Ibn al-Khatib
Ibn al-Khatib was born at Loja, near Granada. Shortly after his birth, his father was appointed to a high post at the court of Emir Ismail I in Granada. After his father and older brother were killed in the Battle of Río Salado in 1340, Ibn al-Khatib was hired to work as a secretary for his former teacher Ibn al-Jayyab, vizier to Emir Yusuf I. Following Ibn al-Jayyab's early death from the plague, Ibn al-Khatib became vizier and head of the emiri chancery, serving also in diplomatic roles in the courts of Andalusi and Maghrebi rulers.