Don Musa

Dates: 1796-1883.
Position: Secretary of the Caliphal Household.
Preceded by: None (office created by Yusuf I)
Succeeded by: His son, Don Ibrahim

Hegel had his roommates at the Tübinger Stift. Martin Luther had Melanchthon, Calvin had Farel and Bullinger (and they both had Bucer), the prophet Muhammad had the Sahaba... behind every Great Man of History there's a bunch of lesser names who are nonetheless key players in the story.

But who are those companions in Andalusada? Most of them, to be honest, I either don't know or haven't blogged about. Günther has his generals [who?], Oliver Farrell has his fellows from a dozen walks of life and eras [again, who?], the first Guise King of France [who?] has Simon the Apostate, who I know about but have only hinted about once (introducing the Montagnards.) Only in one case have I actually answered that question of [who?], and that was last night, when I gave Oskar Sansinger's wife a name: Teresa Maria, the Grand Princess. (Oskar Sansinger is himself one of the names to the first Grand Prince, also known as [who?] as of 9/26.)

Caliph Yusuf I is another one of the Great Men of History, and I already know that he's got a number of great names (and some lesser ones, like his son Sufyan.) One of them the UCNA's first great court Jew, an Andalusi expat and patriarch of the Cordovero dynasty: Don Musa. This is his story.

The early life of Musa Cordovero

Musa Cordovero is born in Spain, shortly after the implosion of Umayyad Seville. It's a turbulent time to be alive in Iberia; after the First Mahdist War [when?], Musa's family emigrates to the New World. It's there, in Port-Royal, that his father [who?] meets Yusuf I, who becomes fast friends with the family.

• Abu Musa is the first to enter Yusuf's service [details?], and basically brings his son aboard too. (At this point, Musa's in something like his early 20s.)
• Abu Musa doesn't take well to the New World; in 1813, he dies in one of Port-Royal's predictable cholera epidemics. Asked to finish sorting out some work his father left incomplete on his deathbed [details?], Musa does so well enough to impress the caliph in his own right; against his wishes, he gets conscripted into Yusuf's service.

Musa Cordovero can't be dragged into this position by his necktie. (In the absence of Napoleon, cravats remain a Croatian thing.) For his sake, though, I hope he doesn't get dragged into office by his hair. Given what I know about Yusuf I, it would be in character.

Don Musa as Secretary of the Caliphal Household

In 1830, approaching his 60th birthday and feeling his age, Yusuf I (already worrying about founding a dynasty) begins making arrangements for his personal staff and services to be passed onto his heir (whoever that may be, and it's not Sufyan.) Musa Cordovero is assigned to be secretary to the waqf, and from this point adopts the name that posterity will remember him by: "Don Musa."

Musa is a classic ESTJ personality. After Yusuf's death, the period of the Six Weak Caliphs begins.

• Caliph Ilyas I: The UCNA's second caliph [who?] dies fairly early, leaving behind an Abdallah [who?] too young to rule on his own. Following the Chart of Yusuf I, Ilyas [who?] is acclaimed as the third Caliph of the UCNA. He quickly starts falling out with the Caliphal Household. Matters come to a head when the Abdallah dies, and Ilyas I immediately designates a new successor. While it's within his rights to do so, the suddenness of it comes as an affront to the administrator of the Caliphal Household.
• The deposition of Ilyas I: On April 5th [when?], the Caliphal Household officially refuses to recognize the new heir-elect by announcing the nomination of a new beneficiary.
• Under the new regent, the UCNA formally shifts its capital to New Toleto.

Some other notes about things:

• Don Musa's sex life remains healthy enough, because late in his 63rd year, his newest wife [who?] gives him the son that outlasts him. (I say "newest wife" because she can't be his first; she'd be too old for that to work.) He's named Ibrahim, after his maternal grandfather [who?].

Two weeks after his 75th birthday, Don Musa injures himself in a fall. It's the beginning of the end for him; while he does recover, walking is increasingly hard for him, leaving him increasingly confined to New Toledo.

After his 80th birthday, Don Musa (too hard-headed to actually tender his resignation) starts becoming noticeably senile. Once again, the son succeeds to the father by doing his work. The final illness of Don Musa, and the power struggles between Musa's and Ibrahim's supporters, are a big part of what make that caliph [who?] the last of the weak ones. [details?]

The UCNA's first Don dies in 1883, age 86.

The legacy of Don Musa

"In an era where none of the caliphs were particularly remarkable or effectual," the official story will go one day, "Don Musa was the guiding force that made the UCNA important." Within its limits, it's true. It's going to leave out some other details, though - like the fact that for fifty years, the most powerful man in the world's rising Muslim great power was a Jew.

Probably the single most lasting legacy of Don Musa is that he cements, for the rest of the century and beyond, the Secretary of the Caliphal Household as a power player. Yusuf left the Caliphal Household as a glorified room service; Don Musa turned it into a completely unaccountable force in Andalusian politics.

• Don Musa was the only civilian involved with all of the UCNA's mid-century territorial wars. None of the six caliphs lasted long enough to have a distinct Nordpolitik strategy, and even when they clashed with him [details?], he was able to win out. The UCNA's continental borders owe more to Don Musa than they do to anyone else.
• Don Musa also had the good fortune to be ruling at the same time that the UCNA started discovering its precious metals. He bridged the gap between the Old World Cordovero banking dynasty and the UCNA. Neither would have grown quite as awesomely important without him.

This is a work in progress. It will be expanded upon.