Sicilian Straits in the mid‐thirteenth century. While al‐Mustansir wanted Sicilian grain to feed his people, Charles needed African gold to pay for the debts he had accumulated in conquering Sicily in 1266. The question remained how that strategic interdependence would work itself out: would Charles and al‐Mustansir be partners, or would they wage a zero‐sum struggle to control the central Mediterranean? When al‐Mustansir sponsored an expeditionary force that landed on the coast of Sicily in the fall of 1267, it looked as if conflict would prevail. As it turned out, the landing was really the opening salvo in a negotiation that would extend throughout the course of the Tunis Crusade.