Moriscos

“ The Moriscos estimated that they could raise a hundred thousand fighting men, lamentably deficient in arms, it is true, but hardy and enured to privation. They counted largely on aid from Barbary, hoping that the rulers there would not miss the opportunity of striking a deadly blow at their traditional enemy. ”

“ In his work Expulsión justificada de los Moriscos (1612) , Aznar de Cardona says that the Morisco women carried “divers plates upon the breast, together with necklaces and collars, earrings and bracelets.” It is recorded, too, that the Moriscos, as they struggled in the country regions to avenge themselves upon their persecutors, did unlimited damage to the ornaments and fittings of the churches. “This people,” says Fonseca, “respected not our temples or the holy images that in them were ”

“ The feeling of religious hatred{398} rekindled by the Moors of Africa extended in some degree to the Morisco population, who still occupied those territories on the southern borders of the monarchy which had belonged to their ancestors, the Spanish Arabs. This feeling was increased by the suspicion, not altogether without foundation, of a secret correspondence between the Moriscos and their brethren on the Barbary coast. These mingled sentiments of hatred and suspicion sharpened the sword of persecution, and led to most disastrous consequences, which before long will be unfolded to the reader. ”

“ To the great joy of Don Amador, he observed that his kinsman was calm and collected, and though he spoke with his usual voice of affliction, his answer was still full of dignity and gravity.
"The Moor that is a Christian cannot be enslaved; neither can he be bought and sold—and these claim to be both Gazies, Christian Moriscos. I guard them at the desire of their protector, who can assuredly support their claims; in which event thou must cease thy importunity, and think of them no more." ”

“ The weak point of the sacred bond that held Spaniards together was the large hard-working Moorish population scattered over the Peninsula, and especially numerous in the south-west. In spite of pledges and promises of toleration, Christian baptism had been forced upon these people. Taxes and disabilities of all sorts had been piled upon them, insulting and oppressive rules had been made to their detriment, alternate cruelty and persuasion had been resorted to in vain: the Moriscos at heart remained true to their own faith, however humbly they conformed to the Christian rites imposed upon them. ”

“ Paul IV forbade admission to holy orders to the descendants of Jews to the fourth generation and, in 1573, Gregory XIII extended this to the Moriscos, but the Córtes of Monzon, in 1564, had decreed that those trained in the Morisco college of Valencia should be allowed to hold benefices and the cure of souls among their people, and we are told that it graduated some good priests and preachers and doctors of theology. ”

“ As God cherishes and keeps them, go bid them have good heart,
That they in peace may tarry, nor in battle have a part.
But with that we shall conquer, and God shall be our stay."
My lord Cid don Rodrigo with a smile went his way.
"My sons, the Heirs of Carrión. God have you in his care.
In your arms rest my daughters that as the sun are fair.
And as I yearn for battle, so of Carrión are ye fain.
In pleasance in Valencia to your hearts desire remain!,
For as for the Moriscos, them well enough I know,
And by grace of the Creator have courage to o'erthrow." ”

“ In 1563 an edict had been issued prohibiting the Moriscos from wearing or possessing arms, which caused much discontent and resistance; but at the instance of the clergy, and more especially of Guerrero, the Archbishop of Granada, and of Espinosa, a far more serious step was taken early in 1567. The Moriscos were forbidden to wear their distinctive garb, and were ordered to dress as Christians, no silk garments being allowed, and the women going abroad with their faces uncovered. ”

“ In 1568 the government of Philip II. issued an edict, which ordered them to renounce all their Moorish ways of life and to give up their children to be educated by Christian priests. The result was a rebellion in Granada, which was put down with great difficulty. The Moriscos were expelled from Granada and scattered over other parts of Spain. Many fled to Africa, where the more spirited among them took to piracy at Algiers and other ports. They still maintained relations with their kinsfolk in Spain, and the whole coast suffered from their incursions. ”

“ In the Moorish host resounded of the drums the rataplan.
It was among the Christians a marvel sore to some,
For never had they heard it, since but newly were they come.
On Diégo and Ferrándo greater wonder yet did fall,
And of their free will thither they would not have come at all.
To what he said who was brought forth in happy hour give ear:
"Ho! now don Pero Vermudóz, who art my nephew dear,
Dídago and Ferrándo now keep them well for me,
For in mine eyes my sons-in-law are dear exceedingly.
By God's help the Moriscos shall hold the field no more." ”

“ Possibly this may have stimulated action, but we have seen that in 1548 the tribunal was merely collecting evidence and obeying the instructions of the Seville Inquisition. Under this there was an accumulation of culprits for an auto held in 1557, where there were seventeen effigies burnt of fugitives—all Moriscos, except a Fleming, Julian Cornelis Vandyk. There were also four Moriscos reconciled, one of them, curiously enough, for so-called Calvinism. ”

“ The dispersal of the Moriscos of Granada, while cruel to them, proved of the greatest benefit to Spain. Wherever they went the effects of their superior skill and industry were soon manifested. They were skilled not only in husbandry, but in the mechanic arts, and their industry gave a new aspect of prosperity to the provinces to which they were banished, while the valleys and hill-sides of Granada, which had flourished under their cultivation, sank into barrenness under the unskilful hands of their successors. ”

“ Philip referred Guerrero’s memorial to a junta presided over by Diego de Espinosa, recently made President of Castile and soon to be inquisitor-general. It reported that, presuming the Moriscos to be Christians by baptism, they must be compelled to be so in fact, to which end they must be required to abandon the language, garments and customs of Moors, by reviving the edict of 1526, and this was solemnly charged upon the royal conscience. ”

“ The weak point in the organization of the Moriscos lay in the character of their king. Aben-Humeya, at first popular, soon displayed traits of character which lost him the support of his followers. Surrounded by a strong body-guard, he led a voluptuous life, and struck down without mercy those whom he feared, no less than three hundred and fifty persons falling victims to his jealousy or revenge. His cruelty and injustice at length led to a plot for his death, and his brief reign ended in assassination, his kinsman, Aben-Aboo, being chosen as his successor. ”

“ Mondéjar was innocent of any share in this bloody work, and was marching with his guard to the prison to quell the disturbance, when the Alcayde met him with the remark: "It is unnecessary; the prison is quiet—the Moors are all dead." After this the Moriscos gained daily in strength, and Aben Umeyya became really lord of the whole district of the Alpuxarras. ”

“ Valencia, of all the tribunals, was the one which best maintained its activity throughout the sixteenth century, owing to the dense Morisco population. We have a list of all persons imprisoned for heresy, from the beginning in 1485 up to 1592 inclusive, amounting in all to 3104, of whom 530 were contributed by the last four years, 1589-92, when the persecution of the Moriscos was particularly active. ”

“ The dangers which had weighed so heavily on Spanish statesmanship{403} were thus removed, but fanaticism and race hatred were not yet satisfied, and it was resolved to root out all traces of the old Moorish population. An edict of July 10, 1610, banished all Moriscos of Granada, Valencia and Aragon, who were settled in the Castilian kingdoms, and this was followed, August 2d, by a similar provision for the kingdoms of Aragon. ”

“ In 1565 a fresh source of trouble was created by extending the royal jurisdiction over the lands of the nobles, in which many Moriscos, who in years past had committed{334} crimes, had sought asylum. Eager for fees, the notaries and justices searched the records and made arrests, until there was scarce a Morisco who did not live in daily fear. Many took to the mountains, joining the bands of monfíes, or outlaws, and committing outrages, while the measures taken for their suppression only increased the disorder. ”

“ See also Dunlop's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 16. Campomanes says, ‘El gran número de artesanos, que salieron con la expulsion de los moriscos, causó un golpe mortal á las manufacturas, y á la labranza.’ Apendice á la Educacion Popular, vol. i. p. 13. And p. 268, ‘El punto de decadencia de nuestras manufacturas, puede fixarse desde el año de 1609, en que tubo principio la expulsion de los Moriscos.’
[1314] ‘Sur la carte d'Espagne, en mille endroits est inscrit ce funeste mot, despoblado; en mille endroits la nature sauvage a repris la place des cultures. ”

“ This was supplemented with a series of most vexatious regulations, prohibiting the use of Arabic and of Moorish garments and of baths; Christian midwives were to be present at all births; disarmament was enforced by a rigid inspection of licences; the doors of Moriscos were to be kept open on feast-days, Fridays, Saturdays and during weddings, to prevent the use of Moorish ceremonies; schools to train children in Castilian were to be established at Granada, Guadix and Almería: no Moorish names were to be used and Moriscos were not to keep gacis or unbaptized Moors, whether free or slave. ”

“ These gentry were paid by a half or a third of their collections; their position was not enviable, threatened as they were both by the lords and the Moriscos in the remoter districts, and it was impossible to fill the position with men of fitting character. [999]
These spasmodic and fruitless efforts to convert the so-called converts were accompanied with frequent relaxations of the rigid canons against heresy, interesting because they infer a dim conception that toleration, after all, might be a more practical method of winning human souls than oppression and persecution. ”

“ Assassination, however, finally convinced him: his head was exhibited over the Gate of the Shambles at Granada for thirty years. The Grand Commander, Requesens, by an organized system of wholesale butchery and devastation, by burning down villages, and smoking the people to death in the caves where they had sought refuge, extinguished the last spark of open revolt before the 5th of November, 1570. The Moriscos were at last subdued, at the cost of the honour, and with the loss of the future, of Christian Spain.
Slavery and exile awaited the survivors of the rebellion. They were not very many. ”

“ Moriscos enjoyed a special exception. The wholesale enforced conversion of the Moors of Castile in 1502 and of the kingdoms of Aragon in 1525, filled the land with nominal Christians, whose baptism served no other purpose than subjecting them to the Inquisition. They were largely vassals of nobles, to whom their services were indispensable, and to subject whole populations to the penalties of a relapse which was inevitable was a prospect{204} that might well stagger the statesman if not the churchman. ”

“ In truth, only ten years after the exile, an official report complains that the numbers of the deported Moriscos are increasing, because none go to war or enter religion, and they are so hard-working that, after coming to Castile ten years before, without owning a handsbreadth of land, they are now well off and many are rich, so that, if it continues at the same rate for twenty years, the natives will be their servants. ”

“ The Cid and all his henchmen, it pleased them passing well,
For so by the lord's favor their gain should grow the more.
But know the Heirs of Carrión at heart were very sore,
For they saw of the Moriscos many and many a tent,
Which liked them not. The brothers forthwith apart they went.
"We would keep in mind our profit, nor for the loss have care.
And now within this battle we must needs do our share."
"Such a thing well may keep us from seeing Carrión more.
Widows will be the daughters of the good Campeador." ”

“ The new converts continued to form a class apart and came to be known by the distinctive name of Moriscos.
The nominal Christianity thus imposed upon those reared in the tenets of Islam was only the beginning of the task assumed by the state. The more difficult labor remained of rendering them true Christians, if the advantage was to be secured of moulding discordant races into a homogeneous community, which alone could justify the violent measures adopted. The unity of faith, which was the ideal at the time of both churchman and statesman, means more than mere outward conformity ”

“ Juana disappeared down the stairs, and returned quickly with a face in which anxiety and satisfaction were strangely blended.
"The master has got safely off to the mountains. He will be at Marbella very soon, and then they will start out to help us; but Aluch said he heard the Moriscos vowing vengeance upon us as they went away. They will quickly be back; and he thinks if they cannot batter in the door and take us alive, that they will burn the tower down over our heads." ”