My project is to write a new history of the Almohad Empire (1130-1269). This local dynasty of Berber origins ruled simultaneously over South and North of the Western Mediterranean. For the first time in history, the whole Maghreb was united under an indigenous authority. This unique historical period witnessed very important process, the political and religious separation from the East through Mahdism , and the nearly successful transfer of Islamic prophetic authority from the Arabic core to Western lands.In order to understand the exercise of power in the largest Western Muslim medieval Empire ever, I intend to use the important but largely ignored letters of the Almohad Chancery. There survive 300 documents, some of them too hastily published, which need a new scholarly edition and a usable translation. While it is well known that the Medieval Islamic world lacks in preserved archives, the review of those Letters of victory, defeat, information, advice, allegiance or reproaches will provide historians with materials that should allow a rejuvenation of the history of North African medieval land.Indeed the prevailing master narratives of the History of the medieval Maghreb is based on narrative sources. They have been systematically used as the foundation for a positivistic history.Understanding this development requires tackling the contemporary non-narrative documentary record. Yet the technical difficulties presented by the highly literary and poetic language of the chancery documents have largely barred their use by historians.This project is a methodical attempt to address this critical problem. The project will have four stages:1) taking stock of the unedited administrative documents from North Africa between the 11th and the 13thC. 2) editing of the entire corpus 3) translation of all these documents 4) presentation of a synthetic historical, linguistic and religious analysis through scholarly publications and a dedicated website