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Moriscos (, ; ; "Moors") were former and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Muslim population, the mudéjars, in the early 16th century.
The Iberian Union mistrusted Moriscos and feared that they would prompt new invasions from the Ottoman Empire after the Fall of Constantinople, so between 1609 and 1614 they began to expel them systematically from the various kingdoms of the Union. The most severe expulsions occurred in the eastern Kingdom of Valencia. The exact number of Moriscos present in Spain before the expulsion is unknown and can only be guessed based on official records of the edict of expulsion. Furthermore, the overall number who were able to avoid deportation is also unknown, with estimates on the proportion of those who avoided expulsion or returned to Spain ranging from 5% to 40%.Trevor J. Dadson: The Assimilation of Spain's Moriscos: Fiction or Reality? . Journal of Levantine Studies, vol. 1, no. 2, Winter 2011, pp. 11–30
The large majority settled on the western fringe of the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Morocco. The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most receiving relatively light sentences.Már Jónsson, "The expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain in 1609–1614: the destruction of an Islamic periphery." Journal of Global History 2.2 (2007): 195–212.
In Spanish, morisco was also used in official colonial-era documentation in Spanish America to denote mixed-race : the children of relations between Spanish men and women of mixed African-European ancestry.
The word morisco appears in twelfth-century Castilian texts as an adjective for the noun moro. These two words are comparable to the English adjective "Moorish" and noun "Moor". Mediaeval Castilians used the words in the general senses of "Muslim" or an "Arabic-speaker" as in the case of Muslim converts; the words continued to be used in these older meanings even after the more specific meaning of morisco (which does not have a corresponding noun) became widespread.
According to L. P. Harvey, the two different meanings have resulted in modern scholars misinterpreting historical texts. In the early years, the Christians called them "new Christians," "new converts", or "new Christians, converted from Moors" ( nuevos christianos convertidos de moros; to distinguish from those Converso) to refer to this group.
In 1517, the word morisco became a "category" added to the array of cultural and religious identities that existed at the time, used to identify Muslim converts to Christianity in Granada and Castille. The term was a pejorative adaptation of the adjective morisco ("Moorish"). It soon became the standard term for referring to all former Spain Muslims.
In Spanish America, morisco (or morisca, in feminine form) was used to identify a racial category: a mixed-race casta, the child of a Spaniard ( español) and a mulatto (offspring of a Spaniard and a negro, generally a lighter-complexioned person with some African ancestry). This was probably due to a perception that such individuals looked similar to North Africans, appearing mostly white but with a somewhat visible sub-Saharan African admixture. The term appears in colonial-era marriage registers identifying individuals and in eighteenth-century casta paintings.Vinson, Ben III. Before Mestizaje: The Frontiers of Race and Caste in Colonial Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press 2018, 133–137. The term quadroon was a similar term for quarter-black people in English colonies.
Historians generally agree that, based on expulsion records, around 275,000 Moriscos were expelled from Spain in the early 17th century. Historian L. P. Harvey in 2005 gave a range of 300,000 to 330,000 for the early 16th century; based on earlier estimates by Domínguez Ortiz and Bernard Vincent, who gave 321,000 for the period 1568–75, and 319,000 just before the expulsion in 1609. But, Christiane Stallaert put the number at around one million Moriscos at the beginning of the 16th century. Recent studies by Trevor Dadson on the expulsion of the Moriscos propose the figure of 500,000 just before the expulsion, consistent with figures given by other historians. Dadson concludes that, assuming the 275,000 figure from the official expulsion records is correct, around 40% of Spain's Moriscos managed to avoid expulsions altogether. A further 20% managed to return to Spain in the years following their expulsion according to Dadson.
Although they converted to Christianity, they maintained their existing customs, including their language, distinct names, food, dress and even some ceremonies. Many secretly practiced Islam, even as they publicly professed and practiced Christianity. This led the Catholic rulers to adopt increasingly intolerant and harsh policies to eradicate these practices. This culminated in Philip II's Pragmatica of 1 January 1567, which ordered the Moriscos to abandon their customs, clothing and language. The Pragmatica triggered the Morisco revolts in 1568–71. The Spanish authorities quashed this rebellion, and at the end of the fighting, the authorities decided to expel the Moriscos from Granada and scatter them to the other parts of Castile. Between 80,000 and 90,000 Granadans were marched to cities and towns across Castile.
In the 1520s, the Revolt of the Brotherhoods broke out among the Christian subjects of Valencia. The rebellion bore an anti-Islamic sentiment, and the rebels forced Valencian Muslims to become Christians in the territories they controlled. The Muslims joined the Crown in suppressing the rebellion, playing crucial roles in several battles. After the rebellion was suppressed, King Charles V started an investigation to determine the validity of the conversions forced by the rebels. He ultimately upheld those conversions, therefore putting the force-converted subjects under the authority of the Inquisition, and issued declarations to the effect of forcing the conversion of the rest of the Muslims.
After the forced conversions, Valencia was the region where the remains of Islamic culture was the strongest. A Venetian ambassador in the 1570s said that some Valencian nobles "had permitted their Moriscos to live almost openly as Mohammedans." Despite efforts to ban Arabic, it continued to be spoken until the expulsions. Valencians also trained other Aragonese Moriscos in Arabic and religious texts.
Places like Muel, Zaragoza, were inhabited fully by Moriscos, the only Old Christians were the priest, the notary and the owner of the tavern-inn. "The rest would rather go on a pilgrimage to Mecca than Santiago de Compostela." quoting Enrique Cock, Relación del viaje hecho por Felipe III en 1585 a Zaragoza, Barcelona y Valencia, Madrid, 1876, p. 314
In Catalonia, Moriscos represented less than 2% of the population and were concentrated in the Low Ebro region, as well as in the city of Lleida and the towns of Aitona and Seròs, in the Low Segre region. They largely no longer spoke Arabic, but Catalan language, and to a lesser extent also Spanish language-Aragonese in Lleida.Pablo Roza Candás, "Rasgos aragoneses orientales en un manuscrito aljamiado-morisco." Alazet: Revista de filología. . Nº 23, 2011, págs. 83–98. [2]
Many Moriscos became devout in their new Christian faith, and in Granada, many Moriscos became Christian martyrs, as they were killed by Muslims for refusing to renounce Christianity.: "In Granada, Moriscos were killed because they refused to renounce their adopted faith. Elsewhere in Spain, Moriscos went to mass and heard confession and appeared to do everything that their new faith required of them." In 16th century Granada, the Christian Moriscos chose the Virgin Mary as their patron saint and developed Christian devotional literature with a Marian devotions emphasis.
The writing of a Morisco crypto-Muslim author known as the "Young Man of Arévalo" included accounts of his travel around Spain, his meetings with other clandestine Muslims and descriptions of their religious practices and discussions. The writing referred to the practice of secret congregational prayer, collecting alms to perform the Hajj (although it is unclear whether the journey was ultimately achieved), and the determination and hope to reinstitute the full practice of Islam as soon as possible. The Young Man wrote at least three extant works, Brief compendium of our sacred law and sunnah, the Tafsira and Sumario de la relación y ejercio espiritual, all written in Spanish with Arabic script ( aljamiado), and primarily about religious topics.
Extant copies of the Qur'an have also been found from the Morisco period, although many are not complete copies but selections of surah, which were easier to hide. Other surviving Islamic religious materials from this period include collections of , stories of the prophets, Islamic legal texts, theological works (including al-Ghazali's works), as well as literature defending Islam and criticizing Christianity.
The Moriscos also likely wrote the Lead Books of Sacromonte, texts written in Arabic claiming to be Christian sacred books from the first century AD. Upon their discovery in the mid-1590s, the books were initially greeted enthusiastically by the Christians of Granada and treated by the Christian authorities as genuine, causing a sensation throughout Europe due to their (ostensibly) ancient origin. Hispano-Arabic historian Leonard Patrick Harvey proposed that the Moriscos wrote these texts in order to infiltrate Christianity from within, by emphasizing aspects of Christianity which were acceptable to Muslims. The content of the text was superficially Christian and did not refer to Islam at all, but contained many "Islamizing" features. The text never featured the Trinity doctrine or referred to Jesus as Son of God, concepts which are blasphemous and offensive in Islam. Instead, it repeatedly stated "There is no god but God and Jesus is the Spirit of God ( ruh Allah)", which is unambiguously close to the Islamic shahada and referred to the Qur'anic epithet for Jesus, "the Spirit from him God". It contained passages which appeared (unbeknownst to the Christians at the time) to implicitly predict the arrival of Muhammad by mentioning his various Islamic epithets.
In many ways, their situation was comparable to that of the , secret who lived in Spain at the same time.
The Christians called the defeated Muslims who came under their rule the Mudéjars. Prior to the completion of the Reconquista, they were generally given freedom of religion as terms of their surrender. For example, the Treaty of Granada, which governed the surrender of the emirate, guaranteed a set of rights to the conquered Muslims, including religious tolerance and fair treatment, in return for their capitulation.
retrieved 2014-08-18 and prosecution of many of Granada's Muslims. In response to these and other violations of the Treaty, Granada's Muslim population rebelled in 1499. The revolt lasted until early 1501, giving the Castilian authorities an excuse to void the terms of the Treaty for Muslims. In 1501 the terms of the Treaty of Granada protections were abandoned.
In 1501 Castilian authorities delivered an ultimatum to Granada's Muslims: either convert to Christianity or be expelled. Most did convert, in order not to have their property and small children taken away from them. Many continued to dress in their traditional fashion, speak Arabic, and secretly practiced Islam (crypto-Muslims). The 1504 Oran fatwa provided scholarly religious dispensations and instructions about secretly practicing Islam while outwardly practicing Christianity. With the decline of Arabic culture, many used the aljamiado writing system, i.e., Castilian or Aragonese texts in Arabic writing with scattered Arabic expressions. In 1502, Queen Isabella I of Castile formally rescinded tolerance of Islam for the entire Crown of Castile. In 1508, Castilian authorities banned traditional Granadan clothing. With the 1512 Spanish invasion of Navarre, the Muslims of Navarre were ordered to convert or leave by 1515.
However, King Ferdinand, as ruler of the Crown of Aragon, continued to tolerate the large Muslim population living in his territory. Since the Crown of Aragon was juridically independent of Castile, their policies towards Muslims could and did differ during this period. Historians have suggested that the Crown of Aragon was inclined to tolerate Islam in its realm because the landed nobility there depended on the cheap, plentiful labor of Muslim vassals.Henry Kamen, Spanish Inquisition (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997, p. 216) However, the landed elite's exploitation of Aragon's Muslims also exacerbated class resentments. In the 1520s, when Valencian rebelled against the local nobility in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, the rebels "saw that the simplest way to destroy the power of the nobles in the countryside would be to free their vassals, and this they did by baptizing them." The Inquisition and monarchy decided to prohibit the forcibly baptized Muslims of Valencia from returning to Islam. Finally, in 1526, King Charles V issued a decree compelling all Muslims in the crown of Aragon to convert to Catholicism or leave the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal had already expelled or forcibly converted its Muslims in 1497 and established its own Inquisition in 1536).
Outside Granada, the role of advocates and defenders were taken by the Morisco's Christian lords. In areas with high Morisco concentration, such as the Kingdom of Valencia and certain areas of other kingdoms, former Muslims played an important role in the economy, especially in agriculture and crafts. Consequently, the Christian lords often defended their Moriscos, sometimes to the point of being targeted by the Inquisition. For example, the Inquisition sentenced Sancho de Cardona, Admiral of Aragon, to life imprisonment after he was accused of allowing the Moriscos to openly practice Islam, build a mosque and openly made the adhan (call to prayer)., both in text and note 17 The Duke of Segorbe (later Viceroy of Valencia) allowed his vassal in the Vall d'Uixó to operate a madrassa. A witness recalled one of his vassals saying that "we live as Moors and no one dares to say anything to us". A Venetian ambassador in the 1570s said that some Valencian nobles "had permitted their Moriscos to live almost openly as Mohammedans."
In 1567, Philip II directed Moriscos to give up their Arabic names and traditional dress, and prohibited the use of the Arabic language. In addition, the children of Moriscos were to be educated by Catholic priests. In reaction, there was a Morisco Morisco Revolt in the Alpujarras from 1568 to 1571.
The majority were expelled from the Crown of Aragon (modern day Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia), particularly from Valencia, where Morisco communities remained large, visible and cohesive; and Christian animosity was acute, particularly for economic reasons. Some historians have blamed the subsequent economic collapse of the Spanish Eastern Mediterranean coast on the region's inability to replace Morisco workers successfully with Christian newcomers. Many villages were totally abandoned as a result. New laborers were fewer in number and were not as familiar with local agricultural techniques.
In the Crown of Castile (including Andalusia, Murcia and the former kingdom of Granada), by contrast, the scale of Morisco expulsion was much less severe. This was due to the fact that their presence was less felt as they were considerably more integrated in their communities, enjoying the support and sympathy from local Christian populations, authorities and, in some occasions, the clergy. Furthermore, the internal dispersion of the more distinct Morisco communities of Granada throughout Castile and Andalusia after the War of the Alpujarras, made this community of Moriscos harder to track and identify, allowing them to merge with and disappear into the wider society.
Although many Moriscos were sincere Christians, adult Moriscos were often assumed to be covert Muslims (i.e. crypto-Muslims), but expelling their children presented the government with a dilemma. As the children had all been baptized, 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 were sent there.Bruno Etienne, "Nos ancêtres les Sarrasins", in « Les nouveaux penseurs de l'Islam », Nouvel Observateur, hors série n° 54 du April/May 2004, pp. 22–23[4]Francisque Michel, Histoire des races maudites de la France et de l'Espagne, Hachette, 1847, p. 71 Many of the Moriscos migrated from Marseille to other lands in Christendom, including Italy and Sicily, or Constantinople. Estimates of returnee numbers vary, with historian Earl Hamilton believing that as many as a quarter of those expelled may have returned to Spain.
A number of the refugees settled in Muslim-held lands, mostly in the Ottoman Empire, in Algeria, Tunisia or Morocco; many of them came to Galata in the Ottoman Empire – from 1609 to the 1620s, many Moriscos settled there. (2025). 9789004279353 ISBN 9789004279353
Spanish spies reported that the Ottoman Emperor Selim II was planning to attack Malta, and from there advance to Spain. It was reported Selim wanted to incite an uprising among Spanish Moriscos. In addition, "some four thousand Turkish people and Berber people had come into Spain to fight alongside the insurgents in the Alpujarras",Kamen, Spanish Inquisition, p. 224. a region near Granada and an obvious military threat. "The excesses committed on both sides were without equal in the experience of contemporaries; it was the most savage war to be fought in Europe that century." After the Castilian forces defeated the Islamic insurgents, they expelled some eighty thousand Moriscos from the Granada Province. Most settled elsewhere in Castile. The 'Alpujarras Uprising' hardened the attitude of the monarchy. As a consequence, the Spanish Inquisition increased prosecution and persecution of Moriscos after the uprising.
Toward the end of the 16th century, Morisco writers challenged the perception that their culture was alien to Spain. Their literary works expressed early Spanish history in which Arabic-speaking Spaniards played a positive role. Chief among such works is Verdadera historia del rey don Rodrigo by (c. 1545–1615). "Miguel de Luna", CervantesVirtual
Morisco mercenaries in the service of the Moroccan sultan, using , crossed the Sahara and conquered Timbuktu and the Niger Curve in 1591. Their descendants formed the ethnic group of the Arma people. A Morisco worked as a military advisor to Sultan Al-Ashraf Tumanbay II of Egypt (the last Egyptian Mamluk Sultan) during his struggle against the Ottoman invasion in 1517, led by Sultan Selim I. The Morisco military advisor advised Sultan Tumanbay to use infantry armed with guns instead of depending on cavalry. Arabic sources recorded that Moriscos of Tunisia, Libya and Egypt joined Ottoman armies. Many Moriscos of Egypt joined the army in the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt.
Modern studies in population genetics have attributed unusually high levels of recent North African ancestry in modern Spaniards to Moorish settlement during the Islamic period and, more specifically, to the substantial proportion of Morisco population which remained in Spain and avoided expulsion.
A similar study on the expulsion in Andalusia concluded it was an inefficient operation which was significantly reduced in its severity by resistance to the measure among local authorities and populations. It further highlights the constant flow of returnees from North Africa, creating a dilemma for the local inquisition who did not know how to deal with those who had been given no choice but to convert to Islam during their stay in Muslim lands as a result of the Royal Decree. Upon the coronation of Philip IV, the new king gave the order to desist from attempting to impose measures on returnees and in September 1628 the Council of the Supreme Inquisition ordered inquisitors in Seville not to prosecute expelled Moriscos "unless they cause significant commotion." Michel Boeglin: La expulsión de los moriscos de Andalucía y sus límites. El caso de Sevilla (1610–1613) (In Spanish)
An investigation published in 2012 sheds light on the thousands of Moriscos who remained in the province of Granada alone, surviving both the initial expulsion to other parts of Spain in 1571 and the final expulsion of 1604. These Moriscos managed to evade in various ways the royal decrees, hiding their true origin thereafter. More surprisingly, by the 17th and 18th centuries much of this group accumulated great wealth by controlling the silk trade and also holding about a hundred public offices. Most of these lineages were nevertheless completely assimilated over generations despite their endogamic practices. A compact core of active crypto-Muslims was prosecuted by the Inquisition in 1727, receiving comparatively light sentences. These convicts kept alive their identity until the late 18th century. Europa Press News Agency: Experto descubre "linajes ocultos" de moriscos que se quedaron en Andalucía, a pesar de la orden de expulsión (In Spanish)
The attempted expulsion of Moriscos from Extremadura was deemed a failure, with the exception of the speedy expulsion of the Moriscos of the town of Hornachos who would become the founders of the Republic of Salé in modern-day Morocco. Extremaduran Moriscos benefited from systematic support from authorities and society throughout the region and numerous Moriscos avoiding deportation while whole communities such as those of Alcántara temporarily shifted across the border to Portugal only to return later. The expulsion between 1609–1614, therefore, did not come close to its objective of eliminating Morisco presence from the region. Sánchez Rubio, Rocio; Testón Núñez, Isabel; Hernández Bermejo, Mª Ángeles: The expulsion of the Moriscos from Extremadura (1609–1614)
Similar patterns are observed in a detailed examination of the Expulsion in the southeastern Region of Murcia, large swathes of which were of Morisco majority. Morisco integration had reached high levels at the time of expulsion, they formed a strong socio-economic block with complex family ties and good-neighbourly relations. This resulted in the possibility of return, with few exceptions, to be offered and taken by a majority of Moriscos expelled. Although some were initially persecuted upon return, by 1622 they were no longer given any trouble from authorities. Lisón Hernández, Luis: Mito y realidad en la expulsión de los mudéjares murcianos del Valle de Ricote (In Spanish)
Recent genetic studies of North African admixture among modern-day Spaniards have found high levels of North African (Berber) and Sub-Saharan African admixture among Spanish and Portuguese populations as compared to the rest of southern and western Europe, and such admixture does not follow a North-South gradient as one would initially expect, but more of an East-West one.
While the descendants of those Moriscos who fled to North Africa have remained strongly aware and proud of their Andalusi roots, the Moriscos' identity as a community was wiped out in Spain, be it via either expulsion or absorption by the dominant culture. Nevertheless, a journalistic investigation over the past years has uncovered existing communities in rural Spain (more specifically in the provinces of Murcia and Albacete) which seem to have maintained traces of their Islamic or Morisco identity, secretly practicing a debased form of Islam as late as the 20th century, as well as conserving Morisco customs and unusual Arabic vocabulary in their speech.La Vanguardia, 12-Nov-2006. Los últimos de Al Andalus. En la sierra del Segura se mantiene el recuerdo de descendientes de moriscos que practicaban costumbres musulmanas. (p. 1) – (p. 2) (In Spanish)
The ineffectiveness of the expulsion in the lands of Castile nevertheless contrasts with that of the Crown of Aragón (modern day Catalonia, Aragón and Valencian Community) in Eastern Spain. Here the expulsion was accepted much more wholeheartedly and instances of evasion and/or return have so far not been considered demographically important. This explains why Spain was not affected on the whole by the expulsion whereas the Valencian Community was devastated and never truly recovered as an economic or political powerhouse of the kingdom, ceding its position, within the Crown of Aragón, to the Catalan counties to the north, which never had a sizeable Morisco population to begin with. Gregorio Colás Latorre: Nueva mirada sobre la expulsión de los moriscos aragoneses y sus consecuencias
A wide number of recent genetic studies of modern-day Spanish and Portuguese populations have ascertained significantly higher levels of North African admixture in the Iberian peninsula than in the rest of the European continent. which is generally attributed to Islamic rule and settlement of the Iberian peninsula. Common North African genetic markers which are relatively high frequencies in the Iberian peninsula as compared to the rest of the European continent are Y-chromosome E1b1b1b1(E-M81)
and Macro-haplogroup L (mtDNA) and U6. Studies coincide that North African admixture tends to increase in the south and west of the peninsula, peaking in parts of Andalusia, Extremadura, Southern Portugal and Western Castile. Distribution of North African markers are largely absent from the northeast of Spain as well as the Basque country. The uneven distribution of admixture in Spain has been explained by the extent and intensity of Islamic colonization in a given area, but also by the varying levels of success in attempting to expel the Moriscos in different regions of Spain, as well as forced and voluntary Morisco population movements during the 16th and 17th centuries.
As for tracing Morisco descendants in North Africa, to date there have been few genetic studies of populations of Morisco origin in the Maghreb region, although studies of the Moroccan population have not detected significant recent genetic inflow from the Iberian peninsula. A recent study of various Tunisian ethnic groups has found that all were indigenous North African, including those who self-identified as Andalusians.
Spanish Civil Code Art. 22.1 do provide concessions to nationals of the Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, and Portugal, specifically it enables them to seek citizenship after two years rather than the usual ten years required for residence in Spain. Código Civil Additionally similar concessions were provided later to the descendants of Sephardic Jews.
According to the President of Andalusi Historical Memory Association, Nayib Loubaris, this measure could potentially cover as many as 600 families of Morisco origin in what today is Morocco, who would have moved to Rabat and various other cities across the country. Such families are easily recognizable by their Spanish surnames such as Torres, Loubaris (from Olivares), Bargachi (from Vargas), Buano (from Bueno), Sordo, Denia, and Lucas. Earlier estimates had involved much larger figures of potential descendants (up to 5 million in Morocco and an indeterminate number from other Muslim countries).
Since 1992 some Spanish and Moroccan historians and academics have been demanding equitable treatment for Moriscos similar to that offered to . The bid was welcomed by Mansur Escudero, the chairman of the Islamic Council of Spain. La Junta Islámica pide para descendientes de moriscos la nacionalidad española
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> Alhadith, a web resource at Stanford University for students and scholars of Morisco language and culture
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