See EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL.
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MOORS, OR MAURI,
Origin.
See NUMIDIANS.
MOORS: A. D. 698-709.
Arab conquest.
See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 647-709;
and MAROCCO.
MOORS: A. D. 711-713.
Conquest of Spain.
See SPAIN: A. D. 711-713, and after.
MOORS: 11-13th Centuries.
The Almoravides and Almohades in Morocco.
See ALMORAVIDES; and ALMOHADES.
MOORS: A. D. 1492-1609.
Persecution and final expulsion from Spain.
The deadly effect upon that country.
"After the reduction … of the last Mohammedan kingdom in
Spain, the great object of the Spaniards became to convert
those whom they had conquered [in violation of the treaty made
on the surrender of Granada]. … By torturing some, by burning
others, and by threatening all, they at length succeeded; and
we are assured that, after the year 1526, there was no
Mohammedan in Spain, who had not been converted to
Christianity. Immense numbers of them were baptized by force;
but being baptized, it was held that they belonged to the
Church, and were amenable to her discipline. That discipline
was administered by the Inquisition, which, during the rest of
the 16th century, subjected these new Christians, or Moriscoes,
as they were now called, to the most barbarous treatment. The
genuineness of their forced conversions was doubted; it
therefore became the business of the Church to inquire into
their sincerity. The civil government lent its aid; and among
other enactments, an edict was issued by Philip II., in 1566,
ordering the Moriscoes to abandon everything which by the
slightest possibility could remind them of their former
religion. They were commanded, under severe penalties, to
learn Spanish, and to give up all their Arabic books. They
were forbidden to read their native language, or to write it,
or even to speak it in their own houses. Their ceremonies and
their very games were strictly prohibited. They were to
indulge in no amusements which had been practised by their
fathers; neither were they to wear such clothes as they had
been accustomed to. Their women were to go unveiled; and, as
bathing was a heathenish custom, an public baths were to be
destroyed, and even an baths in private houses. By these and
similar measures, these unhappy people were at length goaded
into rebellion; and in 1568 they took the desperate step of
measuring their force against that of the whole Spanish
monarchy. The result could hardly be doubted; but the
Moriscoes maddened by their sufferings, and fighting for their
all, protracted the contest till 1571, when the insurrection was
finally put down. By this unsuccessful effort they were
greatly reduced in numbers and in strength; and during the
remaining 27 years of the reign of Philip II. we hear
comparatively little of them. Notwithstanding an occasional
outbreak, the old animosities were subsiding, and in the
course of time would probably have disappeared. At all events,
there was no pretence for violence on the part of the Spaniards,
since it was absurd to suppose that the Moriscoes, weakened in
every way, humbled, broken, and scattered through the kingdom,
could, even if they desired it, effect anything against the
resources of the executive government.
{2227}
But, after the death of Philip II., that movement began …
which, contrary to the course of affairs in other nations,
secured to the Spanish clergy in the 17th century, more power
than they had possessed in the 16th. The consequences of this
were immediately apparent. The clergy did not think that the
steps taken by Philip II. against the Moriscoes were
sufficiently decisive. … Under his successor, the clergy …
gained fresh strength, and they soon felt themselves
sufficiently powerful to begin another and final crusade
against the miserable remains of the Moorish nation. The
Archbishop of Valencia was the first to take the field. In
1602, this eminent prelate presented a memorial to Philip III.
against the Moriscoes; and finding that his views were
cordially supported by the clergy, and not discouraged by the
crown, he followed up the blow by another memorial having the
same object. … He declared that the Armada, which Philip II.
sent against England in 1588, had been destroyed, because God
would not allow even that pious enterprise to succeed, while
those who undertook it, left heretics undisturbed at home. For
the same reason, the late expedition to Algiers had failed; it
being evidently the will of Heaven that nothing should prosper
while Spain was inhabited by apostates. He, therefore,
exhorted the king to exile all the Moriscoes, except some whom
he might condemn to work in the galleys, and others who could
become slaves, and labour in the mines of America. This, he
added, would make the reign of Philip glorious to all
posterity, and would raise his fame far above that of his
predecessors, who in this matter had neglected their obvious
duty. … That they should all be slain, instead of being
banished, was the desire of a powerful party in the Church,
who thought that such signal punishment would work good by
striking terror into the heretics of every nation. Bleda, the
celebrated Dominican, one of the most influential men of his
time, wished this to be done, and to be done thoroughly. He
said, that, for the sake of example, every Morisco in Spain
should have his throat cut; because it was impossible to tell
which of them were Christians at heart, and it was enough to
leave the matter to God, who knew his own, and who would
reward in the next world those who were really Catholics. …
The religious scruples of Philip III. forbade him to struggle
with the Church; and his minister Lerma would not risk his own
authority by even the show of opposition. In 1609 he announced
to the king, that the expulsion of the Moriscoes had become
necessary. 'The resolution,' replied Philip, 'is a great one;
let it be executed.' And executed it was, with unflinching
barbarity. About 1,000,000 of the most industrious inhabitants
of Spain were hunted out like wild beasts, because the
sincerity of their religious opinions was doubtful. Many were
slain, as they approached the coast; others were beaten and
plundered; and the majority, in the most wretched plight,
sailed for Africa. During the passage, the crew, in many of
the ships, rose upon them, butchered the men, ravished the
women, and threw the children into the sea. Those who escaped
this fate, landed on the coast of Barbary, where they were
attacked by the Bedouins, and many of them put to the sword.
Others made their way into the desert, and perished from
famine. Of the number of lives actually sacrificed, we have no
authentic account; but it is said, on very good authority,
that in one expedition, in which 140,000 were carried to
Africa, upwards of 100,000 suffered death in its most
frightful forms within a few months after their expulsion from
Spain. Now, for the first time, the Church was really
triumphant. For the first time there was not a heretic to be
seen between the Pyrenees and the Straits of Gibraltar. All
were orthodox, and all were loyal. Every inhabitant of that
great country obeyed the Church, and feared the king. And from
this happy combination, it was believed that the prosperity
and grandeur of Spain were sure to follow. … The effects
upon the material prosperity of Spain may be stated in a few
words. From nearly every part of the country, large bodies of
industrious agriculturists and expert artificers were suddenly
withdrawn. The best systems of husbandry then known, were
practised by the Moriscoes, who tilled and irrigated with
indefatigable labour. The cultivation of rice, cotton, and
sugar, and the manufacture of silk and paper were almost
confined to them. By their expulsion all this was destroyed at
a blow, and most of it was destroyed for ever. For the Spanish
Christians considered such pursuits beneath their dignity. In
their judgment, war and religion were the only two avocations
worthy of being followed. To fight for the king, or to enter
the Church was honourable; but everything else was mean and
sordid. When, therefore, the Moriscoes were thrust out of
Spain, there was no one to fill their place; arts and
manufactures either degenerated, or were entirely lost, and
immense regions of arable land were left uncultivated. …
Whole districts were suddenly deserted, and down to the
present day have never been repeopled. These solitudes gave
refuge to smugglers and brigands, who succeeded the
industrious inhabitants formerly occupying them; and it is
said that from the expulsion of the Moriscoes is to be dated
the existence of those organized bands of robbers, which,
after this period, became the scourge of Spain, and which no
subsequent government has been able entirely to extirpate. To
these disastrous consequences, others were added, of a
different, and, if possible, of a still more serious kind. The
victory gained by the Church increased both her power and her
reputation. … The greatest men, with hardly an exception,
became ecclesiastics, and all temporal considerations, all
views of earthly policy, were despised and set at nought. No
one inquired; no one doubted; no one presumed to ask if all
this was right. The minds of men succumbed and were prostrate.
While every other country was advancing, Spain alone was
receding. Every other country was making some addition to
knowledge, creating some art, or enlarging some science, Spain
numbed into a death-like torpor, spellbound and entranced by
the accursed superstition which preyed on her strength,
presented to Europe a solitary instance of constant decay."
_H. T. Buckle,
History of Civilization,
volume 2, chapter 8._
ALSO IN:
_W. H. Prescott,
History of the Reign of Philip II.,
book 5, chapters 1-8 (volume 3)._
_R. Watson,
History of the Reign of Philip III.,
book 4._
_J. Dunlop,
Memoirs of Spain, 1621-1700,
volume 1, chapter 1._
See, also, INQUISITION: A. D. 1203-1525.
MOORS: 15-19th Centuries.
The kingdom of Marocco.
See MAROCCO.
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