3 - Moriscos, Arabic Old Christians, and Spanish Jurisprudence (1492–1614)

Summary

Chapter three turns to the recently conquered (1492) kingdom of Granada. In the late 1560s, the Crown began to use the Council of Trent as the justification to enact legislation that criminalized as heterodox facets of local culture. The native granadino community responded by launching a secessionist rebellion (the War of the Alpujarras, 1568-1571). The Crown eventually defeated the rebels, and as retribution forcibly removed the native community from Granada inland. Subsequently, those “moriscos” desiring to return to their homeland were required to petition and make the case that they would integrate with their “Old Christian” neighbors. Analyzing legal determinations made by the tribunal that assessed applications made by former residents, I show how the responsible magistrates incorporated standards of Christian citizenship defined in synods and councils in their decisions. I also reveal how in the battle over rights, early modern lawyers for dispossessed converts effectively employed legal arguments about prescriptive possession and therefore dominium over the identity category of Old Christian, which guaranteed society’s most extensive range of rights and privileges.