1490: Of the eastern third of the Granadan kingdom, only Granada city itself and the Vega outside remained to be conquered by the Catholic Kings. These areas were still under the control of Boabdil - a somewhat ineffective ruler who apperars to heve been just as afraid of being overhrown by his own people as by the catholics. The winter of 1490-91 was spent preparing for the siege to come.
1491: The Castillian army took control of the Vega and surrounded the city. After their first camp burnt down, by accident, they built a permanent base named Santa Fe. Because both sides knew the outcome was pretty-well a foregone conclusion, neither risked any serious casualties. Secret discussions between emissaries of Boabdil and the Catholic Kings were what actually finalised the surrender details.
On November 25th, it was agreed that -
The city would be evacuated within three years of those wishing to leave for Africa.
Anyone wishing to remain:
- would be allowed to continue the free practise of Islam, ie: to wear Arabic & Moorish dress, and practise Arabic and Moorish customs
- would be entitled to justice under Moslem law before Moslem judges
- would maintain full property rights.
In return,:
- any remaining fortresses and artillery were to be handed over
- Boabdil was to move out and become lord of a part of Las Alpujarras.
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1492: March had been set for the surrender of the city, but Boabdil was getting a bit nervous because word was getting out of his submission. So he brought it forward to the 2nd of January.
1498: The Catholic hierarchy was pressing Ferdinand and Isabella to give their new subjects the alternative of baptism or exile, and that such an act was required of them as“gratitude to God”. Ferdinand and Isabella were not keen on this: maybe because they had so recently pledged otherwise, or thought it might provoke an uprising or perhaps they hoped that conversion would occur gradually anyway. But not everyone was willing to be so patient. In December, Cardinal Ximenes "persuaded" up to 3,000 Moslems to be baptised and closed down the Mosque in the ancient Moorish Albaycin district of Granada City, consecrating it as the Church of San Salvador.
When some Moslems dared to question these "persuasions", Ximenes had them locked up in chains. Moslem priests were told to hand over there books which were publicly burnt. Some of these 5,000 books were ancient and priceless works of art.
1500: Tensions were building and Ximenes made sure it would come to a swift conclusion. Although christian renegades were protected under the capitulation terms, he decided that this wouldn’t extend to their children unless they were baptised. Consequently, these offspring should be subject to the Inquisition. He set about arresting them. Riots and skirmishes followed and a settlement was agreed along the lines that if the Moors stopped the hassle and went back to work it would be overlooked on the grounds that it was not a revolt - just seeking to maintain the capitulation terms. It was agreed that those terms would be strictly enforced in the future.
Ferdinand (slightly unimpressed by what was going on) wrote, on the 27th January, to the Moorish leaders of the Alpujarras to inform them that that forced Christianisation was not to be. To appease those who had been baptised and to encourage others to follow, on the 27th February he issued a general pardon to all new Christians. These excused them of any crimes prior to becoming a Christian and renounced any claims for confiscation. As insurance, he also set about raising an army to quell any coming unrest.
Undeterred, Ximenes argued that the Moors had forfeited their rights to life and property through rebellion and so could only be pardoned on agreeing either to be baptised or expatriated. And he got his way - the "Capitulation of Santa Fe" would collapse.
1501: 14th January - After a combination of "massacre and baptism" had succeeded in pacifying the Alpujarras, the army was disbanded in the area.
Sepember 1st - Edict bans new converts from bearing or possessing arms. The penalty for a first offence would be confiscation and 2 months in prison, Second offence: death. It should be borne in mind that - at this time and place - arms were essential for self-defence.
Following the capitulation of 1492, new converts were to be exempt the Inquisition for forty years to allow time to learn enough about their new religion to be able to pass the inquisitor's test. Needless to say, the new converts got little if any instruction on Catholicism. In any case, from now on the forty-year rule was no longer to apply. This still left the Inquistion with one minor problem: the only people in the land not under its jurisdiction were the muslims.
1502: February 12th - The "royal pragmatic" compelled Moors to either convert to Christianity (ie: become "Moriscos") or be expelled.
1526: College of San Miguel created in Granada to teach Moriscos. It ran for less than 20 years before being converted into a college for Old Christians.
1560: Up to two-hundred thousand had left for North Africa since the 1502 decree. By now, Moriscos in the kingdom of Castile numbered only about half a million (around ten percent of the population). The greatest concentration – maybe a quarter of a million – were to be found in Las Alpujarras. The rest were dispersed throughout New Castile, Extremadura and western Andaluicia. Those still remaining were under constant threat from the Inquisition - unless they had the means to bribe their way out of the threat. Although nominally Christian they had never really abandoned their beliefs, dress and customs.
1566: Dr Otadui (later to become a Bishop) advises the King that "the more dead Moors the better, for there will be fewer enemies".
1567: Decree of Philip II requires that all Muslim dress and social customs be abandoned. This was very difficult to enforce amongst the scattered Moriscos - so those concentrated in Las Alpujarras got the worst of it. Already annoyed by new export regulations and taxes that hindered their silk industry, this did not help relations.
1568: Orders issued that all Moorish silken garments be abandoned and that all Morisco children between the ages of 3 and 15 be taken by priests and placed in Christian schools.
1568-1570: Rebellion of the Alpujarras, which involved most of the Muslims of South East Castille. Many of the trained forces of the monarchy had been sent to the Low Countries and it took the authorities about a year to muster enough forces to deal with it. To make matters worse, the Moriscos had appealed to Turkey for assistance - though this help didn't actually materialise.
There was extreme savagery on both sides. Over a fifth of the Morisco population of LasAlpujarras were killed or sold into slavery, a fifth fled to Africa, and around two fifths were dispersed widely throughout various territories of Castille. Only 40,000 or so were allowed to remain in the area.
1571: Royal decree that all the land and buildings of those who had participated in the rebellion be confiscated. Those that hadn't joined in the rebellion (that were to be expelled from the Alpujarras) would be compensated for the loss of their property. Christians were not many in the Alpujarras before the uprising, and most had been killed during it. So, with most of the Moriscos gone, the area was now largely depopulated.
The confiscated property would be allocated to Christian families – recruited from Asturia, Burgos, Galicia and Leon as well as other parts of Andalucia. These families – who would farm the lands of the Moriscos - were particulary sought out amongst those from mountainous areas who would more easily adapt to the harsh Alpujarran conditions. The Spanish crown paid for 12,524 families to populate 270 villages that remained from the 400 or so that there had been in Morisco times.
1609: On the same day that the truce was signed with Holland, it was decided to finally expel all of the Moriscos. Spanish forces could now be concentrated in the Mediterranean area. At this time there remained only around 300,000 Moriscos in the whole of Spain.
1614: 275,000 Moriscos had been expelled since the decision in 1609.
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