1609 The expulsion of Moriscos, the muslim andalusian people

In 1492, after 10 years of fighting, King Muhammad XII, known as Boabdil to the Spanish) surrendered the keys of the Alhambra Palace in Granada to Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon.

The last King of Granada and the Catholic Monarchs had signed the Capitulation of Granada at the end of 1491, a treaty which guaranteed rights to Muslims, including religious tolerance and fair treatment, in return for their unconditional surrender.

However, the rights of the natives of Granada were not respected for long. New special taxes aimed at Muslims were introduced, they were forced to live in segregated districts, and Christians began settling on what had been Muslim-owned land

The Capitulation of Granada (extracts)

•    That both great and small should be perfectly secure in their persons, families, and property.
•    That they should be allowed to continue living in their dwellings and residences, whether in the city, the suburbs, or any other part of the country.
•    That their laws should be preserved, and that no-one should judge them except by those same laws.
•    That their mosques, and the religious endowments pertaining to them, should remain as they were in the times of Islam.
•    That no Christian should enter the house of a Muslim, or insult him in any way.
•    That all Muslim captives taken during the siege of Granada, from whatever part of the country they might have come, but especially the nobles and chiefs mentioned in the agreement, should be liberated.
•    That all those who might choose to cross over to Africa should be allowed to take their departure within a certain time, and be conveyed thither in the king's ships, and without any pecuniary tax being imposed on them.
•    That after the expiration of that time no Muslim should be hindered from departing, provided he paid, in addition to the price of his passage, the tithe of whatever property he might carry with him.
•    That the Christians who had embraced Islam should not be compelled to relinquish it and adopt their former creed.

Capitulation of Granada (selection)

•    That any Muslim wishing to become a Christian should be allowed some days to consider the step he was about to take; after which he is to be questioned by both a Muslim and a Christian judge concerning his intended change, and if, after this examination, he still refuses to return to Islam, he should be permitted to follow his own inclination.
•    That no Muslim should be prosecuted for the death of a Christian slain during the siege; and that no restitution of property taken during this war should be enforced.
•    That no increase should be made to the usual taxes, but that, on the contrary, all the oppressive taxes lately imposed should be immediately suppressed.
•    That no Christian should be allowed to peep over the wall, or into the house of a Muslim or enter a mosque.
•    That any Muslim choosing to travel or reside among the Christians should be perfectly secure in his person and property.
•    That no badge or distinctive mark be put upon them, as was done with the Jews and Mudejare (converted Muslims).
•    That no muezzin should be interrupted in the act of calling the people to prayer, and no Muslim molested either in the performance of his daily devotions or in the observance of his fast, or in any other religious ceremony; but that if a Christian should be found laughing at them he should be punished for it.
•    That the Muslims should be exempted from all taxation for a certain number of years.

The Capitulation of Granada

The Capitulation is a remarkable example of religious toleration for its time (or even for modern times). From the conquest in 1492 until 1495, both parties to the Capitulation tried to respect it. However, during the last years of the 15th century, several decrees were issued which over-ruled it. Muslims rights were unilaterally revoked. The arrival in Granada of the Archbishop of Toledo, the Franciscan Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, in October of 1499, led to important changes in their situation.

Relying on Canon Law, the Cardinal held that Christians who had converted to Islam (called
‘helches’) or their descendants should be forced to return to Christianity.

Moreover, about 5000 Arabic manuscripts from the Madrassa were burned in the Bib-Rambla square in Granada on the orders of the Archbishop. Such actions broke with the policy of mutual respect and peaceful assimilation.

Changes in attitude

"[Archbishop of Toledo] helches have to be restored to our faith, because Canon Law demands that they be reconciled and returned to our faith"

Archbishop Cisneros, 1499

"Don Fernando and Doña Ysabel. To all magistrates and mayors of the Kingdom of Granada. You know that the Moors who lived in that Kingdom converted to our holy Catholic faith, but they had many false books of their false sect, which should be burned in the fire to destroy their memory and avoid them making mistakes. And We order to any person in possession of these books that within the established period they should give up the aforementioned books under pain of death and confiscation of their wealth if they do not respect this."

Provision of the Catholic Monarchs ordering the burning of all books in the Kingdom of Granada, 1501

Revolt in the Albaicin

These events caused a revolt in the Albaicin (the most famous Muslim quarter of Granada) and
triggered an irreversible process of conversion.

In 1502 the Muslim population of the former Kingdom of Granada was forced to convert or be expelled and, at the beginning of the 16th century, the conversion to Catholicism was declared compulsory within the Kingdom of Castile and the territories of the Crown of Aragon. All the Muslims who remained in Spain became Moriscos.

A threat to the Hispanic Monarchy

During the 1550s Turks and Berbers became a serious threat to Mediterranean Christian countries. Moriscos were seen as possible allies and were therefore regarded as a potential threat to the Hispanic Monarchy. A lot of propagandists, including representatives of the Church, proposed measures for dealing with the threat. Moriscos were officially Christians and therefore, according to the Canon Law, if they were proved to be heretics or apostates, they should be condemned to death.

“It is said that the Moors should incur the death penalty, the loss of their property and their children or risk servitude and slavery. It would not be an injustice if they were put to the sword, but at least His Majesty, in conscience and good government, must banish them from these Kingdoms.”

Fray Pedro Arias to the State Council

“If they go to Africa they will join up with the people from there and they will return to Spain. These people can be deported to the coasts of “macallaos” and Terranova, which are wide and without any population, where they should be castrated.”

Martín de Salvatierra,Bishop of Segorbe, 1587

“that all men, women and children were shut up in drilled vessels without oars, rudders, rigging and sails and sent to Africa.”

Report from Juan Boil de Arenós to the State Council, 1601

 

The expulsion of Moriscos

Finally, in 1609, Philip III decreed the expulsion of all Moriscos. The main argument for this was the

Although there had been rumours of expulsion for a long time, the news still took most Moriscos by surprise. They had to sell their possessions hurriedly and lots of them were robbed and killed during the journey.

The situation of Moorish children was also tragic. A lot of them were separated from their parents and the King established that fathers or mothers who refused to leave their sons and daughters should be executed. As a consequence of these measures, thousands of children were virtually kidnapped under the protection of the law.
possible support of the Moriscos for a supposed Turkish invasion of Spain. This decision especially affected the Crown of Aragon and, particularly, the former Kingdom of Valencia, where Moriscos formed one third of the total population.

Text by: http://www.historiana.eu

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Travel the halal way and discover The Alpujarras, Granada

Granada, Spain is an extraordinary city that invites travelers to explore its rich heritage and scenic attractions. Just south of the city, huddled on the southern hillside of the vast Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, sits the much lesser known magical and charming region of the Alpujarra.

Some fifty villages of varying sizes and common cultural features make up this historic area that spills over both the provinces of Granada and Almería. The villages also share a common topography; they perch along the slopes of two dramatic ravines that extend from the peaks of the Sierra Nevada and cut southeastward to form the basins of the Guadalfeo and the Andaraz Rivers.

The name for this region may come from the Arabic al-buqscharra, which could be translated as “the land of the pastures” given the abundance of water found in this fertile zone. The area is not easy to reach; the steep mountainside landscape has obliged villagers to build a network of terraces and ditches to optimize irrigation. The hilly geography does not facilitate the use of machinery for carrying out agricultural work. While this has posed a historical challenge to agriculturists, it has helped preserve a natural aura that offers observers a peek into a distant age that appears lost in time.

After the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada in 1492, the Andalusia Muslims were required by law to convert to Catholicism under the Catholic monarchs after 1502. Muslims who refused to leave their Andalusia homes to go to Northern Africa were known as Moriscos.

They remained in this area until 1568, when the Morisco revolt lead by Abén Humeya (whose Christian name of Fernando de Válor) was violently defeated a year later by the Spanish king’s army. After the Castilian victory, by order of the crown, two Morisco families were permitted to continue living in each town to teach new Christian settlers from Castile, Leon, and Galicia how to work the challenging terraced land and maintain the irrigation system so vital to the local agriculture. Unfortunately, the plan proved unsuccessful, and the traditional farming systems were lost in favor of methods adopted from the central and northern regions of the peninsula.



The influence of Northern Africa has been maintained in the region’s architecture, clearly related to the Berbers, with homes that appear stacked or overlapping to form passageway-tunnels called “tinaos”. Houses also have flat roofs called launa, which are covered with gravel, affording residents rooftop terrace spaces. There are no tiles here, and the home’s design takes advantage of every square meter, each one playing a necessary and functional role. Other Northern African elements that have been maintained in the Alpujarra include many cooking traditions, the use of jarapas (carpets made of recycled fabric), and the area’s place names such as Alcolea, Bentarique, La Taha, Ohanes…

Jarapa, traditional carpet from the Alpujarras

The most common way to visit the area is through the town of Lanjarón, one of the Alpujarra’s entry points along with Órgiva. Beyond this spa-town (famous throughout Spain for its mineral water), visitors follow winding mountain roads to cross the historic Tablate Bridge, the scene of the last great battle between Christian soldiers and Alpujarra Moriscos, the confrontation which ended the so-called “Morisco rebellion” in the third quarter of the 16^th century.


A few kilometers past the bridge and around a tight curve, the scenic Poqueira River gorge offers fantastic views. The gorge is home to three towns: Capileria, bubión, and Pampaneira, names that may sound Gaelic but which are Arab in origin.

Visitors continuing on their journey may reach Trevélez, peninsular Spain’s highest town, a place famous for its hams. Hams here are cured in the cold, dry air of the Sierra Mountains, which is where the name jamón serrano comes from.

It is not surprising that this region has left an indelible impression on many observers, such as the Granada writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, who in 1874 published the book La Alpujarra about this area of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1957, British writer Gerald Brenan published South from Granada, a story that takes place in the Alpujarra town of Yegen and which was made into a movie in 2003 by Fernando Colomo. The former drummer for the music group Genesis, Chris Stewart, who is a resident in the local mountain town of Órgiva, has recently published two enjoyable novels. They narrate the adventures of a cosmopolitan Englishman who decides to move to the seclusion of these mountains with his wife and daughter. Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia and A Parrot In the Pepper Tree are both highly recommendable titles.

The scenic mountain atmosphere of the Alpujarra and its charming villages make for enjoyable and memorable travel experiences. This is a recommended trip for anyone visiting Spain and a must for those going to Granada.

Text by: donquijote.org http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/places/cities/la-alpujarra 
Photos by: Vive Alpujarra Proyecto https://www.facebook.com/Vive.Alpujarra

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