Israël nomme un grand défenseur de la souveraineté du Maroc sur le Sahara et proche du parti républicain ambassadeur aux Etats-Unis    Royal Air Maroc réceptionne son dixième Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner    COP29 : Un engagement financier de 300 MM$ jugé insuffisant par les pays en développement    Algérie : Un média accuse Lekjaa de «prendre en otage la CAF avec Pegasus»    Wealthy Moroccan heirs detained for alleged rape of French lawyer    Inondations à Valence : Karima Benyaich réaffirme les liens de solidarité entre Rabat et l'Espagne    Ahmed Spins : L'étoile marocaine à l'affiche du Coachella 2025    Les programmes d'inclusion économique ne touchent que 10% des personnes les plus pauvres du monde    Boualem Sansal, l'Algérie et les droits humains    COP29 : Le Maroc signe une participation remarquable    Terrorisme : Le Maroc dans le viseur des jihadistes sahéliens    Pologne : Les agriculteurs bloquent un poste-frontalier avec l'Ukraine    Aboul Gheit appelle à une feuille de route pour le développement durable dans la région arabe    Investissement: Zidane en roadshow au Japon et en Corée pour promouvoir la destination Maroc    PL : City humilié pour la 5e fois d'affilée (vidéos) !    Qualifs. Fiba Afro basket 25 : L'Equipe nationale s'incline pour la 3e fois !    Liga : Trois personnes arrêtées pour des insultes racistes lors du dernier « Clasico »    Le Maroc augmente son quota de l'espadon de l'Atlantique-Nord et du thon obèse    Grippe aviaire aux Etats-Unis: un premier cas détecté chez un enfant    Températures prévues pour le lundi 25 novembre 2024    Enquête : Les réseaux sociaux, nouvel outil d'éducation aux droits de l'enfant    AAHS : Un pôle d'innovation et de coopération au cœur de Dakhla    La Chine prévoit de passer de la 5G à la 5G-A    Rabat : Visa For Music, une clôture au diapason des cultures du monde    MAGAZINE : Starlight, des jurés à juger    Cinéma : Mohamed Khouyi, un éclat marocain au Festival du Caire    Lamia Boumehdi conduit le TP Mazembe vers son 1er sacre    Un derby stérile, à l'image du championnat    Grogne contre la LNFP et appels à la protestation    Harry James Richer : «un impératif stratégique»    Europe 1 : «L'arrestation de Boualem Sansal est l'occasion d'un réveil face aux réalités du régime algérien»    Amadou Lamine Diouf, non-voyant résidant au Maroc, élu député des Sénégalais de l'Afrique du Nord    Atlas Marine va bientôt lancer une ligne maritime pour transporter des camions avec chauffeurs entre Agadir et Dakar    Coup d'envoi de 5 centres de santé dans la région de Dakhla-Oued Eddahab    Royal Air Maroc accueille un nouveau Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner pour renforcer ses long-courriers    Arrestation à Khémisset d'un individu pour ivresse publique, menaces et mise en danger de la vie d'autrui    Création d'un réseau Maroc-Mauritanie de centres d'études et de recherches    La justice allemande confirme que Berlin a divulgué à Mohamed Hajib, un ancien terroriste, des renseignements sensibles transmises par les services sécuritaires marocains    SAR le Prince Héritier Moulay El Hassan reçoit à Casablanca le Président chinois    M. Motsepe se prononce sur le football féminin et le rôle du Maroc dans le développement du football en Afrique    La Bourse de Casablanca dans le vert du 19 au 22 novembre    Plus de 50 morts au Liban, Biden s'oppose à la CPI et soutient les criminels sionistes    CMGP Group franchit le pas    CAN U20 : Le Maroc bat la Libye (4-0), valide son billet    Un hub des artistes et des professionnels de la filière musicale africaine    Les arts, l'avenir et les enjeux de l'IA...    Speed-meetings : le sésame des artistes à Visa For Music    Mohamed Khouyi remporte le prix du meilleur acteur au CIFF    







Merci d'avoir signalé!
Cette image sera automatiquement bloquée après qu'elle soit signalée par plusieurs personnes.



Moroccan diplomats #23 : Mohammed Temim, the Kingdom's ambassador to Louis XIV
Publié dans Yabiladi le 23 - 10 - 2017

«Mohammed Temim, Ambassadeur du Maroc, a la Comédie Italienne» is the title given to a painting of Antoine Coypel in 1682. The painting is expected to be exhibited from Sunday 22nd of October to 25th of February 2018 at the Palace of Versailles allowing visitors to know more about the story of Mohammed Temim, the ambassador of Moulay Ismail sent to meet Louis XIV.
For more than 4 months, the exhibition «Visiteurs de Versailles 1682-1789» held at the Palace of Versailles, former residence of Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI, will host a number of precious paintings. The Cultural event that will last until the 25th of February 2018 is organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace of Versailles.
The most exciting thing for Moroccans about the exhibition is that it is featuring the painting of the Moroccan ambassador Mohammed Temim, «Mohammed Temim, Ambassadeur du Maroc, a la Comédie Italienne», painted by Antoine Coypel, circa 1682. The painting immortalizes the extraordinary visit, January 1682, of the Moroccan ambassador Hajj Mohammed Temim Attitouani aka Mohammed Temim to Paris.
Governor of Tetouan then Salé, Mohammed Temim was the emissary of the Alaouite Sultan Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif sent to negotiate with King Louis XVI a possible ratification of a treaty signed a year earlier by Morocco and France on July 13, 1681.
Sultan Moulay Ismail, the warrior king
In 1672, Moulay Ismail, the seventh son of Moulay Sharif, founder of the Alaouite dynasty, has been elected sultan of the North African kingdom. The reign of the Alaouite sultan was marked by his ability to unify the kingdom all while strengthening it status. He carried one of the strongest military campaigns in the region fighting the Ottoman Turks and the Spanish. He also possessed over 150,000 men from sub-Saharan Africa who served in his elite Black Guard and which helped the Sultan to conquer the whole Morocco from European kingdoms.
After spending several years trying to bring order to a country weakened by internal tribal wars, Moulay Ismail launched in 1681 a campaign to free the ports of the kingdom. Indeed, by the end of the sixteenth century, the city of Mehdia, called back then Maamoura, was controlled by pirates. To respond to the corsairs' attacks, the Spanish tried to seize it twice. In 1611, they tried to make the port of the city unusable by sinking there 8 ships. The Spaniards came back in 1614 with a 100-ship fleet to finish what they started three years ago. As a result, the port of Al Maamoura got occupied until 1681, the year when Sultan Moulay Ismail managed to kick out the occupants and seize back the port. The same day, a treaty was signed by the sultan and a representative of France in Morocco against Spain and Great Britain. The treaty also evoked the case of Moroccans captured by French ships.
Indeed, a year earlier, around 228 Moroccans were captured by French ships, as reported by Nabil Matar in his book «In the lands of Christians : Arabic travel Writing in the Seventeenth Century» (Editions Psychology Press, 2003).
The Moroccan ambassador's suprise in a painting
On the 21st of September 1681, Moulay Ismail chose to name the governor of Tetouan, Mohammed Temim, his emissary for King Laouis XIV. His mission was to negotiate with the French monarch the ratification of the treaty signed in 1681 and freeing Moroccans captured by the French.
Mohammed Temim, accompanied by Ali Maaninou and six other diplomats sailed to France. Although the Moroccan delegation came across a number of difficulties on its way to Paris, it arrived in Brest on the 7th of October after a trip that lasted 3 months and 10 days. The emissary was then received by Louis XIV at the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on the 4th of January 1681. It was an opportunity for Mohammed Temim and his companions to attend several cultural events, according to Nabil Matar.
«In January 1682, the Moroccan ambassador Mohammed Temim and seven members of his retinue visited France and discovered the social, artistic and intellectual innovation of the country. The ambassador attended an opera, De Lully's Atys, where he 'showed much surprise', probably at the amazing stage scenery that included (a mountain consecretated for Sybil) along with a temple, palace and gardens».
It was during this event that painter Antoine Coypel transformed the Moroccan ambassador's surprise into a painting.
Mohammed Temim also attended a ballet at the Royal Academy of Music. A week later, he visited Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and an organ recital. «This ambassador is curious about everything that concerns sciences and arts…» commented a French interpreter who accompanied Sultan Moulay Ismail's envoy.
French-Moroccan diplomatic relations
On the 25th of February, when he returned to Morocco, Mohammed Temim received a set of beautiful farewell gifts from Louis XIV. However, the visit described by Nabil Matar as successful, was differently regarded by «Mémoires du Patrimoine Marocain» (Fourth volume, Editions Organization, 1986), which gives a different version of the famous diplomatic mission. Although during the visit of the Sultan's ambassador, an agreement was signed, Morocco did not free its nationals imprisoned in France. In fact, Louis XIV, asked his generals to hide the Moroccan prisoners and to say before Temim that France has no Moroccans in its prisons.
Diplomatic relations between the French Monarch and the Alaouite Sultan were officially broken in 1708. Until that date, Louis XIV refused to exchange the Moroccan captives with the French ones, brandishing an article on the redemption to prisoners. The situation worsened in 1687 when the French king dictated a law prohibiting the export of food and military products to foreign countries, including Morocco.
«Mémoires du patrimoine marocain» even quotes a correspondence addressed to the French people by their king, who says he learned that despite the ban, products were being «transferred by corsairs to Morocco
This will not prevent Sultan Moulay Ismail from reserving a special place for Louis XVI. The Shereefian Sultan had even asked for the hand of Marie Anne de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and daughter of Louis XIV. A request that was obviously be declined.


Cliquez ici pour lire l'article depuis sa source.