Expulsion of The Moriscos - Attitudes Toward The Moriscos By Region

Attitudes Toward The Moriscos By Region

In 1609, there were approximately 325,000 Moriscos in Spain out of a total population of 8.5 million (3.8%). They were concentrated in the former kingdoms of Aragon, where they constituted 20% of the population, and the Valencia area specifically, where they were 33% of the total population. In addition, the Moorish population growth was somewhat higher than that of the Christian population; in Valencia, the Morisco population had an estimated 69.7% growth rate compared to 44.7% for the Old Christians. The rich and those who lived in the cities were mostly Christians, while the Moriscos occupied the outlying countryside and the poor suburbs of the cities.

In the kingdom of Castile, the situation was very different: of Castile's 6 million people, only around 100,000 were Moriscos (1.6%). The Moriscos in Castile consisted of two groups: the Mudejar Christian group, which had long since merged with the mainstrain society, and the Moriscos from Granada, who had been dispersed into small, scattered groups by the government after the upsrising in the Alpujuras of Granada. Castile experienced only half-hearted efforts at identifying and expelling them. The expulsion was slower and a far less thorough process than in the Kingdom of Aragon and particularly Valencia.

There was practically universal agreement in Spain that Islam was a threat that should be crushed. However, it was not clear how that should apply to the Moriscos, who were officially Christian. Some clerics such as Fray Luis de Aliaga, a royal councilor, supported giving time to the Moriscos to assimilate and become full Christians. This option was lightly supported by the Catholic Church in Rome, too. The most dedicated defenders of the Moriscos were the Valencian and Aragonese nobility, as their self-interest was involved. These nobles benefited the most from the poor and cheap workforce that the Moriscos provided.

Opposing this view were a variety of notables and classes of people. Clerics against Aliaga included Jaime Bleda, the most prominent member of the Inquisition in Valencia. Bleda made several early proposals to King Philip III to banish or otherwise end the Morisco problem; he even recommended genocide. At first, these entreaties were without success. In 1596 the Duke of Lerma, King Philip III's chief financial officer, accused the Moriscos of collaboration with the Muslim Barbary pirates, a charge that had dogged them for years. Still, while many in the population held to this, others considered that this threat had long since passed. The Council of Aragon, in opposing any punitive measures, wrote that even if they wished to betray Spain, the Moriscos were in no position to do so "for they possess neither arms, nor supplies, nor fortified positions, nor a base for the Turkish fleet." Nothing came of it at the time, but the Duke of Lerma continued his antipathy toward the Moriscos.

Among the populace itself, the Valencian peasantry had the most interest in the matter. They viewed the Moriscos with resentment and considered them economic and social rivals. This had bubbled over before in 1520, when in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, the citizenry of Valencia revolted against not only their nobles but also the Muslim mudéjars. The rebels killed many, and forced the mass baptism and conversion of the remainder of the Muslim population, which had created the Moriscos of Valencia.