Muhammed V, Sultan of Granada

Muhammed V (1338-16 January 1391) was the eighth Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia.. Eldest son and heir of Yusuf I by his slave Butayna, Muhammad V was born in 1338. He also had a younger full-blood sister, A'isha, two half brothers and five half-sisters. He ruled between 1354–1359 and 1362–1391, and is best known for completing the royal palace of the Alhambra with the Palace of the Lions and the Mexuar, or Cuarto Dorado. He inherited the throne from Yusuf I but was overthrown in August 1359 by his half-brother Ismail II and sought protection with the Marinid sultan of Fez, where Muhammed was inspired with fresh examples of architecture. Ismail was overthrown and murdered with his brother Qays less than a year later in 1360, by his brother-in-law, Abu Said, who ruled as Muhammed VI but was overthrown in turn by Muhammed V, who returned to the throne for another 29 years.

During the three-year period of the reign of Muhammed VI, Muhammed V was plotting his return to power. A chance came in 1362 when King Peter I of Castile (Pedro el Cruel) lured Muhammed VI to his kingdom. There, in Seville, he was murdered and his head sent to Muhammed V as a gift upon his return to the throne. As a gesture of good relations between he and the Marinid, the eldest son of Muhammed V, Yusuf II, married to a daughter of the Marinid Sultan. His hospital in Granada was completed in 1366. He employed the poet and diplomat Ibn Khaldun in negotiations with Pedro the Cruel. Muhammed V died on January 16, 1391. He had at least four sons; Yusuf II, Nasr, Muhammad and Sa'd. He was succeeded by his son, Yusuf II. Yusuf IV was his maternal grandson.

References

• The Alhambra From the Ninth Century to Yusuf I (1354). vol. 1. Saqi Books, 1997.
• Pedro the Cruel of Castile 1350-1359 (The Medieval Mediterranean : Peoples, Economies and Cultures, 400-1453, Vol 6) by Clara Esto; Brill Academic Publishers, 1995