Moriscos - History Lab

Announcement relating to the edict of expulsion of the Moors from the kingdom of Aragon

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:51 +0000

The expulsion of nearly three hundred thousand Hispanic Moriscos, decided by Philip III on 4 April 1609, was the culmination of the process of eliminating religious minorities that began in our country with the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 and put an end to the more or less peaceful coexistence that had been taking place since the Middle Ages between Christians and Mudejars. The compulsory conversion of the Mudejars, after the conquest of the Kingdom of Granada (1492), now known as Moriscos, brought the conflict to a standstill for a few decades, during which there was equal parts distrust and support, hostility and rapprochement. The different solutions proposed for the assimilation of the Moriscos, ranging from evangelisation to inquisitorial repression, show that doctrinal controversies also involved a political process of repression motivated by the context of the Hispanic Monarchy’s ongoing conflicts with the Turks and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean. The uprising of the Moors in Granada (1568-1570) marked the end of illusions about the possibility of mutual understanding. The general expulsion sanctioned the triumph of an exclusive Catholicism in Spain. The vicissitudes in which the expulsion took place and the social and economic consequences of forced emigration were suffered throughout the 17th century and are detailed in thousands of documents recorded in volumes and bundles in the Archive of the Crown of Aragon.

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Process of faith of the Moors

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

During his reign, Philip II (1556-1598) encountered serious social problems within his dominions. In particular, the case of the Moors, i.e. Mudejars who had accepted their conversion to Christianity in order to remain on Spanish soil, is particularly relevant. For decades, numerous processes of confirmation of conversion and faith took place in order to account for the correct religious behaviour of the converted families. The historical process, marked by events such as the Rebellion of the Alpujarras or the War of the Alpujarras, finally led to the expulsion of the Moors from the Hispanic Monarchy. This order, issued by Philip III, was carried out in stages between 1609 and 1613.

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Warnings from France on the uprising being prepared by the Moors in Spain

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

During his reign, Philip II (1556-1598) encountered serious social problems within his dominions. Of particular relevance was the case of the Moors, i.e. the Mudejars who had accepted their conversion to Christianity in order to remain on Spanish soil. An example of this can be seen in this document, which warns, from France, of the possibility of an uprising in the territories of the Monarchy. As a result of these events, numerous processes of confirmation of conversion and faith took place over the decades in order to account for the correct religious behaviour of the converted families. The historical process, marked by events such as the Rebellion of the Alpujarras or the War of the Alpujarras, finally led to the expulsion of the Moors from the Spanish Monarchy. This order, issued by Philip III, was carried out in stages between 1609 and 1613.

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Religious practice of the Moors of Madrid before and after the expulsion. Geographical location

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

In analysing the presence of the Moors in Madrid, the aim is to contextualise this socio-religious minority numerically and geographically. It is noteworthy that in contrast to other places where the aljamas are disappearing and integrating into each other, in Madrid a certain persistence is documented, making it possible to analyse the geographical movements of the different communities located in the area.
From 1571 onwards, news began to emerge of the arrival of relatively large groups of Moors from Granada who settled in Madrid until their definitive exile. These new residents gradually joined the community of former Mudejars, forming very heterogeneous communities. In spite of this, the former Moors refused to mix with the Grenadians, or if they had to, they avoided their equal status due to certain privileges they enjoyed as a result of their voluntary conversion.
With respect to the map, the efforts of the local authorities to avoid concentrating all the Moriscos in a few streets and thus avoid their concentration in morerías can be seen. On the other hand, this discrimination, together with economic reasons, pushed the poorest Moriscos to settle on the outskirts of the city, far from the traditionally Mudejar neighbourhoods in previous years.

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The expulsion in the Port of Denia

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:09 +0000

The expulsion of the Moors from the Hispanic Monarchy was ordered by King Philip III and carried out in stages between 1609 and 1613. The first Moors to be expelled were those of the Kingdom of Valencia (the decree was made public on 22 September 1609), followed by those of Andalusia (10 January 1610), Extremadura and the two Castiles (10 July 1610), in the Crown of Castile, and those of the Crown of Aragon (29 May 1610). The last to be expelled were those from the Kingdom of Murcia, first those of Granada origin (8 October 1610), and later those from the Ricote valley and the rest of the old Moriscos (October 1613). In total, some 300,000 people were expelled, most of them from the kingdoms of Valencia and Aragon, which were the most affected, losing a third and a sixth of their population, respectively. As authors such as Antonio Domínguez Ortiz and Bernard Vincent have pointed out, the expulsion of the Moors was motivated by various causes and factors, including their presence as a separate social group after more than a century of their forced conversion to Christianity; their consideration as collaborators of the Ottoman Turkish empire and of the Barbary pirates who continually ravaged the entire Mediterranean coast, which led them to be considered a threat to the continuity of the Hispanic Monarchy and its interests; and the radicalisation of the thinking of many of the rulers of the Spanish monarchy, which led them to be considered as a threat to the continuity of the Spanish monarchy and its interests; the radicalisation of the thinking of many rulers after the failure to put an end to Protestantism in the Low Countries; or the increase in resentment of the Christian population towards the Moors due to the beginning of the 17th century of a period of recession, which in turn resulted from the decrease in the arrival of resources from America.

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Criminals condemned to death by the Inquisition

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

The Spanish Inquisition was an institution founded in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs with the main purpose of maintaining Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms. It had its precedents in similar institutions that had existed in Europe since the 12th century, especially in France. Under the direct control of the Spanish monarchy, it was in charge of investigating converts, Moors, Protestants and all those practices that went against the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church. It was most active between the 15th and 17th centuries, and was initially very severe. In the early years, after its implementation, there were many trials and death sentences, and its activity progressively decreased until the 18th century, when it ceased to have the weight it had had in previous centuries. In its early stages, it was mainly focused on the repression of Jews and converts, which would end in exile or forced conversion. In a second period, towards the second half of the 16th century, the Inquisition was mainly concerned with the Moorish problem and the Protestant centres, centred to a greater extent in Valladolid and Seville. After the expulsion of the Moors in 1609, there was a calmer period in which executions decreased, although the court was freer, from 1643, with the fall of the Count-Duke of Olivares, to carry out its activities with greater severity, increasing the number of convictions and executions. The activity of the Inquisition diminished throughout the 18th century, with the arrival of the Enlightenment. It was definitively abolished in 1834, during the regency of María Cristina de Borbón, after its abolition was approved at the Cortes de Cádiz in 1812

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Taxation of Vera (Almería) in the apiary and sheep market (1531-1592)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

One of the tools of fiscal control exercised as a measure of social control in the 16th century was that imposed by the councils on the transhumance of beehives, carried out almost exclusively by the Moorish population. The practice of this type of transhumance was common in the Kingdom of Granada, mainly due to a tradition rooted in the Muslim period.
The taxation imposed by the councils was usually much higher than that imposed on other species and transhumant livestock, fixed on the consumption of “grass”, which was often higher for beekeeping than for the consumption of animals, at least when it came to paying certain taxes. As can be seen in the resource, the price of beehives is always higher than that of sheep and goats, except at three key moments, the years 1557-1558, 1562-1568 and after the Moorish period.
However, the equalisations are not due to a decrease in the price of beehives, but rather to the occasional increase in the price of grass for sheep, indicating that this tax burden had more of a social control function than a proportional tax on this economic activity.

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Moors of Granada

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:03 +0000

The image shows the clothing of the Moors of Granada around the 16th century, portrayed by Jean Jacques Boissard in his book ‘Recueil de costumes étrangers’ (1528-1602). It depicts characteristic elements of Moorish dress, such as the sabanilla with a bun on the head, the shirt, the overcoat and the trabaq, which were the ‘Moorish tights’ or ‘calzas moriscos’ (Moorish tights). There is also a figure wearing Moorish underwear (second figure from the left), consisting of the characteristic zaragüelles or wide breeches with many pleats

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Distribution of the Moriscos according to the draft distribution of 1571

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:31 +0000

From 1570 onwards, more than 11,000 Moriscos, forcibly expelled from their place of origin by the Spanish Crown, were received in Extremadura. The largest group arrived in Extremadura at the end of 1570 (some 6,800 from Granada), with the second wave arriving almost a year later.
In the present case, the distribution of the places of seigniory in Extremadura was carried out in December 1751, with 1,764 Moriscos arriving in the current territories of Extremadura. A third of the Moriscos remained in the capital, with the majority located at the head of each demarcation, while smaller groups were distributed among various villages.
The situation in which these new residents lived varied greatly depending on their destination, as many rural areas of Extremadura at the time were experiencing marked economic hardship, making it even more difficult for these groups from Granada to settle satisfactorily.

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Taxation of Christians and Moriscos in Ávila (1503-1610)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:25 +0000

In Ávila there are documents that confirm the existence of Mudejars as early as the end of the 12th century, with up to three aljamas in the 15th century. This Moorish minority was the second highest paying minority in the whole of the Crown of Castile after the town of Hornachos in Badajoz. To this situation must be added the tension caused by the long war in Granada at the end of the 15th century, giving the constant feeling that this population was permanently in enemy territory, and even more so after the forced conversion of 1502.
However, this adverse situation, although it led to the emigration of many of them, allowed them to arrive at the beginning of the 16th century, making up 10% of the city’s population, mainly employed in trade and metalwork. Thanks to the information contained in the resource, it can be seen that the Moriscos paid a much higher per capita tax than the Old Christians, mainly because after their conversion they ceased to have a tax regime similar to that of the Old Christians and added several extra burdens that they had to face.

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