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Morisco
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A morisco (Spanish "Moor-like") or mourisco (Portuguese) was any Muslim of Spain or Portugal who converted to Catholicism during the reconquista of Spain. The term also became a pejorative applied to those who had converted but were suspected of secretly practicing Islam.
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A morisco (Spanish "Moor-like") or mourisco (Portuguese) was any Muslim of Spain or Portugal who converted to Catholicism during the reconquista of Spain. The term also became a pejorative applied to those who had converted but were suspected of secretly practicing Islam. Converted Jews (conversos) who secretly held to Judaism were called marranos.
History
Beginning in the early 1500's after the Reconquista, Mudéjars (Spanish Muslims) were forced to adopt Catholicism or leave Spain. Muslims who refused to convert faced penalties such as death, exile or imprisonment for adhering to Islam. Muslim converts were known as moriscos. However, many moriscos continued to practice as crypto-Muslims. Adherent Muslims were experiencing a revitalization of their culture and religion among the moriscos. Concerned about this activity, the Spanish crown sought to expel both Muslims and Jews from newly reconquered Spanish lands. In 1610 the Spanish crown finally expelled the remaining Muslim population; most of the refugees made their way to lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire or to North Africa.
The exact status of the Mudéjars depended on the capitulation pacts in various areas and later royal decrees. After the fall of the city of Granada in 1492, the Muslim population was granted religious freedom by the Treaty of Granada, but that promise was short-lived. When peaceful conversion efforts on the part of Granada's first archbishop, Hernando de Talavera, brought subversive opposition, Cardinal Cisneros took stronger measures: forcing conversions, burning Islamic texts and prosecuting some of Granada's Muslims. In response to these and other violations of the treaty, Granada's Muslim/morisco population rebelled in 1499. The revolt, which lasted until early 1501, gave the Spanish authorities an excuse to void the remaining terms in the treaty of surrender.
In 1501, Spanish authorities gave Granada's Muslims an ultimatum: they could either convert to Christianity or leave. Most did convert, but usually only superficially. They continued to dress and speak as they had before and to practice Islam secretly. Many used the aljamiado writing system, i.e., Castilian or Aragonese texts in Arabic writing with scattered Arabic expressions. In 1502, however, the authorities extended the ultimatums applied to Mudéjars of Castile and Leon; in 1508, authorities banned traditional fashion. The Mudéjars of Navarre had to convert or leave by 1515, and those of Aragon by 1525.
More restrictive legislation was introduced in 1526 and 1527 under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Moriscos could pay for a 40-year suspension of the laws. In 1567, Philip II of Spain increased pressure by issuing an order that required moriscos to give up their Muslim names and traditional Muslim dress, and to prohibit their speaking Arabic. They were told that their children would be educated by Christian priests. This led to another uprising in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571. After its defeat, the government forced resettlement of moriscos of Granada; many were sent to the kingdom of Valencia. Only a few moriscos, who had collaborated with the royal forces, were permitted to stay in the city and territory of Granada. The relocation affected not only the Arabized Granadines but also the moriscos of Castile, who were quite assimilated by then.
The moriscos, whose Christianity was often considered dubious, were suspected of being in contact with the Turkish Empire and the Barbary pirates to conspire against Spain. Spies reported that the Ottoman Emperor Selim II was planning to attack Malta and from there move on to Spain. The idea was to incite an uprising among Spanish Muslims and moriscos. Persuaded of the threat, Philip enacted restrictive measures against the moriscos. However, many Muslims had risen to positions of wealth and prominence, and wielded considerable counteracting influence. The Catholic crown strengthened its resolve to deal with them. Aragonese and Valencian nobles in particular appreciated the Muslims' work ethic and tried to protect them from expulsion by advocating a line of patience and religious instruction. Moorish businessmen and workers were especially important to the agriculture of Valencia and Murcia.
Toward the end of the 16th Century, morisco writers sought to challenge the perception of their culture as alien to Spain. Their literary works presented a version of early Spanish history in which Arabic-speaking Spaniards played a positive role. Chief such works is (c. 1545-1615). In fact, Muslims were critical to the settlement and culture of what are Portugal and Spain today.
Expulsion
The moriscos were ultimately forcibly expelled from Spain between 1609 (Valencia) and 1614 (Castile), by Philip III, at the instigation of the Duke of Lerma and the Viceroy of Valencia, Archbishop Juan de Ribera. Estimates for the number expelled in this second wave have varied, although contemporary accounts set the number at around 300,000 (about 4% of the Spanish population). The majority were expelled from the Crown of Aragon (modern day Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia). In contrast, the majority in the first wave were expelled from Andalusia shortly after the events of 1492. Some historians have blamed the subsequent economic collapse of the Spanish Mediterranean on the attempted replacement of morisco workers by Christian newcomers. Not only were there fewer of them, but they were not as familiar with the local techniques.
Adult moriscos were often assumed to be covert Muslims (i.e. crypto-Muslims), but the arrangements for expulsion of their children presented Catholic Spain with a dilemma. They had all been baptized, and consequently the government could not legally or morally transport them to Muslim lands. Some authorities proposed that children should be forcibly separated from their parents, but sheer numbers showed this to be impractical. Consequently, the official destination of the expellees was generally stated to be France (more specifically Marseille). After the assassination of Henry IV in 1610, about 150,000 moriscos went there.. Most of the moriscos then went back to North Africa from France, leaving about 40,000 to settle permanently in France..
Those moriscos who wished to remain Catholic were generally able to find new homes in Italy (especially Livorno), but the overwhelming majority settled in Muslim-held lands, either within the Ottoman Empire or Morocco.
Some communities fought as corsairs based at Algiers,Cherchell and Salé, against Christians, and some Morisco mercenaries (in the service of the Moroccan sultan) armed with European-style guns, crossed the Sahara and conquered Timbuktu and the Niger Curve in 1591, and it is recorded that a Morisco worked as military advisor for Sultan Al-Ashraf Tumanbay II of Egypt (the last Egyptian Mamluk Sultan) during his struggle against Ottoman invasion of Egypt in 1517 led by Sultan Selim I, Morisco military advisor asked Sultan Tomanbey to use guns instead of depending mainly on cavalries.
Arabic sources recorded that some Moriscos of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, joined Ottoman armies, and also many Moriscos of Egypt joined Egyptian army in time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt.
A large number of Moriscos did remain in Spain, camouflaged among the Christian population, some stayed on for genuine religious reasons, some for merely economic reasons. It is estimated that, in the kingdom of Granada alone, between 10,000 and 15,000 Moriscos remained after the general expulsion of 1609. It has been suggested that the Mercheros (also Quinquis), a group of nomadic tinkerers traditionally based in the northern half of Spain, may have their origin from vagrant Moriscos.
In literature
Miguel de Cervantes' writings, such as Don Quixote and Conversation of the Two Dogs, offer interesting views of Moriscos and put them in a favorable light.
In the first part of Don Quixote (before the expulsion), a Morisco translates a found document containing the Arabic "history" that Cervantes is merely "publishing".
In the second part, after the expulsion, Ricote is a Morisco and a good mate of Sancho Panza.
He cares more about money than religion, and left for Germany, from where he returned as a false pilgrim to unbury his treasure.
He however admits the righteousness of their expulsion.
His daughter María Félix is brought to Berbery but suffers since she is a sincere Christian.
Extended meaning
In historical studies of minoritisation, morisco is sometimes applied to other historical crypto-Muslims, in places such as Norman Sicily, 9th-century Crete, and other areas along the medieval Christian-Muslim frontier.
In the racial classification of colonial Spanish America, morisco was used as a term for the child of a mulatto and Spaniard.
Morisco descendants and Spanish citizenship
In October 2006, the Andalusian Parliament asked the three parliamentary groups that form the majority to support an amendment that would ease the way for morisco descendants to gain Spanish citizenship. The proposal was originally made by IULV-CA, the Andalusian branch of the United Left. Spanish Civil Code Art. 22.1, in its current form, provides concessions to nationals of several countries and Sephardic Jews historically linked with Spain. It allows them to seek citizenship after five rather than the customary ten years required for residence in Spain.
This measure could benefit about five million Moroccan citizens, who are considered to be descendants of moriscos. It could also benefit an indeterminate number of people in Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, Egypt and Turkey.
Since 1992 some Spanish and Moroccan historians and academics have been demanding equitable treatment for moriscos similar to that offered to Sephardic Jews. The bid was welcomed by Mansur Escudero, the chairman of Islamic Council of Spain.
A recent DNA study by the University of Leeds (2008) of the Y chromosome among the current population of Spain suggests the ancestry of the population is about 20% Jewish and 11% Moorish.. The Sephardic result is in contradiction or not replicated in all the body of genetic studies done in Iberia and has been relativized by the authors themselves
and questioned by Stephen Oppenheimer who estimate that much earlier migrations, 5000 to 10,000 years ago from the Eastern Mediterranean might also have accounted for the Sephardic estimates "They are really assuming that they are looking at this migration of Jewish immigrants, but the same lineages could have been introduced in the Neolithic".
A more precise study (January 2009) by Capelli et al. that analysed 717 Spanish individuals found the total contribution of specific North African male haplotypes in Spain as 7.7%.
See also
External links
Further reading
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- Harvey, L. P. Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
- Perry, M. E. The Handless Maiden: Moriscos and the Politics of Religion in Early Modern Spain. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.
Sources
- Moriscos of Spain: Their Conversion and Expulsion, by H. C. Lea, (London 1901)
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