Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–1571)

Forced conversion under Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros was one of the main causes of the rebellions.

The Kingdom of Granada was the last Muslim-ruled state in Spain. After a long siege, the city of Granada fell to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabel, in 1492. The Muslim population was initially tolerated under the terms of the Treaty of Granada: they were allowed to stay in their dwellings, to be judged according to their own laws, and would not be obliged to convert to Christianity.[7]

However, they did come under pressure to convert, and growing discontent led to an uprising in 1499 in Granada city, quickly put down, and in the following year two more serious revolts in the mountain villages of the Alpujarra—the region below the Sierra Nevada. Ferdinand himself led an army into the area. There were also revolts in the western parts of the Kingdom. Suppression by the Catholic forces was severe, with the most violent episode occurring in Laujar de Andarax, where two hundred Muslims were burnt in the local mosque.[8]

This revolt enabled the Catholics to claim that the Muslims had violated the terms of the Treaty of Granada, which were therefore withdrawn. Throughout the region, Muslims were now forced to choose between conversion to Christianity or exile. The vast majority chose conversion and became known as "Moriscos" or "New Christians", though many continued to speak Andalusian Arabic and to maintain their Moorish customs.[9]

In 1526, Charles V (Charles I of Spain)—issued an Edict under which laws against heresy (e.g. Muslim practices by "New Christians") would be strictly enforced; among other restrictions, it forbade the use of Arabic and the wearing of Moorish dress. The Moriscos managed to get this suspended for forty years by the payment of a large sum (80,000 ducados).[10]

Since now all remaining Moors were officially Christian ("Moriscos"), mosques could be destroyed or turned into churches. There was little or no follow-up in terms of explaining Christianity: indeed, the priests themselves were mostly too ignorant to do so.[11] On the other hand, they punished Moriscos who failed to participate in Sunday Mass; Moriscos had to learn—in Latin—the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, the Credo, and the Ten Commandments; children had to be baptised and marriage had to be under Christian rites. Inevitably, tension built up.[12]

A Morisco family walking in the country, by Christoph Weiditz, 1529.

The archbishop of Granada, convinced that the Moriscos were maintaining their customs and traditions and would never become real Christians, called in 1565 a synod of the bishops of the kingdom of Granada.[13] It was agreed that the policy of persuasion should be replaced by one of repression, and that the measures of 1526 should now be applied. This meant prohibition of all the distinctive Morisco practices: language, clothing, public baths, religious ceremonies, etc. Moreover, in each place where the Moriscos lived at least a dozen "Old Christians" (i.e. not those who had been supposedly converted) should be installed; Morisco houses should be inspected on Fridays, Saturdays, and feast-days to ensure that they were not practicing Quranic rites; the heads of household should be closely watched to ensure that they were setting a good example; their sons should be taken to Old Castile at the cost of their parents, to be brought up learning Christian customs and forgetting those of their origins.[14]

Philip II, who had become King in 1556, gave his approval: the result was the Pragmatica of 1 January 1567.[15] The Moriscos tried to negotiate its suspension, as in 1526, but this King was inflexible. A Morisco leader, Francisco Núñez Muley, made a statement protesting against the injustices committed against the Moriscos: "Day by day our situation worsens, we are maltreated in every way; and this is done by judges and officials… How can people be deprived of their own language, with which they were born and brought up? In Egypt, Syria, Malta and elsewhere there are people like us who speak, read and write in Arabic, and they are Christians like us."[16] The American historian Henry Charles Lea wrote: "The Moriscos had come to the parting of the ways; there was no middle course and they had the naked alternative of submission or rebellion."[17]

As the failure of their appeals became evident, the Moriscos of Granada began to prepare for rebellion, holding secret meetings in the Moorish quarter, the Albaicín.[18] The authorities arrested Moriscos who they thought might be conspiring; they also made plans to expel Moriscos from the Kingdom and replace them by "Old Christians" (i.e. not recent converts). After a year of fruitless negotiations, in 1568 the Morisco leaders decided to take up arms.[19]

The Spanish campaign was led by the Marqués de Mondéjar in the west of the Alpujarra and the Marqués de Los Vélez in the east. Mondéjar, coming from Granada in January 1569, had quick success, over terrain which should have favoured the defenders. He overcame the first natural obstacle – a bridge at Tablate, which the Moors had partially destroyed – and reached Órgiva in time to rescue Christians held captive in the tower.[24]

Tablate bridge

The first major battle was fought in a river valley east of Órgiva, where the Moors were defeated. An advance detachment then contrived to cross a narrow ravine (picture) and climb a steep mountainside to reach the village of Bubión, in the Poqueira valley, where Aben Humeya had made his headquarters and the Moors had stored equipment and valuables. They were soon joined by the Marqués and the bulk of his army, taking a longer but safer route.[25]

Approach to the Poqueira valley

In the next few days the army crossed the mountains and descended on Pórtugos and Pitres, again freeing Christian captives in the churches. From there the way was open to the villages further east.[26]

The American historian Henry Charles Lea wrote of Mondéjar's "short but brilliant campaign... Through heavy snows and intense cold and over almost inaccessible mountains he fought battle after battle, giving the enemy no respite and following up every advantage gained. The Moriscos speedily lost heart and sought terms of surrender… By the middle of February [1569] the rebellion was practically suppressed. Aben Humeya was a wanderer, hiding in caves by day and seeking shelter by night in houses which had letters of surety."[27]

Indeed, at Pórtugos some Moorish leaders had attempted to negotiate surrender terms with Mondéjar, who replied that he would intercede with King Philip, but that in the meantime the punishment of rebels must continue.[28] If he did report to the King, this did him no good as it reinforced charges against him of undue clemency. In fact, the Christian campaign was compromised by a long-standing enmity between the two commanders, and this was fomented by the Chancery in Granada, which on several occasions sent complaints about Mondéjar to King Philip.[note 2]

The subsequent campaign was marked by excesses committed by the troops: this was not a disciplined army but consisted largely of untrained volunteers, who were not paid but counted on the loot they could gather.[29] The chronicler Pérez de Hita wrote that half of them were "the worst scoundrels in the world, motivated only by the desire to steal, sack and destroy the Morisco villages."[30]

There were also many acts of vengeance by Moriscos against "Old Christians". Some priests were flayed alive, being reminded of their severity towards those who did not attend mass, to women who would not uncover their faces, and generally to those who continued practicing their old rites. Churches were systematically set on fire and looted; likewise the houses of the priests and those of Christians in general.[31]

Both sides sold as slaves many of their captives. The Moriscos sold Christians to merchants from North Africa, in exchange for weapons. For their part, those whom the Christian soldiers captured, especially women, were regarded as war booty, and they were entitled to keep the takings for themselves as the Crown renounced the fifth part of the proceeds normally due. Chiefs and officers also took prisoners for themselves, including children. The Crown itself did benefit from the sale of slaves, as in the case of many of the Moors from Juviles who were sold at the market in Granada for the benefit of the King.[32]

This lasted from March 1569 until January 1570. Now the initiative lay with the Morisco rebels, who had gained support as towns in the plain and elsewhere joined the revolt. Thus their number rose from 4,000 in 1569 to 25,000 in 1570, including some Berbers and Turks.[33] Their tactic was to ambush their opponents, avoiding combat on open ground, relying on their knowledge of the intricate terrain of the sierras and occupying the heights from which they could launch audacious attacks.

The Spanish navy was called upon to bring reinforcements to the army, and to protect the Granada coast against Ottoman reinforcements from North Africa.[34]

This began in 1570, after King Philip had relieved the Marqués of Mondéjar of his command and appointed in his place his own half-brother, Don John of Austria, to take overall command, and the Marquis of Los Vélez to pursue operations in the eastern part of the kingdom.

Don Juan de Austria, by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz.

Lea describes Vélez as "ambitious, arrogant and opinionated… He thrust himself into the war and mismanaged it at every turn, but he was a favorite of the king, who supported him through it all… Great preparations were made to give Don John a force which befitted his dignity and should speedily crush all resistance. The towns and cities were summoned to furnish their quotas and the Spanish ambassador at Rome was ordered to bring the Italian galleys to Spain, to aid the home squadron in guarding the coast and intercepting succors from Africa, and also to convey the tercio of Naples" (a battalion of about three thousand regular troops).[35]

This was a big mobilisation to deal with a revolt by a mountain people, with no military training nor organisation, and ill-equipped with weaponry. But King Philip was obsessed by his troubles abroad and clearly felt he had to eliminate this problem on his doorstep. An Ottoman fleet was raiding the Spanish coasts and it had captured the Balearic Islands in 1558. In the Spanish Netherlands, the preaching of Calvinist leaders had led to riots in 1566 and to open warfare in 1568: Philip did not want trouble in his own backyard.[36] Moreover, like Catholic leaders everywhere in Europe, he was determined to stamp out "heresy" of all kinds – and the Moors had by now been formally classified as heretics.

Don John arrived at Granada in April 1569. Returning to Lea's account: "Conflicting opinions led to prolonged discussions during which nothing was done; the campaign went to pieces; the pacified Moriscos, reduced to despair by the withdrawal of Mondéjar, sent back their safeguards and withdrew their oaths of allegiance and with them went many places that had previously remained loyal… Granada was virtually besieged, for the Moriscos ravaged the Vega [the plain] up to the gates… The rebellion, which had hitherto been confined to the Alpujarras and Sierra Nevada, spread on the one side to the mountain of Almería and on the other to those of Málaga. The whole land was aflame and it looked as though the power of Spain was inadequate to extinguish the conflagration."[37]

In an attack on Albuñuelas, the Spanish troops killed all the men who did not escape and brought back fifteen hundred women and children who were divided among the soldiers as slaves.[38] In October that year the king proclaimed "a war of fire and blood" (una guerra a fuego y a sangre) – no longer just a matter of punishing a rebellion. He also gave free rein (campo franco) to the soldiers to take whatever plunder they could find, whether slaves, cattle, or property.[39]

In January 1570 Don John launched his new campaign with a force of 12,000 men; another contingent led by the Duke of Sessa had 8000 foot and 350 horse.[40] There was renewed fighting in the Pitres-Poqueira area in April 1570. As the campaign went on and villages were captured, the Catholic forces were much reduced by desertions.

On 10 February, after a two-month siege, Don Juan conquered Galera and ordered its destruction; in March he took Serón; and at the end of April he headed for the Alpujarra, setting up his headquarters at Padules. There he was joined by a second army under the Duke of Sessa, which had left Granada in February and had crossed the Alpujarra from west to east. At the same time, a third army had come from Antequera to reach the sierra of Bentomiz, another focus of the rebellion, at the beginning of March.[41]

This lasted from April 1570 until the spring of 1571. Catholic forces were greatly reinforced with infantry and cavalry. Led by Don John and the Duke of Sessa they launched a new campaign, invading the Alpujarra, destroying houses and crops, putting men to the sword and taking prisoner all the women, children, and elderly people whom they found in their path. "Spain had strained every nerve and had raised an overwhelming force to accomplish what Mondéjar had done with a few thousand men a twelve months earlier."[42]

In May, King Aben Aboo at last accepted surrender terms, under which those who gave themselves up and handed over their weapons would have their lives spared. But when some Berbers appeared with stories of large reinforcements on their way, Aben Aboo decided to fight on. The reports here are muddled: some say that three galleys which had just arrived from Algiers with arms, munitions, and food turned back because they heard Aboo was surrendering. However this may be, no such help reached the rebels, but the Catholics were given an excuse to resume hostilities: "The sierra, in September 1570, was attacked simultaneously from both ends with a war of ruthless devastation, destroying all harvests, killing the men and bringing in women and children by the thousand as slaves. What few prisoners were taken were executed or sent to the galleys."[43]

This advance by the royal troops opened a breach between those of the Moriscos who wanted to continue the fight and those who argued for seeking terms of surrender. In May, following a meeting at Andarax, many rebels fled to North Africa. Soon afterwards, the leader of those who favoured surrender, Hernando El Habaqui, was executed on the order of Aben Aboo.

Although from October 1570 many Moriscos gave themselves up, several thousand went on fighting. Most of them took shelter in caves, but many of these died from suffocation when the Christian troops lit fires at the entrances.[44]

In 1571 John of Austria finally succeeded in suppressing the rebellion in the Alpujarra. The last rebels, after losing the fortress of Juviles, were killed in their caves: among them Aben Aboo who was stabbed to death by his own followers in a cave near Bérchules. Resistance then collapsed.[45]

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza – the more enlightened of the contemporary Spanish sources – made a bitter comment: "Day by day we fought our enemies, in the cold or the heat, hungry, lacking munitions, suffering continual injuries and deaths until we could confront our enemies: a warlike tribe, well-armed and confident in terrain which favoured them. Finally they were driven from their houses and possessions; men and women were chained together; captured children were sold to the highest bidder or carried away to distant places… It was a dubious victory, with such consequences that one might doubt whether those whom God wished to punish were ourselves or the enemy."[46]