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Mudéjar were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the
late medieval period The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the Periodization, period of History of Europe, European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period ( ...
following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for
Mudéjar art Mudéjar art, or Mudéjar style, was a type of ornamentation and decoration used in the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian Christian kingdoms, primarily between the 13th and 16th centuries. It was applied to Romanesque architecture, Romanesque, Gothic a ...
, which was greatly influenced by
Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...
, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for Christian patrons. ''Mudéjar'' was used in contrast to both Muslims in Muslim-ruled areas (for example, Muslims of Granada before 1492) and
Morisco ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Mus ...
s, who were often forcibly converted and may or may not have continued to secretly practice Islam. The corresponding term for Christians living under Muslim rule is
Mozarabs The Mozarabs (from ), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to 1492. Following the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania, the Christian ...
. Starting from the eleventh century, when larger regions previously under Muslim control fell to Christian kingdoms, treaties were established with the remaining Muslim population which defined their status as Mudejar. Their status, modelled after the
dhimmi ' ( ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligation under ''s ...
, established a parallel society with its own religious, legal, administrative and fiscal autonomy and institutions, while being subject to their Christian kings and lords. Soon after the fall of Granada in 1492, the policy towards Mudéjar changed and they were forced to either convert or emigrate.


Etymology

Mudéjar was originally the term used for
Moors The term Moor is an Endonym and exonym, exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslims, Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a s ...
or Muslims of
Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
who remained in Iberia after the Christian ''
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
'' but were not initially forcibly converted to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
or exiled. The word Mudéjar references several historical interpretations and cultural borrowings. It was a medieval Castilian borrowing of the
Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word ''Mudajjan'' , meaning "subjugated; tamed", or ''al-Madjun'' meaning "those who remained or stayed on", referring to Muslims who remained and submitted to the rule of Christian kings. The term likely originated as a taunt, as the word was usually applied to domesticated animals such as poultry. The term Mudéjar also can be translated from Arabic as "one permitted to remain", which refers to the Christians allowing Muslims to remain in Christian Iberia. Another term with the same meaning, ("people who stay on"), was used by Muslim writers, notably al-Wansharisi in his work ''Kitab al-Mi'yar''. Mudéjars in Iberia lived under a protected tributary status known as , which refer to . This protected status suggested subjugation at the hands of Christian rulers, as the word resembled meaning "tame animals". Their protected status was enforced by the or local charters which dictated Christians laws. Muslims of other regions outside of the Iberian Peninsula disapproved of the Mudéjar subjugated status and their willingness to live under subjugation.


History


Origin of the Mudéjar

In the eight century, Arab and Berber forces defeated the
Visigothic Kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...
in Spain and conquered the majority of the Iberian peninsula and ended the Visigothic kingdom that had ruled since the sixth century. The first Muslim emirate emerged in 756, followed by the Umayyad
Caliphate of Córdoba A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
from 929 to 1031. The 10th and 11th centuries saw the rise of Christian principalities in León, Castile,
Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...
,
Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...
, Aragón, and
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
. These kingdoms started retaking these territories and especially from the eleventh century onwards, larger groups of Muslims, who lived in these regions, came under Christian rule and became known as Mudejar. Especially influential in creating this new status was the surrender treaty during the conquest of Toledo where the fact that Muslims were a numerical majority allowed them to significantly influence the reasoning and wording of the treaty. Further conquests and treaties resulted in a permanent status of protection for Muslims widely acknowledged by all Christian authorities. These agreements in the Aragonese and Castilian frontier lands contrast with the strict policies of the
Almoravids The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almo ...
concerning dhimmis after 1130. In the middle of the thirteenth century, Christian military success transformed the Iberian peninsula as several regions under Muslim control from the Algarve, the Guadalalquivir basin (including the cities of Cordoba and Seville) to the cities of Murcia and Valencia came under Christian control. There were two ways in which the Muslim populations were treated: those who accepted terms of surrender might be allowed to continue living in the region and became Mudéjar while those that held out to the bitter and refused terms of surrender were expelled, though there were exceptions. As the newly acquired territories often lacked labour force, those that were willing to make themselves useful or had services to offer which made them valuable might be allowed to stay if they practised their religion discreetly. At the same time, there was a massive influx of Christian folk from the North.


Middle period

Soon after the conquests of these new territories, the Mudéjar of Andalucia rebelled 1264, instigated by the
emirate of Granada The Emirate of Granada, also known as the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, was an Emirate, Islamic polity in the southern Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages, ruled by the Nasrid dynasty. It was the last independent Muslim state in Western ...
. After some initial success, the revolt was quelled by joined Castilian and Aragonese forces by 1267. Then, king
Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...
aimed to reconstruct Andalucia and Murcia by expelling the Mudéjar and persuading Christians to settle in the newly evacuated areas. Nevertheless, the conquered population were treated with relative tolerance and allowed to continue their religious observance, allowing for both King Fernando III (1217-1252) and Alfonso X (1252-1284) to name themselves as "King of the Three Religions". By 1300, only enclaves of Mudéjar remained in Andalucia. In Valencia, where the Mudéjar were in the majority, the Mudéjar revolted unsuccessfully soon after its conquest several times throughout the thirteenth century, in the 1270s with the help of their
Marinid The Marinid dynasty ( ) was a Berber Muslim dynasty that controlled present-day Morocco from the mid-13th to the 15th century and intermittently controlled other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula ...
and Granadan allies. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Mudéjar had apparently arrived in a stable equilibrium with the Christian-dominated society they lived in: they enjoyed a clearly defined and legitimate legal status with broad rights and privileges and had maintained their religious and personal liberties as well as cultural identity. This status, however, was changed by a series of crisis in the mid-fourteenth century, such as wars, economic uncertainty and most dramatically the
Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
(estimates put the peninsula's death rate at 30%). The Valencian Mudéjar revolted again in 1359 inspired by the messianic pretensions of a Mudéjar called Cilim and in 1364 due to the difficult conditions caused by the Aragonese war with Castile. At the same time, anti-Mudéjar violence, often fuelled by fears of the Mudéjar being a
fifth column A fifth column is a group of people who undermine a larger group or nation from within, usually in favor of an enemy group or another nation. The activities of a fifth column can be overt or clandestine. Forces gathered in secret can mobilize ...
or spiriting Christians away to the slave markets of Granada or the Magrhib, was often directed against the ''morerías''. As Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol points out, these attacks tended to coincide with periods of war with the sultanate of Granada or with rumours of possible Granadan attacks. The use of Granadan cavalry by king Peter the Cruel for raiding in Aragonese lands cultivated a popular fear of Mudéjar collaboration with the enemy which, while not generally true, was lend credence by occasional complicity of Mudéjar in Granadan raiding and spying for the Marinids. The Mudéjar population in Aragon was around one-third while in Valencia it was still around two-thirds. These tensions intensified in the fifteenth century in which economic competition and depression, religious reactionism, continuing civil disorder and a growing threat of a war with the sultanate of Granada undermined the Christian-Muslim relations and stoking the perception of Muslims as disloyal, generically distinct foreigners. This, together with the Mudéjar's strengthening of relations with foreign Muslim regimes, resulted in the entrenchment of many Mudéjar communities across the Iberian peninsula. Especially the relation with the Ottoman Empire, whose advances threatened the Aragonese possession of Sicily, rendered the sultanate of Granada more formidable and the allegiance of the Mudéjar more uncertain. In 1487, both the sultanate of Granada as well as the Mudéjar established relations with the Ottomans whom they saw as the last hope of saving the sultanate of Granada.


Decline and end

During the decade long war of the united crowns of Aragon and Castile against the sultanate of Granada, the Aragonese policy regarding Mudéjar did not change and they were not viewed as a military problem. Though it was reported in 1486 that the Mudéjar were funding the Granadan war effort, a likely possibility as the Mudéjar were bound to the last Islamic state on Spanish soil by religion and kinship and the Nasrid sultan likely exercised a spiritual leadership over the Valencian Mudéjar, the results of the investigation ordered by king
Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
are not known. As the prospect for a successful outcome for Granada faded, negotiations for surrender began and were finalised in November 1491. These ''capitulaciones'' were far more detailed and generous than those which had been current in the peninsula since the eleventh century, including security and freedom of movement for all Muslims, Islamic law in its broadest possible sense and visible signs of Christian domination to be minimised. Essentially, they created a functioning Islamic principality under Christian rule. This and the other postwar policies of Ferdinand II affirm his belief in the continuing viability of Mudejarism and the view that the Mudéjar were a valuable asset. Though most of the Muslim aristocrats emigrated to North Africa, most religious authorities and common folk remained, some even returning after having first chosen to emigrate to North Africa. The equilibrium was further upheld by the newly installed archbishop Talavera, who adhered to the letter and spirit of the ''capitulaciones'' and took an optimistic approach to missionising and an open approach to the maintenance of folk customs. By 1498 this balanced approach broke down as Mudéjar were banned from living in Granada and the militant Cardinal Cisneros set out to abrogate the ''capitulaciones'' by coercing Mudéjar to convert and suppressing public manifestations of Arabo-Islamic culture, most notably by confiscating and publicly burning Islamic religious texts. In response, the Mudéjar of Granada rose in rebellion and the region was not subdued until 1501. After that, the Mudéjar of Granada were given the choice to remain and accept baptism, reject baptism and be enslaved or be exiled. Just a couple of years prior, in 1497, Islam had been outlawed by Portugal, possibly as king Manuel I aimed to obtain rights of sovereignty over the kingdom of Fez from the pope. Soon afterwards, after several Mudéjar populations in Castile had converted, Ferdinand and Isabella promulgated a decree ordering the conversion or departure of all Muslims remaining in the
Crown of Castile The Crown of Castile was a medieval polity in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and, some decades later, the parliaments of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Castile, Castile and Kingd ...
in 1502. After that, the last redoubt of medieval European Islam was the
Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon (, ) ;, ; ; . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of Barcelona (later Principality of Catalonia) and ended as a consequence of the War of the Sp ...
, though Mudéjar were now in the minority amounting to some 30%. The death of Ferdinand II in 1516 sparked another political transformation in which Spain became part of the Hapsburg bloc, set against the equally powerful Ottoman Sultanate and its ally France, and was ruled by Carlos I who was little disposed to tolerate "enemies of the faith". During the
Revolt of the Brotherhoods The Revolt of the Brotherhoods (, ) was a revolt by artisan guilds ('' Germanies'') against the government of King Charles V in the Kingdom of Valencia, part of the Crown of Aragon. It took place from 1519–1523, with most of the fighti ...
, in which local craftsmen rebelled against royal authority, the Mudéjar were seen as confederates of the aristocracy and therefore attacked. Carlos I., however, also turned against them and issued in 1526 an edict that ordered the suppression of Islamic worship and traditions in the Crown of Aragon. This transformed it, like the rest of the "new kingdom of Spain", into a nation of Christians alone. Following the forced conversions, the newly baptised Christians faced suspicions that they were not truly converted but remained crypto-Muslims, and were known as
Morisco ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; "Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable Mus ...
s. The Moriscos, too, were eventually expelled, in 1609–1614.


Islamic legal opinions

The existence of Mudéjar posed series of problems for their religion as Islam pays great attention to models of conduct provided by good Muslims of the past. As Islam had until then never lived on a permanent basis in the territory of a non-Muslim ruler and Islam had been a religion of expansion, no guidance was forthcoming for Muslims living now under Christian rule. The
fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...
of Ibn Rabi, a thirteenth century native of Cordoba, classified Mudéjar and their obligation to emigrate according to a graduate scale of sin. Mudéjar absorbed by the enemy and living dispersed among them committed the greatest sin, comparable to polytheism. Muslims living in a special quarter and avoiding to mingle with the enemy, was held at a minor fault. The third case consisted of the case where Mudéjar constituted the majority of a region and non-Muslims lived only in castles controlling the region. These Mudéjar were held at even greater obligation to emigrate as due to their numerical priority, in a position of strength, they should be either able to revolt or travel undisturbed. Ibn Rabi did not mention the potential for the Mudéjar's continued adherence to Islamic law for this would have undermined his intention to push them towards emigration, which was based on his political agenda. The view that Muslims should emigrate was also taken by the late fifteenth century
mufti A mufti (; , ) is an Islamic jurist qualified to issue a nonbinding opinion ('' fatwa'') on a point of Islamic law (''sharia''). The act of issuing fatwas is called ''iftāʾ''. Muftis and their ''fatāwa'' have played an important role thro ...
Ahmad al-Wansharisi who cited the opinion of
Ibn Rushd Ibn Rushd (14 April 112611 December 1198), archaically Latinized as Averroes, was an Arab Muslim polymath and jurist from Al-Andalus who wrote about many subjects, including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, psychology, math ...
that the obligation to emigrate from countries under infidel control would continue right up to judgement day. Al-Wansharisi thought that coexistence led to erosion of the distinctive features of Muslim life, such as the use of Arabic, which in turn led to neglect of worship. The Oran fatwa from 1504 took a different position and even allowed Mudéjar to pretend to be Christians given the forced conversions.


Mudéjar social status in Spain

Just as previously the Christians, whose place had been defined by their Muslim conquerors and who were subject to the
dhimmi ' ( ', , collectively ''/'' "the people of the covenant") or () is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligation under ''s ...
status, the Muslims became second class citizens who endured restrictions on their activities but also were granted specific rights. These rights and obligations were established by the Muslims surrender treaties (either written, understood or applied as custom law) which established a parallel society with its own religious, legal and administrative and fiscal autonomy and institutions, while being subject to the royal and seigneurial authority. As such, Muslim administrators oversaw the Muslims and their taxes were collected by Muslim tax collectors, while the perhaps most important grant was that they were allowed to be governed by Islamic law and be able to practice their faith. Sometimes Mozarabic Christians were employed in the government of the Mudejar as they were familiar with their language and customs and the Muslim elites would often flee as Islamic law forbade them to submit to the authority of infidels. Though in principle the Mudéjar were directly subject to royal fiscal and judicial jurisdiction, Mudéjar were also found to be subject to the authority and paying taxes to lay lords, municipalities, dioceses as well as the monarchy. Especially in the crown of Aragon, where the king could not tax without the consent of the
cortes Cortes, Cortés, Cortês, Corts, or Cortès may refer to: People * Cortes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Hernán Cortés (1485–1547), a Spanish conquistador Places * Cortes, Navarre, a village in the South border of ...
, the Mudéjar aljamas formed an important and flexible component of the royal fisc. As was common at the time in both Christian and Muslim societies, Muslims were segregated from Christians. Both societies often held each other in contempt, demanded civic expression of their respective revelations and feared any assimilation from the infidel. Intimate relations between members of both faiths were forbidden by both Christian and Islamic law, but they did occur anyways. While Mudéjar were often the object of "exploitation", so was also the rest of the medieval common class. In certain ways they even enjoyed protections their Christian counterparts did not have, such as against torture and execution as well as a right to appeal at the royal court, though in some ways they were more vulnerable to violence and abuse. The surrender terms varied between the different regions, resulting in differences between the legal status of the Mudéjar.


Castile

The Muslim population in Castile originally immigrated from Toledo, Seville and other Andalusi territories. They were not original to the land in Castile. Muslim immigration into Castile was sponsored settlement by the
Kingdom of Castile The Kingdom of Castile (; : ) was a polity in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. It traces its origins to the 9th-century County of Castile (, ), as an eastern frontier lordship of the Kingdom of León. During the 10th century, the Ca ...
. It is hypothesized that the slow-growing Christian population demonstrated a need to bring more people into Castile. Primary documents written by Castilians in the 13th century indicate that Muslims were able to maintain some agency under Christian rule. The Mudéjars were able to maintain their religion, their laws, and had their own judges. The Mudéjars in Castile spoke the same
Romance language The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...
s and dialects as their Christian neighbors.


Aragon and Catalonia

Like the Mudéjars in Castile, Aragonese and Catalan Mudéjars also spoke the Romance languages of their Christian counterparts. However, unlike the Mudéjars in Castile, there were Muslim villages in Aragon and, to a lesser extent, in south-western Catalonia which populated the land before the Christian reconquests, setting up a history of Muslim cultivation and population of the land. Besides the large Muslim populations in Granada and Valencia, the Aragonese Muslim peasants were the most well-established Muslim community in the region, while in Catalonia Muslim autochthonous presence was limited only to the Low
Ebro The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a de ...
and Low Segre areas. Aragonese and Catalan Muslims were under the jurisdiction of the Aragonese Crown and were designated a special status. This status applied to the Mudéjar cultivators, the ''exarici'', and this status made them subservient to their Christian superiors because by law; they were required to cultivate the land of royal estates. However, this status was also beneficial as the law suggested that this land be passed down through Muslim family members. Despite their expulsion at the end of the Morisco period, the Mudéjars in Aragon left evidence of their style in
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...
, while in Catalonia only some reminiscences of this can be appreciated in some Gothic churches and cathedrals in some shires of
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
. From the mid fourteenth century, several Mudéjar were used as diplomats by the Aragonese crown.
Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...
in Catalonia was, besides
Tortosa Tortosa (, ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hi ...
, the only major Catalan town to have a Muslim quarter, at which its numerous Muslim population of Andalusi origins, was organized as a community (''Aljama'' or ''Al-Jama'ah''), even though there were also Muslims living outside the quarter. Its Muslim population descended from the population that did not leave ''Madinat Larida'' when it was taken over from the Moors by the counts of
Urgell Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Upper Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (county) in Ponent, Catalonia (Spain), forming only a borderland portion of the region historically known as Urgel ...
and Barcelona. The autochthonous Muslim community, largely composed of a mix of skilled artisans, laborers, and peasants, although progressively diminishing throughout the Middle Ages by emigration to the neighbouring Kingdom of Aragon, to the nearby increasingly powerful and numerous Aljamas of Aitona and Serós, and to Islamic countries (''Al-Hijrah'') as well as by increasing conversions to Christianity, was nevertheless also being reinforced by immigration of Navarrese and Aragonese Muslims (Mudéjares) and by intermittent arrivals of Valencian, Granadan, and North African origin, these being mostly slaves or former slaves. The quarter and its '' Aljama'' or community enjoyed a special status within the social reality of the city, with its own elites: ''Alfaquins'', ''Cadís'' and ''Sabasales'' (''Al-Fuqaha'', ''Al-Qudat'' and ''Ashab As-Salat'', that is, Islamic scholars, Islamic Judges and Imams respectively); ''Escrivans'' (Scrives); ''Alamins'' (''Al-'Amin''), or officials that represented the ''Aljama'' before the king (in case of the royal Aljamas) or the feudal lords (in case of the rural manor Aljamas), etc. The Morería had its Mosque (''Al-Masjid''), its baths (''Al-Hammam''), its cemetery (''Al-Maqbara'', in the outskirts of the city), its Halal butchery, its market or ''Assoc'' (''As-Suq'') and its bakery. The ''Aljama'' suffered a period of decadence throughout the late Middle Ages, leading to its progressive reduction in numbers and privileges, up to the forced conversions of the late medieval period, and finally its total expulsion from the city during the early modern period.


Valencia

In the 13th century, the Aragonese Christians conquered Valencia. Unlike in Aragon and in Catalonia, the Mudéjar population in Valencia outnumbered Christians in the area, amounting to two-thirds of the Valencian population in the late fourteenth century. In Valencia, the majority of communities were peasant, Arabic-speaking and Muslim. Not long after the kingdom of Valencia had been conquered, the Mudéjar rose in rebellion in the 1240s, then again in the 1250s, 1260s and 1270s with the support of Marinid and Granadan allies. Though not demonstratively a direct response to these revolts, the terrible anti-Muslim social riots of 1275-1276 originated in an atmosphere of heightened tension. The Mudéjar further defected to the Castilian during the war of the two Peters and revolted again in 1359 and 1364. Anti-Mudéjar riots took place again in 1309 and 1455, though the Mudéjar were under protection of the Crown. By 1450 the Mudéjar constituted only 30% of the Valencian population.


See also

*
Mozarabs The Mozarabs (from ), or more precisely Andalusi Christians, were the Christians of al-Andalus, or the territories of Iberia under Muslim rule from 711 to 1492. Following the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom in Hispania, the Christian ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Islam in Spain Moriscos Medieval ethnic groups of Europe