A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3

by Henry Charles Lea

The secret had been admirably kept, but the mission of Mexia on a duty so incompatible with his rank caused suspicions which grew from day to day. The Moriscos commenced to fortify their houses, to cease laboring and bringing provisions to the city, which suffered in consequence; the nobles brought their families to town to be prepared for the worst, and Ribera’s action in increasing his guard and laying in stores of victuals increased the excitement. The Estamento Militar, or House of Nobles, held two or three stormy meetings, in which it was resolved to send a deputation to the king to represent the ruin which expulsion would bring upon every class in the kingdom, where eleven millions of ducats were invested in the censos charged on the Morisco communities. The envoys went but, when they reached Madrid, they were told by the king that it was too late, for the edict had been already published in Valencia.[1067]

Everything, in fact, had worked with precision. By September 17th the fleet, consisting of sixty-two galleys and fourteen galleons, conveying about eight thousand disciplined troops, had reached their stations at Alicante, Denia and the Alfaques de Tortosa, and had commenced landing the men. Possession was taken of the Sierra de Espadan, while Castilian cavalry guarded the frontiers. When all was in readiness, royal letters to the Jurados, Diputados and Estamento Militar were read and, on the 22d, the edict was published.

EXPULSION

The comparative liberality of the terms and the short notice allowed manifest the sense of weakened power. Under irremissible pain of death, within three days after publication in the several towns and villages, all Moriscos were to depart for the port of embarkation designated by a commissioner. They could take such portable property as they could carry on their backs; they would find vessels ready to carry them to Barbary and would be fed on the voyage. During the three days all must remain at home awaiting the orders of the commissioners and, after that, any one absent from his domicile could be robbed by the first comer and carried to a magistrate or be slain if offering resistance. As the king gave to the lords all real and personal property not carried off, any firing of houses or harvests or hiding of portable things would be punished by putting to death all the inhabitants of the place. In order to preserve the houses, the sugar mills, the rice crop and the irrigating canals, six per cent. of the Moriscos were allowed to remain. The same permission was given to those who, for two years, had lived among Christians without attending the meetings of the aljamas, as well as those admitted to communion by their priests. Children under four years of age desiring to stay could do so, with consent of parents or guardians. Children under six, whose fathers were Old Christians, were to stay, together with their Morisco mothers: if the father was a Morisco and the mother an Old Christian, he was to go and children under six were to stay with their mother. Sheltering fugitives was forbidden, under pain of six years of galleys, and all soldiers and Old Christians were strictly forbidden to insult or injure Moriscos by word or deed. As an evidence of good faith, after every instalment had been carried to Barbary, ten were allowed to return and report to their fellows what their treatment had been.[1068]

The publication was followed by days of anxious suspense. The people, we are told, rejoiced, for they hated both the Moriscos and the nobles, and there were symptoms of a rising against the latter. The lords grieved over the ruin of their lands and the religious communities over the loss of their enormous investments in censos. The Moriscos at first were inclined to resist and, after vainly offering large sums to the viceroy, they sought to arm themselves by forging ploughshares and reaping-hooks into pikes, which with slings were their only weapons.[1069] Then suddenly their purpose changed. They were awed by the large bodies of disciplined troops and by the cavalry on the border. A meeting was held of their alfaquíes and leaders, in which it was agreed that resistance was hopeless and that, in case of defeat, their children would be brought up as Christians, while prophecies were talked of which promised an unexpected blessing. Consequently it was resolved that all should go, including the six per cent. allowed to remain, and that any one who stayed should be regarded as an apostate. This had such an effect that those who had been offering large sums to be included in the six per cent. now refused to stay, although asked to name their own terms. The Duke of Gandía, who had an enormous sugar crop and who could get no other skilled labor to work his mills, vainly offered whatever they might ask. The only condition they would accept was the free exercise of their religion; the Duke applied to the viceroy, but Ribera declared it to be a concession beyond the power of king or pope to grant, for they were baptized.[1070]

The nobles, for the most part, loyally accepted the situation and aided in the execution of the decree. The Duke of Gandía who, next to the Duke of Segorbe, had the largest number of vassals, wrote to the king, October 9th, that on September 28th the Marquis of Santa Cruz had embarked for him five thousand of them, whom he desired to be the first, in order to quiet the apprehensions of the rest as to the safety of the voyage. To protect and reassure their vassals, a number of the nobles—the Duke of Gandía, the Marquis of Albaida and others—accompanied them and saw them safely on shipboard, and the Duke of Maqueda even sailed with them to Oran, the point of debarkation.[1071] All, however, were not thus self-sacrificing. Bishop Balaguer of Orihuela reported, October 31st, that some were retaining their vassals by threats or by force, and that, unless energetic commissioners were sent, many would be kept.[1072]

The Moriscos objected to abandoning their personal effects to their lords and sought to convert what they possessed into money. Gandía and some others permitted this, but many insisted on their rights and, on October 1st, the viceroy issued a proclamation forbidding all sales, but this led to imminent danger of rebellion and was wisely abandoned. The land became a universal fair in which stock, produce and household gear were sold at a fraction of their value, and finally were given away. The Grao or port of Valencia, while the exiles were awaiting fair winds, became a bazaar, in which exquisite Moorish garments, rare embroideries, rich gold and silver laces and the like were bought for a song.[1073]

EXPULSION

As soon as the first shock was over, of abandoning home and possessions, the prospect of reaching a land, where they could openly profess their faith and escape paralyzing oppression, stimulated them to intense eagerness to leave Spain. They contended for places in the first embarkation, and the commissioners had no trouble in assembling and leading them to the designated ports. Troops escorted them to protect them from the savage greed of the Old Christians, who gathered in bands, robbing and often murdering those whom they encountered. Royal edicts commanding swift justice were issued, gallows were erected along the roadsides and executions were numerous, but it was impossible to prevent outrages. In spite of this the Moriscos pressed forward to the shores. At Alicante they came with music and song, thanking Allah for the happiness of returning to the land of their fathers, which suggests how simple a solution of the question it would have been to permit the emigration of the discontented. Many, indeed, distrusting the royal faith, preferred to charter ships and pay for transportation, which was encouraged by providing elaborate regulations to ensure, as far as possible, their safe passage and fair treatment. All the Spanish ports were ordered to send their ships to the Valencia coast, even discharging those which were loaded, and all arrivals were pressed into service. Seeing this eagerness, the promise of free passage was broken after the first embarkation, and the royal galleys charged the same fare as the private vessels—seventy-five reales per head for all over sixteen and thirty-five for those younger. In all there were three embarkations, occupying about three months and including, according to lists kept at the ports, over a hundred and fifty thousand souls.[1074]

This eagerness to go was, however, not universal. There were many who, not unreasonably, felt little confidence in the royal faith and preferred the chances of resistance. Gathering into bands they sought refuge in two easily defensible positions, one on a peak in the Val del Aguar, where their numbers were reckoned at from fifteen to twenty-five thousand, and the other in the Muela de Cortes, where there were said to be nine thousand. Mexia paid no attention to them, until the business of embarkation was nearly concluded, when they were readily reduced. In the Val del Aguar it was a massacre of the weaponless wretches, rather than a battle; three thousand Moriscos were slain and only one Spaniard, Bautista Crespo, who was killed by his own firelock. The survivors, starved, frozen and dying with thirst, surrendered at discretion, November 28th, and were conducted to the port of embarkation, but many perished of exhaustion on the road and many women and children were stolen by the soldiers and sold as slaves, while of those who embarked but few reached Africa. At the Muela de Cortes they surrendered on promise of safety to life and property, provided they embarked within three days, but the soldiery, disappointed at the loss of expected booty, fell upon them. Only three thousand were brought to the sea-ports, and more than two thousand scattered among the mountains, where for a year or two they gave much trouble. They had elected as king Vicente Turixi, who was tracked to a cave and brought to Valencia, where he was put to a cruel death, December 18th. He died as a good Christian and made a most edifying end, for we are told that he had been a most liberal almsgiver and was devoted to the Virgin and to the religious Orders.[1075] This ended the only open resistance to the expulsion throughout Spain.