Parallel Histories: Muslims and Jews in Inquisitorial Spain

4. “Christians in Appearance but Muslims Underneath”

34 chapter 4 “CHRISTIANS IN APPEARANCE BUT MUSLIMS UNDERNEATH” C rypto-Islam is arguably the most closely studied, as well as controversial, theme in historical writing on the moriscos.1 Curiously , until recently most speculation on this subject has echoed the two extreme positions of early modern commentators, which asserted that virtually all moriscos were either crypto-Muslims or (less frequently) sincere Christians. Historians today tend to prefer less schematic interpretations and allow room for more mixed experiences. That said, it is clearly harder to study assimilation than nonconformity, as the main sources for morisco history—the trials of crypto-Muslims by the Inquisition—are heavily biased in favor of the latter option. It is true that one can find statements from the sixteenth century itself that take for granted morisco absorption of Catholicism. One example can be found in a 1548 description of Granada by the royal geographer Pedro de Medina, who affirmed that although at first some of these new converts were not so upright or attached to the holy doctrine of our faith, as it was something very new to them and which they had abhorred before, but with the passage of time they became very obedient to the holy commandments . . . after overcoming the bad taste in their mouths (mal resabio) from before, now they are good Christians.2 “Christians in Appearance but Muslims Underneath” 35 Still, the vast majority of contemporary comments about moriscos took for granted that their allegiance to Catholicism was lukewarm at best. More nuanced assessment of the religious beliefs and practices of moriscos raises two crucial issues: first, the extent to which members of the group retained their loyalty to Islam (or to ask the question from the Christian point of view, what proportion of the moriscos apostasized), and, second, the contents of their spirituality (or from the Muslim point of view, what sort of Islam did they practice, and why). As for the extent of allegiance to Islam, the general feeling among Old Christians was that most moriscos remained true followers of their former faith. Luis de Mármol, who had lived as a captive some seven years in Muslim lands, and who felt he knew them better than most, had no doubts on this score. They were hard workers and showed impressive charity among themselves, he wrote. However, as Christians they were heretics, who “pay more attention to the rites and ceremonies of the sect of Muhammad than to the precepts of the Catholic Church.”3 It is not difficult to find instances of moriscos themselves confirming these suspicions. When questioned by the Cuenca Inquisition, one Francisco Ramírez admitted “he had the tongue of a Christian and the heart of a Muslim.”4 According to Ahmad ibn-Qasim Al-Hajari, a Granadan morisco who recorded his escape to North Africa and later career as a diplomat and traveler in a fascinating autobiographical text, the moriscos served two religions: “the religion of the Christians openly and that of the Muslims in secret.”5 In fact, morisco hypocrisy was taken so much for granted that performing all the ritual gestures of Catholicism could be written off as deliberate dissimulation. Such was the fate of the unfortunate morisca whom the Inquisition charged with “taking part in confession and communion only to comply on the outside and to cover up her apostasy by appearing to be a Christian”!6 The reasons for the moriscos’ refusal to accept a new religion which most of them had not freely chosen are not hard to divine. As noted above, the relative isolation of the New Christian communities and their physical separation from Old Christians permitted substantial autonomy in terms of external religious behavior. Furthermore, many moriscos, especially in the eastern parts of the peninsula, received effective protection from aristocratic patrons who had no interest in the Inquisition’s or anyone else’s interfering with their labor force. One such figure, Don Sancho de Cardona, defended 36 Parallel Histories his subjects so successfully that he himself wound up being tried by the Holy Office in 1569. Prosecution testimony revealed that he had gone so far as to counsel his vassals “that on the outside they should fake Christianity, and on the inside be Muslims.”7 With such advice at hand, it was no wonder that most moriscos were regarded as half-hearted at best in their commitment to their new religion. As far as observance...