Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz I al-Mustansir

Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz I was one of the most energetic late Marinid sovereigns. Seizing power in 1366, he executed the overbearing vizier Umar ibn Abdallah and re-established undisputed royal supremacy. He campaigned successfully in the south, pacifying the Sous and Sijilmassa, before marching east in 1370 to conquer Tlemcen from the Zayyanids.

A cultured ruler, Abd al-Aziz patronized poets and scholars, appointing the renowned historian Ibn Khaldun to conduct high-stakes diplomatic negotiations with nomadic desert tribes. His unexpected death in 1372 at age twenty-three cut short a promising imperial restoration.