Ismail Ibn Sharif

The seventh son of Moulay Sharif, he governed Fez and northern Morocco from 1667, then seized the sultanate in 1672 after his half-brother's death - though he spent fifteen years fighting his nephew for the throne until 1687. He created the Black Guard, an army of enslaved men loyal only to him, and used it to break the power of rebellious tribes and drive the Spanish and Portuguese from Larache, Asilah, Mehdya, and Tangier. His wars against the Ottoman Regency of Algiers brought victories and defeats: he conquered the Western Beylik and looted the Bey's palace, but was pushed back at the Battle of Chelif in 1701. He kept a fleet of corsairs at Salé raiding as far as the Black Sea, supplying him with Christian slaves and weapons, and amassed a harem of over 500 women. He made Meknes his capital and built a palace complex with forty kilometers of walls. When he died in 1727 after a long illness, the military forces he created became so powerful they controlled the succession, making and unmaking sultans at will.