The statistics of the expulsion have been variously estimated; but the latest and most trustworthy investigation reckons the number of those baptized at 50,000, and of those who emigrated or died at 185,000, though this may err on the side of exaggeration.
“Do you call this king a statesman, who impoverishes his land and enriches mine?” asked the Sultan of Turkey, who, alone of European sovereigns, held out a welcoming hand to the refugees.
It is probable Ferdinand and Isabel realized their political folly in driving from their shores that most valuable of all national wealth, talent, and industry. Fanaticism not policy had dictated their edict; and to their determination that one faith alone should be held within their dominions they were prepared to sacrifice even the economic welfare that they had next at heart.
It seemed at first as if the “Mudejares,” or subject Moors, would escape the general persecution. They had neither the strong racial characteristics of the Jew, nor, though industrious and able workers, the same capacity for fleecing their Christian neighbours; and thus their conquerors came to regard them with contemptuous toleration rather than antipathy. For eight years after the fall of Granada peace reigned in that city, in spite of the difficulties attending the terms of capitulation, to which Ferdinand and Isabel had been forced to agree in their eagerness for a speedy surrender.
Such a treaty [says Prescott] depending for its observance on the good faith and forbearance of the stronger party would not hold together a year in any country of Christendom even at the present day, before some flaw or pretext would be devised to evade it.
That it had been possible so long was chiefly due to the conciliatory policy adopted by the military governor, the Count of Tendilla, and by the Archbishop, Fra Fernando de Talavera. The latter had entered on his office in a spirit of humility that was to serve him far better than any self-assurance. Convinced of the inborn righteousness and appeal of the Christian Faith, he believed that it had only to be understood to be accepted; and, in order to bring himself mentally in touch with the “Alfaquis,” or Doctors of the Mahometan law, he proceeded to learn Arabic himself and to exhort his subordinate priests to do the same. By his orders an Arabic vocabulary and grammar were written, while the catechism and liturgy, with portions from the Gospels, were translated into the same language.
The Moors of Granada had been subject to tyranny all their days, whether under a Boabdil or an Abdallah “El Zagal,” and, though at first suspicious of their conquerors, they soon began to respond to the justice and sympathy that they encountered. Numbers, after discussions and talks with “El Santo Alfaki,” “The Holy Priest” as they called Fra Fernando, accepted baptism; while those who held to their old religion learned to revere and trust him. Granada was in fact adapting herself fast to the new conditions of life; and, when in 1499 Ferdinand and Isabel visited the city, they expressed their appreciation of the peace and order that they found there. So little wrath did they feel against the Mahometans that, when two years before King Emmanuel of Portugal had offered to his Moorish subjects a choice of baptism or expulsion, they had welcomed the exiles as a valuable addition to their population, taking them under their special protection.
Ximenes de Cisneros had accompanied the sovereigns to Granada; and by misfortune when they left he remained to assist his fellow-Archbishop in the task of conversion. Impatient of the slow process of religious absorption that he found in progress, he mistook the friendliness of the Mudejar for weakness and declared that only a little firmness was now needed to induce the whole population to accept Christianity. As a preliminary he summoned the leading “Alfaquis” to various conferences in which he harangued them on the truths of Catholicism, endeavouring to gain their agreement with his views, not only by eloquence but by liberal gifts of rich stuffs and clothing that he guessed would appeal to Oriental taste.
The result was so successful that Cisneros was confirmed in the conviction that he was indeed on the right track, and the humble Fra Fernando was deeply impressed. The majority of the “Alfaquis,” whether intimidated by a consciousness of approaching storms, or moved by the Primate’s arguments and gifts, accepted conversion, bringing with them to the font those who looked to them for spiritual guidance. On a single day three thousand candidates were said to have presented themselves for baptism, a number so great that the ordinary individual ablution proved impossible and the kneeling crowd had to be sprinkled with holy water from a brush.
The stricter Mahometans protested angrily that the Archbishop’s methods were a violation of the terms of surrender that had guaranteed them the free exercise of their religion without any undue influence; whereupon Cisneros, equally irritated at this opposition, seized and imprisoned its ringleader, a certain Zegri Azaator. Strict confinement in fetters, under the charge of a Castilian official called Leon, soon led the prisoner to repent of his temerity and to express a desire for baptism, with the rueful admission that if “this lion,” as he referred to his gaoler, were let loose in Granada few would be able to resist his arguments.