The travelogue of a Moroccan ambassador to Charles II, 1690-91: the Seville MS

An unpublished manuscript, containing a unique version of a travelogue, documented the travels of a Moroccan ambassador to the court of Charles II in 1690-91 to negotiate a prisoner exchange as well as the return of a number of Arabic-language manuscripts held at the royal palace near Madrid. After summarising and comparing the travelogue to other known copies, this article explores how this narrative came to reside at the University of Seville's archive. Seeking answers to this question, the reader is transported to the Franciscan missions in Morocco where nineteenth-century missionaries studied the Arabic language. Maghrebi- and Arabic-language documents were subsequently smuggled into Spain by the missionaries. Al-Ghassani's narrative of discovery transformed into an opportunity for missionaries and government officials to discover historical perspectives and knowledge about Spain.