Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Saʿd ibn Mardanīsh

[1] He established his rule over the cities of Murcia, Valencia and Dénia as the power of the Almoravid emirate declined, and he opposed the spread of the Almohad caliphate.

It is more likely a corruption of Merdanix (today Merdancho), the name of a tributary of the river Najerilla, which was on the border between Christian and Islamic Spain in the early tenth century.

This is consistent with Ibn Mardanīsh's family emigrating from the aṭ-Ṭaḡr al-Aʿlā (Upper March) around the Rioja, as told in Arabic sources.

[6] In January 1150, Ibn Mardanīsh signed a treaty with the republic of Pisa, promising funduqs and a general safe-conduct for Pisan merchants, but requiring no payment of tribute.

[6] During Dhū l-Qaʿdah 560 (September–October 1165), Ibn Mardanīsh led a large army from Murcia to defend Lorca from an Almohad force advancing from the castle of Vélez.