Reino de Granada - 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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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.

The post Taxation of Vera (Almería) in the apiary and sheep market (1531-1592) first appeared on History Lab.

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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View of Granada (1572)

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

The resource shows a panoramic view of the city of Granada around 1572. It shows some of the most emblematic and representative places in the city, such as the Albaicín, Sierra Nevada, the Royal Hospital, the Alhambra and the Generalife. It is an image that also allows us to work on questions of the social, political and cultural life of the time. In the lower part of the image, the clothing worn by the figures depicted shows the different social groups that lived together in the city at that time: the Old Christians and the Moors. Four Moorish women are depicted wearing the almalafa, the large tunic that covers the head and face. It should be noted that from the beginning of the 16th century, decrees and provisions were issued listing Moorish practices that were to be eradicated. However, resistance was strong and by 1560 the situation was very tense. The policy of acculturation did not produce the expected results and the vast majority of the Moors, especially the women, continued to speak Arabic and wore forbidden clothes, as shown in these engravings from the Civitates orbis terrarum series, which date from precisely these years. The political and social tension finally led to the uprising of the Moors in the kingdom of Granada on Christmas Eve 1568, under the command of the Moorish nobleman Fernando de Córdoba y Valor, also known as Abén Humeya.

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