Between Christians and Moriscos: Juan de Ribera and Religious Reform in Valencia, 1568-1614

The title of Benjamin Ehlers's book illustrates the power of a preposition. Between Christians and Moriscos investigates the episcopate of Juan de Ribera, the Archbishop of Valencia from 1569 to 1611. Ribera was pulled between the Old Christians and Moriscos in his diocese, eventually choosing only to reform one. Although baptized as Christians, the Moriscos lost and were eventually expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1609–14.

The book brings together two topics of history: Catholic Reformation studies and scholarship on Spanish Islam. The histories combine to provide a clearer perspective on Ribera's accomplishments and failures. Chapter 1 emphasizes the divided flock. Much separated Moriscos from Old Christians. Old Christians solemnly paraded through the streets of Valencia and yet the city still had to enforce hat doffing from disrespectful Moriscos. Moriscos fasted at Ramadan, circumcised their sons, and buried their dead facing Mecca. Ribera easily saw two flocks. Ehlers explores what the archbishop did about these divisions and why.

Ribera was an outsider in Valencia, as chapter 2 demonstrates. Ribera arrived when he was thirty-six years old and remained until his death at seventy-eight. He became a successful reforming bishop identifying with the Old Christian Valencianos, but even they resisted reforms, especially when he challenged local customs. The controversial 1570 pasquinades taught Ribera that the University of Valencia and the urban oligarchy, like the Carroz, Mijavila, and Monzón families, had to be respected. Chapter 3 establishes the centrality of the Colegio de Corpus Christi, the diocesan seminary. It received funds from tithes, but Ribera also used 50,000 ducats of his own funds to support clerical training. The seminary succeeded: twelve bishops, two archbishops, and a cardinal came from his circle of pages and servants. Ribera reformed old institutions and created new ones that would strengthen Catholic belief and behavior.

After examining Ribera's growing loyalties, the three remaining chapters turn to the Moriscos. Ribera believed that the Morisco population abused his early trust. The problem was epitomized by the elderly Francisco Zenequi. He told the Inquisition that he did not "care how much the patriarch [Ribera] pressures me. I will not be a good Christian" (81). Ten years after the 1571 attempts at reform, the archbishop considered himself fooled by the Moriscos. He believed that they viewed him as a boçal (greenhorn) who was easily tricked into trusting their false promises of eventual conversion. By 1582 Ribera worked to prove that the Moriscos were false Christians and deserved expulsion. He did this by funding new parishes and training clergy to preach to the Moriscos in order to produce evidence of their recalcitrance. Were they really so defiant? Pedro Barcaco, for example, fasted at Ramadan and attended a Morisco wedding because neighbors did. Barcaco attached no religious significance to it. Later Barcaco learned that he should be a Christian and memorized his prayers. His village lacked a priest to teach him. Ehlers demonstrates that Ribera blamed the Moriscos for their unchristian behavior. However, I wonder about religious behavior and motivations of inner belief versus community custom. The Archbishop of Valencia wanted only to see villainy.

Ehlers writes that Ribera's actions toward the Moriscos from 1582 to 1609 were "characterized by a host of ironies and paradoxes" (107). Ribera perceived only obstinate Moriscos, not baptized Christians. He recorded substantial expenditures for the Morisco parishes. No one could question his finances. Ehlers reveals Ribera's attitude with words like disillusionment, subversion, disdain, discredit, doomed, pointless, and misguided. This is a sad history, showing that Ribera pursued projects designed to fail.

When Philip III succeeded to the throne in 1598, Ribera had another opportunity to champion the expulsion. He was convinced that Moriscos were "wizened trees, full of knots of heresy" (134). He would not look to any signs of shared culture. Ironically, his programs had hastened the Moriscos' evolution toward "similar eating habits, farming techniques and views on honor and justice" (137), but Philip III had Ribera's justifications for an expulsion. Others objected with clear logic and Christian mercy, but the reconquest story prevailed. Perhaps Ehlers is right that Ribera tried to bring the Moriscos into his fold. The tools may have been inadequate. I warn fellow readers that I ended up disheartened by Ribera's surrender, when as a Christian leader he could have retained more faith in his own God's understanding.

This excellent study presents the case of a reformer who made a very human choice. When "faced with ambiguity, Ribera divided his flock in search for clarity" (xiv). He wanted an exclusively Old Christian flock. In 1960 Ribera was canonized. We may hope for better from our Christian saints, but Ribera found his certainty, strengthened the majority, and helped to expel 85,000 parishioners from his archdioceses — a merciless conclusion supremely desired by the Archbishop of Valencia and future saint, Juan de Ribera.