Parallel Histories: Muslims and Jews in Inquisitorial Spain

Preface

ix PREFACE D iscussing the history of Judaism and Islam in a society that according to the letter of the law lacked Jews and Muslims may seem to be a task better suited to Don Quixote than to the presentday historian. As a challenge it presents both problems and opportunities. The problems, as will be seen, regard basic historical information, thanks to the secrecy which shrouded the lives of Muslims, Jews, and their descendants throughout the early modern era. But there are opportunities as well. Focusing on minorities exposes much that otherwise fails to see the light of day. It brings into view much of the raw and all-too-revealing underside of Spanish society, where reality ran roughshod over legislation, and where ideology did not always trump pragmatism. Above all, it lets the historian explore one of the most striking ways in which the history of Iberia differed from that of its neighbors. No other country in early modern Europe could match Spain in the intensity with which Christianity confronted the Jewish and Muslim faiths. And in no other country did this confrontation leave behind such deep traces of coexistence as well as conflict. The relevance of this story for the history of Spain and, indeed, of Europe as a whole needs no justification. However, a word should be said about how this text came into being and why it takes the shape that it does. In regard to the former, the reader deserves to know that the author is not a specialist in either Jewish or Islamic history. Rather, I would define myself as a general x Preface historian who is drawn to this theme not only by personal interest but also by recognition of its importance to understanding a distant past that has more than a few links to a difficult present. I do not know Hebrew or Arabic, and I readily confess to hoping that what I lack in expertise can be made up somewhat in other ways. Above all, I trust that something of interest can be said regarding this dual past by a detached if sympathetic observer who looks from outside upon two largely separate historiographies that often seem to be excessively given to sectarian polemics and, what is more, live largely with their backs to each other. These were the very reasons why I decided several years ago to teach a course at my university—the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid—titled “Jewish and Muslim Converts in Early Modern Spain.” I was impressed by how much interest it stirred among our students, as well as by—they were the first to admit it—how little they knew about a subject that nevertheless struck them as highly relevant to a wide range of present-day issues. I daresay that some of these students would be amused to find their former teacher confessing to being in the same position they were in. There may be more justice in the writing of history than we find in history itself. As for this book’s structure: it is a synthesis divided into two sections. The main text reviews the history first of the moriscos and then of the judeoconversos, and it closes with some brief reflections on how what I call these two parallel histories both differed from and resembled each other. Then follows a thematic bibliography. One particular feature of this book is that it devotes substantially more space to the history of the Jewish converts than to their Islamic counterparts. Two factors led to this imbalance. The first is the relative length of the two histories. The forced conversion of the Jews not only started a century before that of the Muslims; it also finished at least a century later. This longer historical trajectory affected the other factor in play: the fact that, for various reasons, there are far more extensive sources documenting the judeoconverso experience than the morisco one. I would by no means say that this longer time span and more varied documentation made for a more complex history. But they certainly contributed to a historical outcome whose twists and turns can be viewed from more diverse angles, as I trust will become apparent. I close this brief note expressing my gratitude to the many persons who helped make this book possible. I am deeply in debt to a number of spe- Preface xi cialists in these two fields who generously...