and the women were enslaved, while at Nijar and Guejar the whole population was enslaved, except children under eleven, who, however, were delivered to good Christians to be brought up in the faith-energetic proceedings which, we are told, led to the baptism of ten thousand Moors of Seron, Tijola and other places.1

The risings appeared to be suppressed and, January 14, 1501, the army was disbanded, but the example made at Belfique and Guejar produced an opposite effect on the numerous population of the district of Ronda and the Sierra Bermeja, who feared that they would be subjected to enforced conversion and who were irritated by raids and ravages made upon them by Christians—a standing grievance which frequently nullified the best intentioned efforts of pacification. They rose and committed reprisals and it was necessary to summon the levies of all Andalusia. Ferdinand issued a proclamation that all who would not be converted must leave the kingdom within ten days, and care was enjoined that converts should be well treated and that emigrants should be protected from harm. The rebels of the Sierra Bermeja, however, refused to surrender and on February 23d the army left Ronda under Alonso de Aguilar, elder brother of Gonzalo de Cordova and one of the most distinguished captains of Spain. The Moors had fortified themselves in an almost inaccessible position at Calalui; on March 16th, the undisciplined troops, eager for pillage, straggled to the attack without orders; they were beaten back, and were followed by the Moors till Aguilar advanced and drove them back, when the soldiers again fell to plundering. On seeing this the Moors

1 Zurita-Galindez de Carvajal-Marmol Carvajal-Bernaldez, ubi

sup.

returned to the attack, when the pillagers fled leaving Aguilar with a handful of men at nightfall to be surrounded and slain after a desperate resistance. The catastrophe made an immense sensation throughout Spain. Ferdinand hastened from Granada with all the chivalry of his court, intending to push the war vigorously, but on recognizing the cowardice of his army and the impregnable fastnesses of the mountains he saw the impossibility of accomplishing anything by force of arms, while Isabella, with feminine vehemence, declared that the Moors must all be driven out in a single day. While thus the Christians paused irresolute and uncertain, the Moors opened negotiations, asking to be allowed to expatriate themselves. Ferdinand admitted that it would be a greater service to God and to himself that they should remain Moors in Africa rather than be such Christians as they were in Spain, but he made a shrewd bargain that all might go who could pay ten doblas for the passage, while the rest, who constituted the majority, should stay and be baptized. Guards were furnished to accompany to the port of Estrepona those who desired to embark on these terms, by the middle of April, the insurgents of the Sierra de Ronda surrendered; those of the Sierra Bermeja and other places waited to learn whether the first emigrants were safely landed in Barbary and on being assured of this they too came in. The conversos of the lowlands who had taken to the sierras were allowed to return home, surrendering their arms, and forfeiting their property, while their persons were to be at the mercy of the king, their lives being spared. Thus this dangerous rebellion, caused by the intemperate zeal of Ximenes, was finally quelled. Large numbers of the Moors crossed the

;

sea, both under the agreement and surreptitiously, but they left multitudes behind to brood over their wrongs and to detest the faith which they had been compelled to profess. As though moreover to preserve a nucleus of irritation and disaffection in the land the sternest edicts were issued prohibiting the emigration of all new converts; those attempting it were to be seized and delivered to the Inquisition, and all shipmasters receiving such passengers suffered excommunication and confiscation.2 Baptism had incorporated them in the Church and they should not escape from its jurisdiction.

To stimulate conversion in the Alpujarras, Ferdinand had issued a royal cedula, July 30, 1500, promising that all conversos should be relieved of the special taxes imposed on Moors, both as regards persons and property and should thereafter be subject to the tithes and alcavala (a tax on sales) like other Christians. They were in all respects to be equal before the laws with Christians and their suits were to be equitably dispatched by the ordinary judges. It was sound policy thus to assimilate them with the Christian population but there was too lively a recognition of the wrongs inflicted to render possible the performance of these promises, for the converts could never be regarded without suspicion. September 1, an edict forbade them to bear or possess arms, publicly or secretly, under penalty for a first offence of confiscation

3

1501,

1 Zurita-Marmol Carvajal, ubi sup.-Bleda, Crónica, pp. 633-9. 2 Edicts to this effect were issued Nov. 8, 1499, Jan. 15, 1502 and Sep. 15, 1519.-MSS. of Royal Library of Copenhagen, 2186, p. 306.

3 Clemencin, op. cit. p. 603. The children of those who were slain or captured at Lanjaron and Andarax were further promised the property, real and personal, of their slain or captive parents as a reward for conversion.

and two months of prison, and of death for a second-an edict which was repeated in 1511 and again in 1515.1 In an age of violence, when the power of self-protection was essential to every man, disarmament was one of the most cruel and humiliating of inflictions, but, as we shall see, this was but the first of a long series of such measures, for wrong could only maintain itself by injustice.

To Isabella is generally assigned the credit of the next step toward securing unity of faith under her Castilian crown. To be sure, not much confidence could be reposed in the sincerity of those who were converted in such arbitrary fashion, but it was argued that baptism gave them at least a chance of salvation and if they did not avail themselves of it the responsibility was theirs; moreover, if the parents were not even passably good Christians, the next generation, reared under the kindly influence of the Church, would surely be better; the kingdom of God would be advanced by the destruction of that of Mahomet and the earthly kingdom would have its peace secured by community of faith. Such arguments could be powerfully urged by the religious advisers who surrounded Isabella and it is not likely that Ximenes, who enjoyed her fullest confidence, would hesitate to complete the work which he had so auspiciously commenced in Granada. Strong, indeed, must have been the influences which could blind her to the infamy of her course. The enforced conversion of Granada had been, so to speak, accidental in its inception and a war measure in its development among those who were still restless and turbulent, chafing under

1 Nueva Recopilación, Lib. VIII. Tit. ii. ley 8.

a new domination; moreover free choice was offered to the mountaineers between conversion and expatriation and all who rejected baptism were allowed to depart provided they could defray the expenses. In the older Castilian kingdoms, however, the Mudejares were peaceful and contented subjects, contributing to the prosperity of the State under compacts centuries old which secured them in the enjoyment of their religion and laws. Deliberately to violate those compacts, to compel a change of religion with scarce a colorable pretext of alternative, was so gross an infraction of all divine and human law that even the dialectics of scholastic theology might well seem incapable of framing a justification, while the conversion of loyal and contented subjects into restless and plotting conspirators, causing sleepless anxiety to generations of statesmen, would appear to be an act of simple insanity.

Yet Isabella, in her misguided zeal, was capable of the wrong and the folly. A preliminary pragmatica of July 20, 1501, forbidding all Moors to enter the kingdom of Granada, in order to preserve the new converts from the infection of intercourse with the unconverted, shows the line of reasoning which had been adopted to work upon her conscience. It was impossible of enforcement, for the business of transportation was in the hands of the Mudéjares and the needs of Granada for supplies of wheat from its neighbors were imperative, to say nothing of the multifarious necessities of commerce. A more radical measure was requisite and, after due deliberation, on February 12, 1502, was issued the pragmatica which had such far-reaching results, beyond the possible conceptions of the short-sighted bigotry which dictated it. If Moors could not be kept out of Granada there should be no