The examination of Granada’s transformation from a Muslim city into a Christian one brings to light three vital and interrelated themes in medieval and early modern Spanish history:
- The nature of Spanish imperial expansion: The creation of Christian Granada was a transitional episode in larger Spanish expansion both within the Iberian Peninsula and overseas. It served as a long-delayed final step in the Christian “reconquest” of Spain while preceding Christopher Columbus’s first voyage by only eight months.
- The fate of Christian Spain’s religious minorities: The process in Granada mirrored the broader decline of convivencia (coexistence) in Spain. The city’s history included critical innovations in crown policy toward minorities, such as the first instance of requiring a group of Muslim subjects (mudéjares) to convert or leave in 1500, and later, the 1569 policy of expelling a baptized Christian ethnic minority (moriscos).
- The growth in institutional strength of the Spanish church: This theme highlights the development of the church during the era of the Catholic Reformation. Despite being a peripheral frontier zone, Granada produced a remarkable list of broadly influential religious reformers and reform movements that helped transform Roman Catholicism worldwide.
“Creating Christian Granada” by David Coleman examines the complex historical process of transforming Granada from a Muslim city into a Christian one following its conquest in 1492. Rather than a single event, this transformation was a gradual and often contested century-long evolution involving social, political, and religious shifts.
Key Themes and Social Dynamics
The book explores three vital, interrelated themes in Spanish history:
- Spanish Imperial Expansion: The creation of Christian Granada served as a transitional episode between the medieval “reconquest” of the Iberian Peninsula and the overseas expansion that began with Columbus later that same year.
- Fate of Religious Minorities: The city’s history mirrored the decline of convivencia (coexistence), documenting innovations in crown policy toward religious minorities, including forced conversions and eventual expulsions.
- Institutional Growth of the Church: Despite being a peripheral “frontier” zone, Granada became a major center for influential religious reformers and movements that would transform Roman Catholicism worldwide.
A Frontier Society (1492–1570)
Coleman characterizes post-conquest Granada as a dynamic “frontier society” defined by several factors:
- Immigrant Influx: Tens of thousands of Christian immigrants, including soldiers, royal bureaucrats, and merchants, moved to the city seeking economic and social advancement.
- Social Fluidity: Unlike more established northern Spanish cities, Granada’s social ranks were relatively fluid, offering opportunities for upward mobility to newly wealthy families, including judeoconversos (Jewish converts to Christianity).
- Ongoing Instability: The city remained a military and cultural frontier, characterized by constant fear of local morisco rebellions or potential Ottoman invasions.
The Indigenous Community: Mudéjares and Moriscos
The book nuances the traditional view of a monolithic, resistant morisco community:
- Emigration and Immersion: Many of the old Muslim elite emigrated shortly after the conquest, leaving room for a new “collaborator” elite to emerge and integrate into the Christian social order.
- Internal Variation: Coleman finds a wide range of experiences among moriscos, from those who genuinely embraced Christianity to those who secretly maintained Islamic traditions (crypto-Muslims).
- Persistent Conflict: Despite instances of peaceable daily interaction and mutual acculturation, official policies of cultural repression—such as banning traditional dress and the Arabic language—eventually fueled the Second Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–1571).
Creation of a Local Christian Religious Culture
In the absence of strong initial leadership from archbishops or the cathedral chapter, Granada’s religious culture was largely shaped by lay initiatives:
- Popularity of Regular Orders: Lay immigrants favored the mendicant friars, particularly Franciscans, who participated actively in community life and public rituals.
- Confraternities and Traditions: Lay religious brotherhoods (confraternities) invented new traditions, such as the devotion to the Virgin of Angustias, which became a central civic symbol.
- Influential Reformers: The city produced significant figures like Juan de Dios, founder of the Brothers Hospitallers, and Juan de Avila, whose ideas on moral formation deeply influenced the Council of Trent and the Jesuit educational model.
The Closing of the Frontier (1571–1600)
Following the brutal suppression of the second rebellion and the subsequent expulsion of most of the city’s morisco population, Granada’s character changed:
- Economic and Social Stagnation: The loss of the morisco population led to economic collapse, particularly in the vital silk industry, and local society became more rigid and exclusionary.
- Tridentine Orthodoxy: The later years of the century saw the imposition of more authoritarian ecclesiastical control under archbishops like Pedro Guerrero.
- The Sacromonte Discoveries: The century concluded with the “discovery” of forged relics and lead books on the Sacromonte, which served to create a new, exalted (though fictional) Christian past for the city.
The four most influential Christian officials who held positions on Granada’s original municipal council immediately following the conquest in 1492 were:
- Hernando de Talavera: The city’s first archbishop and former confessor to Queen Isabella.
- Iñigo López de Mendoza: The count of Tendilla and captain general of Granada.
- Hernando de Zafra: The royal secretary to the Catholic Monarchs.
- Andrés Calderón: The city’s corregidor (magistrate).
These four royal officials supplemented the twenty-one mudéjar (Muslim) voting members who initially comprised the council as established by the 1492 surrender treaty.
In “Creating Christian Granada,” Muslims and their descendants (moriscos) are depicted through various lenses, ranging from monolithic stereotypes of the era to a nuanced community with significant internal variation and complex relationships with the Christian conquerors.
Monolithic and Oppositional Depictions
Traditional and contemporary accounts often portrayed the Muslim community as a unified, resistant “solid bloc”.
- Uniform Hostility: Observers like the Jesuit Father Ruiz (1556) described them as being “as Muslim now as before they were baptized”. Venetian diplomat Andrea Navagero characterized them as “enemies of the Spaniards” who were “Christians only by means of force”.
- Secret Resistance: Local historians like Mármol Carvajal depicted the common folk as feigning humility while secretly indoctrinating each other in “the rites and ceremonies of the Mohammedan sect”.
- Security Threat: Authorities frequently viewed the urban morisco population as a potential “fifth column” that might support an Ottoman invasion or join rural rebellions.
A Nuanced and Diverse Community
The book challenges these monolithic views by uncovering a “startling degree of economic, political and religious variation” within the community.
- The “Collaborator Elite”: Some morisco families, such as the Hermes, Zegrí, and Granada Venegas (descendants of Nasrid royalty), successfully integrated into the Christian social and political order. They held voting positions on the municipal council and forged alliances through intermarriage with “Old Christian” elites.
- The “Middling” Traditionalists: Many moriscos sought to isolate themselves in neighborhoods like the Albaicín to preserve their culture, including the Arabic language, traditional dress, and bathhouse customs.
- Religiously Sincere Converts: While many maintained Islamic practices (crypto-Muslims), evidence from last wills suggests a significant portion was genuinely embracing Christianity, often including personal devotions to figures like the Virgin Mary.
Daily Interaction and Mutual Acculturation
Despite official patterns of persecution, the depiction includes peaceable daily life.
- Economic Integration: Moriscos were essential to the local economy, particularly in the vital silk industry and construction projects.
- Cultural Exchange: Christian immigrants adopted many local traditions. Immigrant women frequently used henna and wore the almalafa (traditional morisca dress), despite official bans.
- Architectural Legacy: The creation of Christian Granada was partially a morisco project, as local morisco architects and craftsmen built many of the city’s new parish churches in the mudéjar style, blending Christian and Islamic features.
Resistance and Conflict
The depiction also covers the community’s eventual breakdown into open rebellion.
- Gradual Marginalization: Over the century, moriscos were increasingly excluded from official power structures and faced cultural repression, including the banning of their language and music.
- Rebellion: Resentment toward these policies led some to open revolt, most notably the Second Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–1571).
- Expulsion: The century-long depiction ends with the human tragedy of the 1569–1570 expulsions, where thousands of morisco men were marched out of the city and their families were subsequently dispersed throughout Castile.
The examination of Granada’s transformation from a Muslim city into a Christian one brings to light three vital and interrelated themes in medieval and early modern Spanish history:
- The nature of Spanish imperial expansion: The creation of Christian Granada was a transitional episode in larger Spanish expansion both within the Iberian Peninsula and overseas. It served as a long-delayed final step in the Christian “reconquest” while preceding Christopher Columbus’s first voyage by only eight months.
- The fate of Christian Spain’s religious minorities: The city’s history mirrored the broader decline of convivencia (coexistence) in Spain. It included critical innovations in crown policy toward minorities, such as the first instance of requiring a group of Muslim subjects (mudéjares) to convert or leave in 1500, and the later 1569 policy of expelling a baptized Christian ethnic minority (moriscos).
- The growth in institutional strength of the Spanish church: Despite being a peripheral frontier zone, Granada produced a remarkable list of broadly influential religious reformers and movements that helped transform Roman Catholicism worldwide during the era of the Catholic Reformation.
“Creating Christian Granada” by David Coleman explores the century-long transformation of Granada from a Muslim city into a Christian one following its 1492 conquest. The book is organized into an introduction and eight chapters that analyze this historical process across social, political, and religious dimensions.
Introduction: A Conquered City
- The Transformation Process: Granada’s transformation into a Christian city was a gradual, century-long historical process rather than a single event.
- Three Vital Themes: Coleman frames the study around three themes: the nature of Spanish imperial expansion, the fate of religious minorities, and the growth of the Spanish church during the Catholic Reformation.
- A Frontier Society: The city is defined as a “frontier” in military, cultural, and social terms, serving as a transitional space between medieval “reconquest” and global expansion.
Chapter 1: A Frontier Society
- The Immigrant Experience: Tens of thousands of Christian immigrants, including soldiers, bureaucrats, and merchants, moved to Granada seeking social and economic advancement.
- Immigration Waves: Settlement occurred in two stages: a restricted first wave (1492–1499) composed mainly of soldiers and bureaucrats, and a larger, continuous second wave starting in 1500 after Muslim protections were lifted.
- Diverse Demographic: Unlike early American colonies, Granada’s immigrant community included roughly equal numbers of men and women, as well as a large population of judeoconversos (converts from Judaism).
Chapter 2: Mudéjares and Moriscos
- Internal Variation: Coleman challenges the view of a monolithic, resistant morisco community, highlighting a “collaborator elite” that integrated into the Christian social order.
- Impact of Emigration: The initial emigration of the traditional Muslim ruling class between 1492 and 1494 created a power vacuum, allowing new opportunistic leaders to emerge.
- Fluid Identities: The community existed on a continuum between collaboration and resistance, with many moriscos genuinely embracing Christianity while others remained crypto-Muslims.
Chapter 3: A Divided City, A Shared City
- Failed Segregation: Despite a 1498 accord to segregate Muslims into the Albaicín district, ethnic boundaries remained permeable, with both groups living and working in close proximity.
- Mutual Acculturation: Daily interaction led to cultural exchange, such as Christian immigrant women adopting traditional morisca dress (almalafa) and henna.
- Shared Infrastructure: The physical creation of Christian Granada was partially a morisco project, as local craftsmen built new parish churches in the mudéjar style.
Chapter 4: The Emergence of a New Order
- Institutional Framework: Granada was a royal city where the crown theoretically held absolute authority, yet practical power was diffuse among the municipal council, the Royal Chancery, and the Captaincy General.
- Church Leadership: The early church was dominated by its first archbishop, Hernando de Talavera, but later faced four decades of ineffective, nonresident leadership before Archbishop Pedro Guerrero’s arrival in 1546.
- Open Oligarchy: Unlike more rigid northern Spanish cities, Granada’s municipal elite remained fluid and open to penetration by socially mobile immigrant families and even some elite moriscos.
Chapter 5: Creating Christian Granada (1492–1550)
- Lay Initiative: In the absence of strong episcopal leadership, Granada’s religious traditions were largely shaped by the immigrant laity rather than the high clergy.
- Popularity of Friars: Immigrants favored the active, public role of mendicant orders (particularly Franciscans) over the more secluded parish clergy.
- Invention of Devotions: Lay religious brotherhoods (confraternities) created enduring civic symbols, such as the devotion to the Virgin of Angustias, which gained community-wide popularity through reported miracles.
Chapter 6: Defining Reform (1526–1546)
- Royal Chapel Congregation (1526): Emperor Charles V attempted to resolve the “morisco problem” through mandates targeting cultural practices, though implementation was suspended for forty years in exchange for a bribe.
- Archbishop Gaspar de Avalos: Avalos attempted top-down reforms and aggressive repression of morisco culture, but his authoritarian style alienated local secular and ecclesiastical powers.
- Influential Reformers: The chapter highlights Juan de Dios, founder of the Brothers Hospitallers, and Juan de Avila, whose “sacerdotal school” and educational models deeply influenced the Society of Jesus and broader Catholic reform.
Chapter 7: Negotiating Reform (1546–1563)
- Archbishop Pedro Guerrero: Guerrero’s thirty-year tenure was marked by active leadership and participation in the Council of Trent, where he was a leading voice for institutional reform.
- Jesuits in Granada: Established in 1554, the Jesuits became a local sensation through dramatic urban missionary campaigns and the creation of schools for morisco boys.
- Granada’s Global Influence: Local concerns—such as the training of priests and episcopal authority over regular orders—were channeled through Guerrero and Juan de Avila to directly shape Tridentine reform decrees churchwide.
Chapter 8: Rebellion, Retrenchment, and the Road to the Sacromonte (1564–1600)
- Breakdown into Conflict: Renewed cultural repression and economic pressures sparked the Second Rebellion of the Alpujarras (1568–1571), leading to the forced expulsion of the city’s moriscos.
- Closing of the Frontier: Post-1571 Granada saw economic collapse and a more rigid, exclusionary social order as its “frontier” character faded.
- Sacromonte Discoveries: The century concluded with the “discovery” of forged lead books and relics on the Sacromonte, a hoax that nevertheless provided the city with a newly invented, heroic Christian past.