History - Spain - Philip Ii: Morisco Relations And Revolt Of 1568-70

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Worries over internal security 1

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. Spanish government had genuine concerns about morisco links to North African and Ottomans - Collaboration with Barbary pirates was on the increase in the mid-1560s

. It was well known that the governments of Morocco and Turkey were in contact with the moriscos

. Morisco bandits were active in the east of the peninsula and North African pirates were often welcomed into coastal areas

. There was smuggling of weapons onto the Iberian peninsual and it was virtually impossible for Spain to patrol the southern and eastern coasts

. Lynch says that the moriscos were in subversive communication with the 'Cherifs' of Morocco, the pirates of Tetuan and the Sultan of Constantinople

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Religion

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. A further cause was the fact that little work had been done by Ferdinand/Isabella or Charles to genuinely convert Moriscos - Charles' fiancial priorities had left an unassimilated majority in Granada (of course officially there had been no members of the Muslim faith since 1526)

. In 1565, clergy held a synod in Grana and advised Philip that the old patient policy of conversion should be replaced with radicalism

. Pedro Guerro, Archbishop of Granada (1546-76), had recently returned from the Council of Trent and was full of Catholic zeal

. Catholic militany? Catholic nationalism?

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Political factor 1

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. The Mondejar family, hereditary captains-general of Granada, had long since protected Moriscos - but in the 1560s, the family was not in favour at court and their advice to Philip was thus ignored

. Inquisitor General de Valdes ended deals to buy immunity from Inquisition and set about attacking their culture

. Rawlings states that 92% of Granada Inquisition victims were Morisco in 1566 as opposed to 50% in 1550

. From the 1560s, Moriscos became the major target of the Inquisition of Granada, Zaragoza and Valencia in the 75 years before their final expulsion - e.g. of the 12 autos de fe in Granada from 1550-80, Moriscos were over 78% of those accused; In Zaragoza from 1560-1614 Moriscos made up 56.5% of those acussed

. In 1563 a law targeted Morisco land ownership and took land from Moriscos that oculd not decisively prove ownership - This led to mass confiscations, 100,000 hectares from 1559-68

. The law also meant that Moriscos could not own weapons and attacked the silk industry (their main industry) - Heavy tax, exports banned and cheap silk imports were encouraged from the rest of Spain, particulary Murcia

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Political factor 2

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. The 1st January 1567 edict vs Moriscos decreed that all the most important Morisco characteristics were forbideen - including surnames, wearing silk and ceremonies

. Private and public baths including the Alhambra were destroyed

. Arabic was to be banned after 3 years by which time they were expected to learn Spanish

. Houses should be regularly inspected, with children to be brought up away from parent - similar to Ferdinand and Isabella but the difference is that this time is was actually going to be enforced

. The Moriscos sent a deputation to Madrid to plead for a stop and pretty much told Philip that rebellion would be the outcome

. Helen Rawlings argues this was 'cultural annihilation...the conciliatory approach was about to be replaced by one of hard-line coercion' - Rawlings is hyper-critical of Philip's naivety that the Moriscos would willingly convert to Christianity with force

. Lynch is more balanced and argues that the crisis was caused by a genuine Islamic threat abroad linking with the Moriscos

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Events of the revolt 1

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. Failure of the 1567 harvest added to Morisco misery - On Christmas Eve in 1568, the Moriscos of Granada rose in revolt (4,000 rebels initially, growing to 30,000 by 1569), mostly unemployed silk weavers

. With Spain's best troops away in Flanders under Alba, the threat to internal security was serious

. Revolt was mainly contained to the Alpujarras hills, whislt the fear would spread to Valencia and Aragon and gain Turkish support - Philip dispatched the Marquis of Mondejar and the Andalusia militia, who captured 180 villages but couldn't end the rebellion

. There was an initially attempt to crush the revolt in 1569 but it didn't succeed

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Events of the revolt 2

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. Don John (Philip's half-brother) was sent in 1569 with 20,000 troops - Savage war continued for 2 more years with both sides committing massacres

. When the Moriscos conquered Seron, they killed 150 people and enslaved 80 - By February 1569, Francisco de Cordoba led 800 against Inox and killed 400, reducing 2,700 to slavery

. February 1570 in Galera - when it fell to Don John, all 2,500 inhabitants were slaughtered and the town was razed and salt poured over it

. By 1570, the rebels were forced into the msot inhospitable parts of the mountains and offered a free pardon - When their leader Aben Humeya surrendered, the revolt ended

. Key features in the victory were Mondejar's decisive assault on Guajar in early 1569, the forces of Don John brought from Itlay and the Italian galleys that patrolled the Spanish coast

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Analysis/Impact of the revolt 1

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. 1st November 1570 decree - the government decided to distribute the Granadine Moriscos across the peninsula with tragic human consequences

. Within 1 month, 50,000 Moriscos were expelled from Granada and resettled across Spain with perhaps 25% dying in the process

. From 1569-73, around 80,000 were driven out and it total there were up to 120,000 deaths (Kamen) - (Habsburg claims 90,000 redistributed and 30% died from disease, famine and murder)

. Any male Morisco over 16 that was found within 10 leagues (30 miles) of Granada would be killed and any female over 9 would be enslaved - 84 forts were built within Granada to encourage resettlement

. Rawlings states that 80,000 were rounded up in November 1570 and the majority were dispatched to cities in southern Castile - Toledo, Cordoba and Albacete took at least half of those exiled

. The Council of State discussed expulsion in 1590

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Analysis/Impact of the rtevolt 2

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. In 1573 a scheme was launched to establish a network of parishes in areas of high Morsico numbers - Moriscos were restricted from maritime areas in Andalusia from 1579 and Valencia from 1586, but there were still 10,000 in Granada as late as 1587 (All Moriscos expelled from Iberia between 1609-11)

. In many ways Philip mishandeld the revolt as he had largely caused it - Alba, Mondejar and Moriscos had advised Philip agaisnt the inflammatory edicts

. Marquis de Mondejar (Captain General of Granada was not consulted initially) had warned that he did not have sufficient resources to deal with Moriscos, as most of the southern troops were with Alba in the Netherlands

. Philip was lucky that the Valencian and Aragonese Moriscos did not join the revolt and that the city of Granada stayed loyal - Don John was also helped by internal divisions in Moriscos

. Hernando de Valor (proclaimed king) was deposed by his own guards and his successor was murdered in 1571

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Analysis/Impact of the revolt 3

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. There was also miminal help from North africa and Ottomas (involved in Cyprus campaign) - In spring 1570, 4,000 Turks and Berbers were fighting with Moriscos according to Kamen though

. Ottomas were more concerned with Cyprus and Algerians with the re-conquest of Tunis - both were captured in 1570

. The Granadine economy was severely disrupted, despite 50,000 Old Christian settles moving to the region, the overall population fell by 28% and towns declined by 33% - 12,500 families arrived occupying 270/400 villages but many did not stay

. 60,000 Spanish lives were lost and it cost 3 million ducats over 2 years

. Demonstrated weakness of the Spanish states - 'in fighting the Morsicos of Granada, it is not too much to say that the Spanish empire was fighting for its very life. It was good fortune rather than anything else that saved it', R. Trevor Davies

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Analysis/Impact of the revolt 4

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. The revolt gave hope to William of Orange who wrote from exile in 1570 - 'if the Moors are able to resist for so long, even though they are people of no more substance than a flock of sheep, what might the people of the Low Countries be able to do?'

. Kamen concludes that by the end of the 16th century, social and relgious tensions semed to have made assimilation/coexistance impossible and that in a way, Granada's Morisco problem had just been spread across Spain

. Morisco banditry, piracy and links with Turks and French Protestants were still clear

. Also, a rapid Morisco population rise which worried authorities - By 1610, 20% of Aragon's population was Morisco and in Valencia there was a 70% increase from 1565-1609 (compared with 45% Old Christian rise)

. In both regions, the population of Moriscos was growing fast and there was concern that they would outnumber the Old Christians

. Tribunals of Valencia and Zaragoza stepped up their work in the 1580s - e.g. 2,500 were brought to trial in Valencia from 1566-1614

. There were further expulsions in Granada in 1584, where 3,000 were expelled

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Worries over interal security 2

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. JH Elliott thinks that the revolty could have been avoided had Philip acted differently, however does concede that the Muslim external threat was very real in the 1560s - Attempts to disarm Moriscos by royal edict in 1563 failed as landowners used them as retainers and resisted this

. In 1565, news arrived of the siege of Malta (unsuccessful) - which brought home the Ottoman threat

. Three Morisco spies were arrested in 1565, which had revealed a plot for the seizure of the Granada coast in the event of Turkish success in the siege of Malta

. There were also fears that Moriscos might join with the Protestants in southern France in any attack on Spain

. In 1558: 4,000 corsairs attacked Berja; In 1559: 150 Algerian Turks attacked the castle at Fuengirola; In 1565: corsairs from the Tetuan pirates defeated Spanish troops at Origba, marched 20 miles inland and carried off several hundred moriscos (Raid prepared with the help of morisco collaborators)