THE New Christians of Jewish origin flattered themselves, at the commencement of the ministry of Don Alphonso Manrique, that they should obtain the publication of the names and charges of the witnesses, as he had supported their request in 1516: but the inquisitors persuaded him that such a proceeding tended to the destruction of the holy office, and the triumph of the enemies of the faith; and that the appearance of two new sects of Morescoes and Lutherans rendered a great degree of severity indispensable.
It has been already stated, that an order from Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1502, had compelled all those Moors who refused to become Christians, to quit Spain. Although this law was executed in Castile, it did not affect the Moors of Aragon, as the King had yielded to the solicitations of the nobles, who represented the immense injury which it would do them, in destroying the population of their domains, where there were scarcely any baptized inhabitants.
The two sovereigns renewed their promise in 1510, and Charles V. took an oath to the same effect in the Cortes of Saragossa in 1519.
A civil war soon after broke out in Aragon, similar to one in Castile, about the same time. The factious were almost all common people, who hated the nobles: they endeavoured to injure them as much as possible; and knowing that the Moors, who were their vassals, were obliged to serve them in a more laborious manner, on account of the difference of their religion, they baptized all the Moors who fell into their hands. Above sixteen thousand thus received baptism; but as they were forced to it, many afterwards returned to their former creed. The emperor punished the chiefs of the insurrection, and many Moors, fearing the same fate, quitted Spain, and retired to the kingdom of Algiers; so that in 1523, more than five thousand houses were left without inhabitants.
Charles V., irritated at this conduct, persuaded himself that he ought not to suffer any Moors to remain in his dominions, and demanded a dispensation from his oath to the Cortes of Saragossa. The Pope at first refused, on account of the scandal of such a proceeding; but the emperor insisted, and it was granted in 1524: the Pope, however, engaged him, at the same time, to charge the inquisitors to accelerate the conversion of the Moors, by announcing, that if they did not become Christians within a certain period, they would be obliged to quit Spain, on pain of being reduced to slavery. Doubts were afterwards raised, of the validity of the baptism administered to the Moors in Valencia by the rebels; but Charles assembled a council, which, after many debates, decided, on the 23d of March, 1525, that it was valid, as the infidels had not offered any resistance.
The greatest part of the Moorish people fled to the mountains and the Sierra de Bernia, and resisted the arms of Charles, until the month of August, when they surrendered, after obtaining an amnesty. The Moors of Almonacid refused baptism, and took up arms; their town was taken, and several put to death, and the rest became Christians.
In the borough of Correa, the Moors assassinated the lord of the district, and seventeen Christians, who endeavoured to compel them to embrace Christianity. At last the revolt became general throughout the kingdom of Valencia, where they formed nearly twenty-six thousand families; they fortified themselves in the town of the Sierra d’Espadan, and a considerable period elapsed before they were reduced by the royal army. They then implored the protection of Germaine de Foix, second wife to Ferdinand V., and who was then married to Don Ferdinand of Aragon, Duke of Calabria. This princess granted a passport to twelve of their deputies, whom they sent to court to learn the real intentions of the emperor. They demanded a delay of five years before they became Christians, or left Spain by the port of Alicant. These demands being refused, they offered to become Christians, on condition that the inquisitors should not be permitted to prosecute them for the space of forty years; this was also cruelly refused them.
They then applied to the inquisitor-general Manrique, who received them graciously, and supposing that they would freely consent to receive baptism, he offered to employ his influence with the emperor. On the 16th of January, 1526, they remitted a memorial to him, in which they demanded, 1st, that during forty years they should not be liable to be prosecuted by the holy office; 2ndly, that they might be allowed to preserve their language, and their manner of clothing themselves; 3rdly, that they might have a cemetery separate from that of the old Christians; 4thly, that they might be able to marry their relations during the space of forty years, and that the marriages already contracted should not be interfered with; 5thly, that the ministers of their religion should continue to receive the revenues of the mosques converted into churches; 6thly, that they might be allowed the use of arms like other Christians; 7thly, that the charges and rents which they paid to their lords should not be more burdensome than those of other Christians; 8thly, that they should not be obliged to pay the municipal expenses of royal towns, unless they were allowed to hold offices, and enjoy the honours depending on them.
These articles being submitted to the emperor, they were granted, with a few restrictions, and the Moors were all baptized, with the exception of some thousands who fled to the mountains, and resisted the royal force during the year 1526. When they were reduced, they received baptism, and the punishment of slavery which they had incurred was commuted for a fine of twelve thousand ducats.
The Aragonese, fearing that the Moors dispersed among them would be subjected to the same laws as those of Valencia, represented to the emperor, through the medium of his relation the Count de Ribagorza, that they had never caused any trouble either in politics or religion; that they could not have any communication with Africa, on account of the distance of the countries; and that many of them were excellent workmen in the fabrication of arms, and, consequently, their banishment would occasion great loss to the kingdom of Aragon. The representations of the Aragonese were unavailing: the emperor commanded the inquisitors to subject the Moors of Aragon to the same laws as those of Valencia, and they were baptized without resistance in 1526.
In 1530 the Pope gave the inquisitor-general, the necessary power to absolve all the Moors of Aragon as often as they should relapse into heresy and repent, without inflicting any public penance or infamous punishments. The motives expressed in the bull for this conduct were, that they were much sooner converted by gentle means than severity. It is natural to inquire why a different policy was adopted with respect to the Jews; they were all rich merchants, while scarcely one in five thousand was found among the Moors. Occupied in the cultivation of the ground and the care of their flocks, they were always poor; sometimes workmen of singular intelligence, talent, and address were found among them.
The Morescoes of Grenada also occupied the attention of the emperor, although the events which passed among them were of less importance.
When the emperor was at Grenada in 1526, a memorial from the Morescoes was presented to him, by Don Ferdinand Benegas, Don Michael d’Aragon and Diego Lopez Benaxara; they were all members of the municipality, and illustrious nobles, as they were descended in the direct male line from the Moorish kings of Grenada. They represented that the Moors suffered much from the priests, judges, notaries, alguazils, and other Old Christians. The emperor appeared touched by the recital, and commissioned a bishop to go into the countries inhabited by the Moors and examine into the state of religion. The bishop visited the kingdom of Grenada, and found that the Moors had reason to complain; but he also discovered that there were scarcely seven Catholics among all these people; all the others had returned to Mahometanism, either because they had not been properly instructed, or because they were permitted to exercise their old religion in public.
The emperor convoked a council, which decreed that the inquisitorial tribunal of Jaen should be transferred to Grenada. Several other measures were adopted and approved by the emperor; the most important was a promise of pardon to the Moors for all that had passed, and a notice that they would be treated with the utmost severity, if they again relapsed into heresy. The Morescoes submitted, and obtained for eighty thousand ducats the privileges of wearing the costume of their nation, and that the Inquisition should not be allowed to seize their property if they relapsed.
The inquisitors of Grenada celebrated an auto-da-fé in 1528 with the greatest ceremony, in order to inspire the Moors with more respect and fear. However no Moors were burnt, but only baptized Jews who had returned to Judaism.
The Moors still continued to emigrate to Africa, although they were treated with moderation. Philip II. obtained a brief from Paul IV., by which the confessors were authorized to absolve the Moors secretly, without imposing any penance or pecuniary penalty, on the condition that they demanded absolution voluntarily. The system of indulgence which bad been adopted did not prevent Louis Albosein from being condemned to the flames. After emigrating to Africa, he returned to Valencia with several other renegadoes, with the intention of exciting the Morescoes to a revolt; the plot was discovered, the conspirators disarmed, and Louis was burnt in 1562.
In 1567 the Pope expedited a brief in favour of the Morescoes of Valencia, but those of Grenada revolted, and elected for their king Don Ferdinand Valor, a descendant of their former sovereigns of the dynasty of Abenhumeyas. This rebellion continued for some time; and Philip II. endeavoured to quell it by issuing edicts of pardon even for those crimes which came under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition. An amnesty was granted to the Moors on condition that they came to solicit it, and many took advantage of the permission. To prevent emigration, the king remitted the penalty of confiscation, but the inquisitors, by means of the impenetrable secrecy which they always preserved, rendered the benevolent intentions of the sovereign of no avail. They did not publish the briefs of indulgence granted by the Court of Rome, knowing that a great number of the relapsed would take advantage of them; these people, not being aware of their privileges, were condemned and burnt. These examples of cruelty increased the hatred of the Moors for this sanguinary tribunal, and were the cause of many seditions, which, in 1609, led to the entire expulsion of the Moors, to the number of a million souls; so that in the space of an hundred and thirty-nine years the Inquisition deprived the kingdom of Spain of three millions of inhabitants, Jews, Morescoes, and Moors.