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chapter six Justifying the Expulsion Ribera and Philip III In the decade after the accession of Philip III (r. 1598–1621), a host of clerics and laymen renewed the debate over the morisco question. The famous arbitrista Martín González de Cellorigo, a lawyer in the employ of the Inquisition and the chancellery of Valladolid, criticized the prospect of expulsion as contrary to “the mercy that Your Majesty demonstrates toward all.” He attributed the continued apostasy of the New Christians to the imperfect implementation of the projects drafted by Charles V.1 Feliciano de Figueroa, Ribera’s former secretary who became bishop of Segorbe, addressed “the difference of opinions that exists among prelates in this instruction” and placed himself firmly on the side of continued attempts at conversion and assimilation .2 In 1606 the humanist Pedro de Valencia based his argument against expulsion on the inherent human dignity of the moriscos, calling for the dispersion and permixti ón of the moriscos through intermarriage with Old Christians.3 On the other side of the equation, the Dominican theologian Jaime Bleda (d. 1624) devoted every last ounce of his energy toward promoting the expulsion of the moriscos. Bleda had served as priest to the morisco parish of Corbera in 1585, an experience that evidently awakened him to the moriscos’ “contempt and profanation” of the Eucharist.4 Between 1591 and 1608, Bleda traveled to Rome to make the case for expulsion before three popes, and in 1604 he personally presented Philip III with the manuscript of his Defensio Fidei, a juridical tract arguing for the apostasy of the moriscos and the legitimacy of expulsion.5 In a grey area between these positions lay the morisco seigneurs, who rehashed their traditional pleas for catechism by the gentlest possible methods in the Valencian Cortes of 1604. Unlike Pedro de Valencia and other proponents of assimilation, however, the nobles’ main objectives were to delay any form of outside interference and to perpetuate the de facto coexistence of their largely Muslim vassals. The policy debate among advisers and the seigneurial response reflected the spectrum of opinion concerning the nature of the moriscos and the possibilities of pluralist Spain. Ribera contributed to the expulsion of the moriscos as an advocate, an adviser, and an apologist. In the years between 1598 and his death, he wrote many detailed letters to the Court, and in December 1608 he directed a final panel of theologians convened in Valencia as an advisory body to the king. The archbishop developed a series of arguments, economic, religious, historical, and racial, to depict the moriscos as a diaspora community of the dreaded Moors living in the heart of Spain. This vision stands in contrast to the multifaceted image of the moriscos arising from the inquisitorial records, criminal trials, and viceregal correspondence from the latter decades of Ribera’s tenure. Between a morisco minority who chose assimilation and the roving bandits who preyed upon Old and New Christians alike, a solid majority of moriscos struggled to preserve their Islamic way of life despite an increasingly hostile relationship with the Inquisition. This range of religious experience was swept aside in the collective vision of the moriscos that Ribera presented to Philip III, based as it was on the dual pillars of heresy and treason. The archbishop’s position, which arose from his desire to pursue the interests of his diocese, ultimately coincided with the evolving domestic and foreign policy of the king, leading to a resolution of the disagreement that divided Ribera and Philip II. When Philip III finally ordered the expulsion of the moriscos in September 1609, Ribera offered his complete cooperation, advising the king on difficult issues such as the fate of the morisco children. In his final year and a half of life, Ribera dedicated himself to the process of justifying and celebrating the expulsion , so as to rally Old Christians beset with fears for their economic well-being. Ribera’s staunch support of the expulsion of the moriscos has led to his classification as an apostle of the Counter-Reformation, using this term to connote intransigence and intolerance. Yet an examination of the context and evolution of Ribera’s ideas reveals that his advocacy represented more than just a straightforward desire for a political solution to the morisco problem. advocating the expulsion: 1602 – 1609 In the years after 1598, Ribera and the new king entered an uncertain period in which they sounded out each other’s position on the...

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