MODERN TOLERATION
At the same time orders were sent, to the commissioners at all the ports, to observe strictly the old instructions as to thevisitas de navíosand to report as to the current practice. Barcelona replied that the visits were made only when there were Jews on board. Alicante reported that the disuse of the visits had led to a rapid immigration of Jews into Murcia. Cartagena said that no visits were made but that, if suspicious persons arrived, the custom-houseofficers notified the commissioner. Cadiz and Algeciras answered that the health-officer notified the commissioner of the arrival of Jews, renegades and other forbidden persons, when he took the necessary steps to avert the evil. Motril said that visits were made only when there was a Jew on board. Santiago merely responded that it had the royal decrees of 1786 and 1802 and the recent instructions of the Suprema.[861]Evidently there was little attention paid to the enforcement of the laws by both the royal and inquisitorial officials, but the Government was determined to enforce the exclusion of Jews, and an order was promptly sent to all the royal officials that no Jew was to be allowed to set foot on Spanish territory, unless he bore a royal licence; if he had one, he was to present himself to the Inquisition or its commissioner, so that a record could be made of him, and the tribunal was instructed to keep him under strict supervision. The ministry of Gracia y Justicia communicated this, August 31, 1819, to the Suprema, which in turn forwarded it, September 6th, to all the tribunals with orders for its strict observance.[862]
The Inquisition came to an end a few months after this, but the prejudices which it had done so much to foster postponed the removal from the statute-book of the laws representing the fierce intolerance of the earlier time. In 1848 we are told that, although unrepealed, they were not enforced and that Jews could travel and trade in Spain without molestation,[863]but when, in 1854, Constitutional Córtes were assembled to frame a new constitution, and the German Jews sent Dr. Ludwig Philipson, Rabbi of Magdeburg, on a mission to procure free admission of their race, his eloquence was unavailing. It was not until fifteen years later, when the revolution, which drove Isabella II from the throne, called for a new organic law, that the Constitution of 1869 proclaimed freedom of belief and guaranteed it to all residents in Spain, and this was likewise applicable to natives professing other religions than the Catholic. This principle was preserved in the Constitution of 1876, which forbade all interference with religious belief, while not allowing public ceremonies other than those of Catholicism.[864]It was a remarkable proof of conversionfrom ancient error when, in 1883, the Jewish refugees from Russia, sent by the organizing committees of Germany, were enthusiastically received, although the experiment ended in disastrous failure.[865]The ancestral antipathy which they had to encounter was, however, still active, as expressed by a pious Franciscan, who declared that bringing them was a sin of moral and political treason, and that they would devour the whole Spanish nation.[866]
WEhave seen that, in the progress of the Reconquest, as Moorish territories were successively won, the inhabitants were largely allowed to remain, under guarantees for the free enjoyment of their religion and customs. These Mudéjares, as they were called, formed a most useful portion of the population, through their industry and skill in the arts and crafts. When, in 1368, Charles le Mauvais of Navarre granted to the Mudéjares of Tudela a remission of half their taxes for three years, in reward of their assistance during his wars, especially in fortification and engineering, it shows that the conquering race depended on them not merely for manual labor but for the higher branches of applied knowledge.[868]As a rule they were faithful in peace and war, during the long centuries of internal strife between the Christians, and of struggles with their co-religionists.
It was the Jews against whom was directed the growing intolerance of the fifteenth century and, in the massacres that occurred, there appears to have been no hostility manifested against the Mudéjares. When Alfonso de Borja, Archbishop of Valencia (afterwards Calixtus III), supported by Cardinal Juan de Torquemada, urged their expulsion on Juan II of Aragon, although he appointed a term for their exile, he reconsidered the matter and left them undisturbed.[869]So when, in 1480, Isabella ordered the expulsion from Andalusia of all Jews who refused baptism andwhen, in 1486, Ferdinand did the same in Aragon, they both respected the old capitulations and left the Mudéjares alone.[870]The time-honored policy was followed in the conquest of Granada, and nothing could be more liberal than the terms conceded to the cities and districts that surrendered. The final capitulation of the city of Granada was a solemn agreement, signed November 25, 1491, in which Ferdinand and Isabella, for themselves, for their son the Infante Juan and for all their successors, received the Moors of all places that should come into the agreement as vassals and natural subjects under the royal protection, and as such to be honored and respected. Religion, property, freedom to trade, laws and customs were all guaranteed, and even renegades from Christianity among them were not to be maltreated, while Christian women marrying Moors were free to choose their religion. For three years, those desiring expatriation were to be transported to Barbary at the royal expense, and refugees in Barbary were allowed to return. When, after the execution of this agreement, the Moors, with not unnatural distrust, wanted further guarantees, the sovereigns made a solemn declaration in which they swore by God that all Moors should have full liberty to work on their lands, or to go wherever they desired through the kingdoms, and to maintain their mosques and religious observances as heretofore, while those who desired to emigrate to Barbary could sell their property and depart.[871]It was the wise traditional policy of incorporating the conquered population in the state, on an equal footing with other subjects, and trusting to time to merge them all into a common mass, holding one faith and owing allegiance to one country.
CONVERSION OF GRANADA
Whether it was distrust of Christian good faith that impelled them, or a natural desire to leave the scene of their defeat, a large portion of the Granadan Moors, including most of the nobles, promptly availed themselves of the right of expatriation. Before the year 1492 was out, it was reported to the sovereigns that the Abencerrages had gone, almost in a body, and that, in the Alpujarras, few were left save laborers and officials. The emigrationcontinued and, in 1498, a letter of Ferdinand indicates that he was inclined to stimulate it.[872]While there might be good reasons for diminishing the large population of those recently vanquished, who presumably might cherish hopes of independence and had not forgotten the bitterness of unsuccessful struggle, this was accompanied with a readiness to increase the number of Mudéjares, who had adapted themselves to the situation, and who were regarded as in every way a desirable element in the community. When Manoel of Portugal expelled the Moors who refused baptism, Ferdinand and Isabella welcomed them to Spain. Royal letters were issued, April 20, 1497, permitting their entrance with all their property, either to settle or in transit to other lands; they were taken under the royal protection and all molestation of them was forbidden.[873]Up to this time, at least, there was no recognition of the political necessity of unity of faith, which subsequently served as justification for cruel intolerance and unwise statesmanship.
Yet the statesmanship of the day, if not yet prepared to regard unity of faith as a political necessity, considered it politically advantageous, while pious zeal inevitably sought the salvation of the multitudes of souls thus brought under Christian rule. The “third king of Spain,” González de Mendoza, Cardinal-archbishop of Toledo, and other prelates at the court urged upon the sovereigns that gratitude to God required them to give to their new subjects the alternative of baptism or exile. Ferdinand and Isabella, however, turned a deaf ear to this advice, either not caring to break the faith so recently pledged, or to provoke another war; the work of conversion had already been commenced with fair prospects of success and it could safely be left to time.[874]Isabella’s confessor, the saintly Hernando de Talavera, had been made Archbishop of Granada; he was devoting his revenues and his tireless labors to missionary work, inculcating Christianity by example more potent than precept. He relieved suffering, he preached and he taught all who would listen to him; he required his assistants to learn Arabic and he acquired it himself. He wonmany converts and there was a flattering prospect that his apostolic methods would bring the mass of the population into the fold.[875]
CONVERSION OF GRANADA
The process however was too slow for the impatience that looked for immediate results. Ferdinand and Isabella were in Granada from July until November, 1499, and called in Ximenes to the aid of Talavera. His extraordinary energy and imperious temper soon made themselves felt; with liberal presents he gained the favor of the principal Moors; he held conferences with the alfaquíes, whom he induced to instruct their people and, it is said that, on December 18th, three thousand were baptized and the mosque of the Albaycin, or Moorish quarter, was consecrated as the church of San Salvador. The stricter Moslems became alarmed and endeavored to check the movement by persuasion, whereupon Ximenes had them imprisoned in chains; he summoned the alfaquíes to surrender all their religious books, of which five thousand—many of them priceless specimens of art—were publicly burnt. The situation was becoming strained; the Moors were restive under the disregard of their guarantees, and Ximenes grew more and more impetuous. Rupture, under these conditions was inevitable and Ximenes soon brought it about. Christian renegades, known aselches, were protected under the capitulations, but he argued that this did not extend to their children who, if not baptized, ought to have been, and who thus were subject to the Inquisition. From Inquisitor-general Deza he procured a delegation of power to deal with them and used it for their arrest. It chanced that a young daughter of a renegade, thus arrested, while being dragged through the plaza of Bib-el-Bonut, cried out that she was to be forcibly baptized in violation of the capitulations. A crowd collected and from words soon came to blows; the alguazil was slain with a paving-stone, and his companion escaped only by a Moorish woman conveying him away and hiding him under a bed. The agitation increased; the Moors flew to arms, skirmished with the Christians and besieged Ximenes in his house. He had a guard of two hundred men who defended the place until the morning, when the Captain-general Tendilla came down from the Alhambra with troops and drove away the mob. For ten days Talavera, Ximenes and Tendilla parleyed with the Moors, who urged that they had not risen against the sovereigns but in defence of the royal faith; that the officials hadviolated the capitulations, the observance of which would restore peace. Then Talavera, with his chaplain and a few unarmed servants, went to the plaza Bib-el-Bonut, where the Moors kissed the hem of his garments as of old. Tendilla followed and promised pardon if they should lay down their arms, as it should be understood that they were not in revolt, but had only sought to maintain the capitulations, which should be strictly observed in future. The city became quiet; those who had slain the alguazil were surrendered, and four of them were hanged; the Moors cast aside their arms and returned to work.
With such a population, kindness and fair-dealing alone were required to accomplish the desired result, but the inflexible temper of Ximenes had been aroused, and he was resolved on the forcible accomplishment of his purpose. The rumors of the disturbance had greatly alarmed the court at Seville, and Ximenes was bitterly reproached, but he hurried thither, gave his own version of the affair, and pointed out that the Moors had forfeited life and property by rebellion, so that pardon should be conditioned on accepting baptism or expatriation. With fatal facility his arguments were accepted; Tendilla’s promises were ignored; the capitulations were cast aside; the Moors were to be taught how little reliance was to be placed on Christian faith; distrust and hatred were to be rendered ineradicable, and a religion was to be forced upon them which could not but be odious, as the visible sign of their subjection. From this false step sprang the incurable trouble which weakened Spain until statesmanship could devise no remedy, save the deplorable expulsion of the most useful and efficient portion of her population. It was not without reason that the admiring biographer of Ximenes admits that, so imperious was his temper that he sometimes acted through fury rather than through prudence, as was seen in the conversion of the Granadan Moors and in the attempt to conquer Africa.[876]
He returned to Granada, armed with full powers, and offered to the people the alternative of baptism or punishment, while a royal judge, sent for the purpose, sharpened their apprehension by executing or imprisoning the more active of the rioters. The choice was readily made and they came forward in thousands for the saving waters of baptism. Instruction in the new faithwas impossible, nor was it wanted. When they asked for it in their own language, and Talavera had the offices and parts of the gospels printed in Arabic, Ximenes objected; it was, he said, casting pearls before swine; it was in the nature of the vulgar to despise what they could understand and to reverence that which was mysterious and beyond their comprehension. He cared little for heart-felt conversion so long as he could secure outward conformity. The number thus rudely inducted into the faith, in the city and the Vega, was estimated at from fifty to seventy thousand and the process which converted them could result only in undying hate for the religion thus forced upon them.[877]
Although no outbreak occurred during this forcible missionary work, the discontent which it excited was threatening, and Ferdinand returned to Granada where he made no secret of his displeasure at the imprudent zeal of Ximenes, especially as it interfered with his designs on Naples. These had to be postponed to meet the imminent danger at home for, although emigration had been large, many had taken refuge in the Alpujarras and were exciting the mountaineers to revolt. To meet this he wrote, January 27, 1500, to the leading Moors, assuring them that all reports that they were to be Christianized by force were false, and pledging the royal faith that not a single compulsory baptism would be made. To reconcile those who had been baptized and to attract others he issued, February 27th, a general pardon to all New Christians for crimes committed prior to baptism and renouncing his claims to confiscation.[878]Meanwhile he had been engaged in raising an army as large as though the conquest was to be repeated, and with this he was engaged, during the rest of the year, in quelling the revolts which broke out in one place after another, supplementing military operations with friars despatched through the mountains to instruct the converts. Massacre and baptism went hand in hand, until the Alpujarras were pacified and the army was disbanded, January 14, 1501.[879]
CONVERSION OF GRANADA
Then there came trouble in the Western districts of Ronda and the Sierra Bermeja, where the mountaineers rose, in dread of enforced conversion. Another army was raised, which suffered a severe defeat at Caladui. This brought a pause, during which the insurgents asked to be allowed to emigrate. Ferdinand drove a hard bargain with them, demanding ten doblas for the passage-money and requiring those who could not pay this to remain and submit to baptism. The baptized lowlanders, who had taken to the mountains, were allowed to return home, surrendering their arms and suffering confiscation. Large numbers escaped to Africa, but more remained to curse the faith thus imposed on them. To these New Christians, as we have seen, expatriation was forbidden. Baptism imposed an indeliblecharacter, and incorporation with the Church subjected them to a jurisdiction which could not be shaken off.
It was vitally important that these New Christians should be interfused with the rest of the population, with the same rights and privileges, so that in time they might form a contented whole, but this was not to be. One wrong always breeds another. The disregard of compacts and the violent methods of conversion inevitably rendered them objects of suspicion, and an edict of September 1, 1501 prohibited the new converts from bearing or possessing arms, publicly or secretly, under penalty, for a first offence, of confiscation and two months’ imprisonment and of death for a second—an edict which was repeated in 1511 and again in 1515.[880]Not only was this a bitter humiliation but a serious infliction, at a time when weapons were a necessity for self-protection. There was however another distinction between the classes favorable to the New Christians, for it was provided that, for forty years, they should not be subjected to the Inquisition, in order that they might have full time to acquire knowledge of their new faith.[881]Yet, like all other promises, this was made only to be broken. It was thus, in less than ten years after the capitulation, that the Moors of Granada found themselves to be Christians in defiance of the pledges so solemnly given. Such a commencement could have but one result and we shall see its outcome.
Something might be urged in palliation of this forcible propaganda in that it was unpremeditated and brought about in the turbulence of a settlement between hostile races and religions, and that those who rejected conversion were allowed to depart. All this was lacking in the next step towards enforcing unity of faith. We have seen how the Mudéjares of Castile were loyal and contented subjects, living under compacts centuries old, which guaranteed them the full enjoyment of their religion and laws. To disturb this and convert them, by a flagrant breach of faith, into plotting domestic enemies, without even a colorable pretext, would appear to be an act of madness. Yet it was this that Isabella was led to do, under the influence of her ghostly counsellors, among whom Ximenes can probably be reckoned as the most influential. In bringing about the conversion of Granada, he had cared for little beyond outward conformity and this could be secured among the scattered and peaceful Mudéjares, without encountering the risk attending the attempt among the mountaineers of the Alpujarras, while subsequently the Inquisition could be depended upon for what might be lacking in religious conviction. God should no longer be insulted by infidel rites in Spain, and the land could not fail to be blessed when thus united in the true faith. Such we may assume to have been the reasoning which led Isabella to a measure so disastrous. That Ferdinand’s practical sense disapproved of it may be inferred from the fact that, when he talked of similar action in Aragon, he readily yielded to the remonstrances of his nobles.
Persuasion, backed by threats, was first essayed. Instructions were sent to the royal officials that the Mudéjares must adopt Christianity and, when the corregidor of Córdova replied that force would be necessary, the sovereigns replied, September 27, 1501, that this was inadmissible, as it would scandalize them; they were to be told that it was for the good of their souls and the service of the king and queen and, if this proved insufficient, they could be informed that they would have to leave the kingdom, for it was resolved that no infidels should remain.[882]But four years had elapsed since the refugee Moors from Portugal had been invited to settle in Castile, and this sudden change of policy shows what influences had been brought to bear on Isabella during that brief interval.
CONVERSION IN CASTILE
This tentative measure seems to have met with success so slender that more stringent methods were recognized as necessary and, on February 12, 1502, a pragmática was issued, shrewdly framed to give at least the appearance of voluntary action to the expected conversion. It alluded to the scandal of permitting infidels to remain after the conversion of Granada; to the gratitude due to God, which would fitly be shown by the expulsion of his enemies, and to the protection of the New Christians from contamination. All Moors were therefore ordered to leave the kingdoms of Leon and Castile by the end of April, abandoning their children, the males under fourteen and the females under twelve years of age, who were to be detained. The exiles were allowed to carry with them their property, except gold and silver and other prohibited articles. There was nothing said as to an alternative of baptism, but the conditions of departure rendered expatriation so difficult that it was self-evident that there was no intention of losing so valuable a portion of the population. Under pain of death and confiscation, the exiles were to sail only from ports of Biscay; they were not allowed to go to Navarre or the kingdoms of Aragon; as there was war with the Turks and with the Moors of Africa, they were not to seek refuge with either, but were told that they might go to Egypt or to any other land that they might select. They were never to return, nor were Moors ever to be admitted to the Castilian kingdoms, under penalty of death and confiscation, and any one harboring them after April was threatened with confiscation. One exception was made in favor of masters of Moorish slaves, who were not deprived of them, but they were to be distinguished by the perpetual wearing of fetters.[883]
The voluntary character of the conversion which ensued is revealed in the fact that when zealous Moslems, in spite of almost insuperable obstacles, preferred to risk the perils of emigration they were not allowed to do so, but were forced to become Christians.[884]During the brief interval allowed, there was some pretence of preaching and instruction and, as it neared its end, the Mudéjares were baptized in masses. A report from Avila, April 24th, to the sovereigns, says that the whole aljama, consisting of twothousand souls, will be converted and none will depart.[885]In Badajoz, we are told that the bishop, Alfonso de Manrique—the future inquisitor-general—won them over by kindness, so that they were all baptized and took his name of Manrique.[886]Thus, externally at least, the kingdoms of the crown of Castile enjoyed unity of faith, but this was not accompanied with the desirable assimilation of the population. The new converts continued to form a class apart and came to be known by the distinctive name of Moriscos.
The nominal Christianity thus imposed upon those reared in the tenets of Islam was only the beginning of the task assumed by the state. The more difficult labor remained of rendering them true Christians, if the advantage was to be secured of moulding discordant races into a homogeneous community, which alone could justify the violent measures adopted. The unity of faith, which was the ideal at the time of both churchman and statesman, means more than mere outward conformity; it means that all should form a united nation, animated with the same aspirations and the same hopes, here and hereafter, and conscientiously sharing a common belief. In a land like Spain, populated by diverse races, this was an object worth many sacrifices; if it could not be attained, the enforced baptism of a powerful minority only exaggerated divergence and perpetuated discord.
LACK OF INSTRUCTION
To secure the desired result by the employment of force, through the Inquisition, could not fail to intensify abhorrence of a religion which, while professing universal love and charity, was known only as an excuse for oppression and cruelty. Yet the only alternative was the slow and laborious process of disarming the prejudices already aroused, and winning over the reluctant convert by gentleness and persuasion, by kindly instruction and demonstration that the truths of Christianity were not mere theological abstractions, of no vitality in practical life. We have seen the embodiment of the two methods in Ximenes and Talavera, and it was the fatal error of those who ruled the destinies of Spain that they had not patience and self-denial resolutely to follow the latter. Haltingly and spasmodically they tried to do so, with only persistence enough to put themselves in the wrong and deprive ofjustification the concurrent employment of the easier process of coercion. From one cause or another, as we shall have occasion to see, the intermittent and ineffective attempts at persuasion failed miserably, while the perpetual irritation of persecution led inevitably to chronic exasperation.
Five years had elapsed since the coercive baptism which, under the precepts of the church, should have been preceded by competent understanding of the mysteries of the faith, when Ximenes attained, in 1507, the inquisitor-generalship. One of his earliest acts was a letter to all the churches prescribing the deportment, in religious matters, of the New Christians and their children, including regular attendance at the mass, instruction in the rudiments of the faith, and avoidance of Judaic and Mahometan rites.[887]Presumably this accomplished little and, in 1510, Ferdinand addressed all his prelates, pointing out the neglect of Christian observances by the Conversos, and ordering the bishops to enforce their presence at mass and to provide for their instruction, matters to which the parish priests must devote special attention.[888]The council of Seville, in 1512, responded to this by calling attention to the number of new converts who greatly needed religious instruction. The prelates, who were responsible for the salvation of souls, were ordered to depute for that purpose learned men, who should specially investigate their manner of life and their commission of sins pertaining to their old faith. All parish priests were ordered to make out lists of the converts and see that they conformed to the mandates of the church, and special lists were to be compiled of those who had been reconciled by the Inquisition, with orders to attend mass on Sundays and feast-days, so that their fulfilment of their sentences could be enforced.[889]From what we know of the failure of subsequent measures of this kind we may safely assume that these received little attention from those who would have been obliged to expend money and labor in their execution.
Simultaneously with his letters of 1510, Ferdinand had applied to Julius II, representing that, since 1492, there had been converted many Jews and Moors who, through insufficient instruction, had been led to commit many heretical crimes; he had ordered theirinstruction, but it would be inhuman to visit them with the full rigor of the canons, and he therefore asked faculties to publish an Edict of Grace, under which those coming in could be reconciled without confiscation and public abjuration, so that, in case of relapse, they could escape relaxation.[890]The conditions appended to Edicts of Grace so reduced their effectiveness that this has importance only as an indication that Ferdinand, as we shall see elsewhere, was rather disposed to check inquisitorial ardor in the prosecution of Moriscos, but he atoned for this on his death-bed, by a clause in his will commanding his grandson Charles to appoint inquisitors zealous for the destruction of the sect of Mahomet.[891]This was superfluous for, as the stock of Judaizers became reduced, Moriscos supplied their place, and the Inquisition required curbing rather than stimulation. That Charles recognized this is seen in various Edicts of Grace issued in their favor, for certain districts, between 1518 and 1521, edicts which relieved them from confiscation and the sanbenito but did not protect from relapse or exempt from denunciation of accomplices.[892]
PERSECUTION
There was little practical relief to be expected from such measures, but at least they indicate the conviction of the rulers that it was both unjust and impolitic to visit with the rigor of the canons those who had been forced into the Church and had had no spiritual instruction. Still, the canon law was a positive fact; an elaborate machinery had been instituted for its enforcement, with no corresponding organization to render the new religion attractive instead of odious, and a situation had been created for which there was no radical cure. Alleviation was the only resource, and this was attempted, although the fluctuating policy adopted only intensified the evil for the future. In pursuance of this Cardinal Adrian, August 5, 1521, issued orders that no arrests should be made except on evidence directly conclusive of heresy, and even then it must first be submitted to the Suprema. This seems to have received so little obedience that Archbishop Manrique, April 28, 1524, repeated it in more decisive fashion. He recited the conversion of the Moriscos by Ferdinand and Isabella, who promised them graces and liberties, in pursuance of whichCardinal Adrian had issued many provisions in their favor, ordering the tribunals not to prosecute them for trifling causes and, if any were so arrested, they were to be discharged and their property be returned to them. In spite of this, the inquisitors continued to arrest them on trivial charges, and on the evidence of single witnesses. As they were ignorant persons, who could not readily prove their innocence, these arrests had greatly scandalized them, and they had petitioned for relief, wherefore the Suprema ordered inquisitors not to arrest them without conclusive evidence of heresy, and when there was doubt it was to be consulted. All who were held for matters not plainly heretical were to have speedy justice, tempered with such clemency as conscience might permit.[893]
How completely these instructions were ignored is manifest in the trials of the Moriscos where, as in those of the Judaizers, any adherence to customs, which for generations had formed part of daily life, was sufficient for arrest and prosecution. It was not merely the fasting of the Ramadan, the practice of circumcision, the Guadoc or bath accompanied with a ritual, or the Taor, another kind of bath used prior to the Zala, or certain prayers uttered with the face turned to the East, at sunrise, noon, sunset and night. These were well-defined religious ceremonies admitting of no explanation, but there were numerous others, innocent in themselves, which implied suspicion of heresy, and suspicion was in itself a crime. Under skilful management, including the free use of torture, arrest for these simple observances might lead to further confessions, and the opportunity was not to be lost. Abstinence from pork and wine was amply sufficient to justify prosecution, and we hear of cases in which staining the nails with henna, refusal to eat of animals dying a natural death, killing fowls by decollation, thezambrasandleilas, or songs and dances used at merry-makings and nuptials, and even cleanliness, were gravely adduced as evidences of apostasy.[894]
In pursuance of this policy, elaborate lists of all Moorish customs were made out for the guidance of inquisitors; abstracts of these were included in the Edicts of Faith, where every one who hadseen or heard of such things was required under pain of excommunication to denounce them; the Moriscos were subjected to perpetual espionage, and any unguarded utterance, which might be construed as inferring heretical leaning, was liable to be reported and to lead to arrest and probable punishment. It is true that from these slender indications the inquisitorial process frequently led up to full confession, but this did not render the position of the Morisco less intolerable, and constraint and anxiety contributed largely to intensify his detestation of the religion which he knew only as the cause of persecution. Bishop Pérez of Segorbe, in 1595, when enumerating fifteen impediments to the conversion of the Moriscos, included their fear of the Inquisition and its punishments which made them hate Christianity.[895]At all events, it secured outward conformity, at least in Castile, where they were gradually assimilating themselves to the Old Christians; they had long since abandoned their national dress and language; they were assiduous in attendance at mass and vespers, the confessional and the sacrament of the altar; they participated in processions and interments and were commonly regarded as Christians, whatever might be the secrets of their hearts.[896]
GRANADA
Doubtless, as time wore on, many were won over and became sincerely attached to their new faith, but every now and then little communities of apostates were brought to light. Thus, in 1538, Juan Yañés, Inquisitor of Toledo, included Daimiel in a visitation. It had a Morisco population, which had been baptized in 1502, and had apparently been overlooked so long that it had grown somewhat careless. A woman reported to Yañés that she had lived with Moriscos for twelve years and had observed that they did not use pork or wine, on the plea that these things disagreed with them. This sufficed to start an investigation which so crowded the secret prison that we hear of nine women confined in a single cell, and of the hall of the Inquisition being used as a place of detention. Yet this vigorous work did not extirpate the evil for, in 1597, the Toledo tribunal was busy with heretics from Daimiel.[897]More shocking was a case in which María Páez, daughter of Diego Páez Limpati of Almagro, figured, for she accused all her kindred and friends. Her father was burnt in 1606, asan impenitent negativo; her mother, who confessed, was reconciled and imprisoned, and in all twenty-five Moriscos of Almagro suffered, of whom four were relaxed. In the Toledo record, from 1575 to 1610, there are a hundred and ninety cases of Moriscos as against a hundred and seventy-four of Judaizers, and forty-seven of Protestants, showing that, notwithstanding the influx of Portuguese, the Moriscos were the most numerous heretics with which the tribunal had to deal.[898]The old Mudéjares of Castile had fallen upon evil times, but worse were in store for them.
Granada presented a more difficult and dangerous problem, requiring the most sagacious statesmanship to reconcile political safety with the demand for unity of faith, yet this delicate situation was treated with a blundering disregard of common-sense characteristic of Philip II. The population was almost wholly Morisco, and the country was rugged and mountainous, offering abundant refuge for the despairing. The so-called conversion of 1501 had worked no change in their belief. They were hard-working, moral, honorable in their dealings, and charitable to their poor, but they were Moslems at heart; if they went to mass, it was to escape the fine; if they had their children baptized, they forthwith washed off the chrism and circumcised the males; if they confessed during Lent, it was merely to obtain the certificate; if they learned the prayers of the Church, it was in order to get married, after which they were forgotten with all convenient speed. They had been promised forty years’ exemption from the Inquisition, but they were rendered disaffected by the abuses of judicial avarice and the insolent domination of the officials, secular and ecclesiastical.[899]
In 1526 Charles V was in Granada, where, in the name of the Moriscos, three descendants of the old Moorish kings, Fernando Vinegas, Miguel de Aragon and Diego López Benexara, appealed to him for protection against the ill-treatment by the priests, the judges, the alguaziles and other officials, whereupon he appointed a commission to investigate and report. Fray Antonio de Guevara, shortly to be Bishop of Guadix, was one of the commissioners and, in a letter to a friend, he describes the Moriscos as offering so much that required correction that it had better be done insecret, rather than by public punishment; they had been so ill-taught, and the magistrates had so winked at their errors, that remedying it for the future would be enough without disturbing the past.[900]This shows the spirit in which the commission performed its work; the incriminated priests and officials had turned the tables on their accusers, who were now defendants. The report of the commission confirmed the complaints of ill-usage, but stated that among the Moriscos there were not to be found more than seven true Christians. This was submitted to a junta, presided over by Inquisitor-general Manrique, and the result was an edict known as that of 1526. It granted no relief from oppression, but concerned itself with the apostasy of the Moriscos, which it sought to cure, not by instructing them, but by rendering their condition still more intolerable. In violation of promises, the Inquisition of Jaen was transferred to Granada. Amnesty for past offences was granted, and a term of grace was provided for those confessing voluntarily, after which the laws against heresy were to be rigorously enforced, although for some years fines were substituted for confiscation and time was allowed in which the penitents could earn them.[901]
GRANADA
This was supplemented with a series of most vexatious regulations, prohibiting the use of Arabic and of Moorish garments and of baths; Christian midwives were to be present at all births; disarmament was enforced by a rigid inspection of licences; the doors of Moriscos were to be kept open on feast-days, Fridays, Saturdays and during weddings, to prevent the use of Moorish ceremonies; schools to train children in Castilian were to be established at Granada, Guadix and Almería: no Moorish names were to be used and Moriscos were not to keepgacisor unbaptized Moors, whether free or slave.[902]This naturally caused great agitation; the Moriscos held a general assembly and raised eighty thousand ducats to be offered to Charles for a withdrawal of the edict. His advisers were doubtless propitiated and, before leaving Granada, he suspended it during his pleasure and permitted the carrying of a sword and dagger in the towns and of a lance in the opencountry. A special tax, known asfarda, probably dates from about this period, under which the use of Moorish garments and language was permitted and, in 1563, we chance to learn that this amounted to twenty thousand ducats per annum.[903]
It would seem that, for awhile, the Inquisition troubled the Moriscos but little for, in its first general auto, held in 1529, out of eighty-nine culprits, while there were seventy-eight for Judaism there were but three for Mahometanism, and one of these was in effigy.[904]Still it provoked disquiet and, in 1532, Captain-general Mondéjar suggested to Charles its suspension, since it had done nothing and could find nothing against the Moriscos. This was unfortunate, for it stimulated the tribunal to greater activity against them, leading to numerous offers on their part to Charles and, after his abdication, to Philip II, of liberal payments for relief. Charles’s necessities prompted him to listen to these propositions, but the Inquisition managed to prevent their success, while Philip of course turned a deaf ear to them. Even Inquisitor-general Valdés, in 1558, during his disfavor at court, seems to have taken a hand in these negotiations, for we find him promising asubsidioof a hundred thousand ducats from the Moriscos of Granada.[905]
The condition of the Moriscos was steadily growing worse, and the situation in Granada was becoming dangerously explosive. The Inquisition was more active than ever; all the old oppressions by the priests and judicial officers continued unchecked, and a new source of intense irritation was the progressive spoliation of their lands by “judges of boundaries” who, in the name of the king, deprived them of properties inherited or purchased—in short, they weregente sin lengua y sin fabor—friendless and defenceless.[906]Then, in 1563, an old order to present to the captain-general all licences to bear arms was revived under a penalty of six years of galleys.[907]In 1565 a fresh source of trouble was created by extending the royal jurisdiction over the lands of the nobles, in which many Moriscos, who in years past had committedcrimes, had sought asylum. Eager for fees, the notaries and justices searched the records and made arrests, until there was scarce a Morisco who did not live in daily fear. Many took to the mountains, joining the bands ofmonfíes, or outlaws, and committing outrages, while the measures taken for their suppression only increased the disorder.[908]
The condition of Granada was one which required firmness and conciliation, but infatuation prevailed in Philip’s court, and the occasion was seized to aggravate irritation beyond endurance. Guerrero, Archbishop of Granada, in returning from Trent in 1563, had tarried in Rome, where he lamented to Pius IV that his flock was Christian only in name. Pius sent by him an urgent message to Philip, reinforced by orders to his nuncio, the Bishop of Rossano, to the same purport. Guerrero, on reaching home, assembled a provincial council in 1565, in which he endeavored to restrain the oppression of the Moriscos by the ecclesiastics, but his chapter appealed from the conciliar decrees and the effort was nugatory. He had more success in inducing the bishops to join in urging upon the king the adoption of measures to prevent the Moriscos from concealing their apostasy, and he wrote to Philip, begging him to purify the land from this filthy sect; it could readily, he said, be found who were really Christians by prohibiting the things through which their rites were kept from view.[909]