Il labirinto

La rivolta dei Moriscos sotto Filippo II

The Revolt of the Moriscos was one of the first real challenges to Philip's authority that he had to deal with within Spain. The Moriscos were converted Moors who held no important state positions in Spain. 

The Moriscos communities in Spain had not been integrated and they remained closely associated with the Turks which lead to suspicions over their loyalty. In 1568 there was an outbreak of strife in Andalusia (the Cadiz and Malaga area) which was symbolic of the bitter relationships between the Moricos and the Christians in southern Spain. In simple terms, the Spanish did not trust the Moriscos and doubted that they were loyal to Madrid. The 1568 rebellion was known as the Rebellion of Alpujarras. The Moriscos had long term grievances but it was short-term ones that sparked off the revolt.

There had been a revolt in 1499 but from 1500 to 1550 an uneasy truce existed. In 1508 the Moriscos had been forbidden to wear their traditional costumes and their ancient customs were banned.

However, these laws were on paper only and were not enforced. The Moriscos did preserve links with Islam in that they spoke Arabic and preserved Arabic culture and this failure to become ‘Spanish’ offended many in Madrid and elsewhere in Spain. Spanish Christians claimed that the Moriscos were sexually promiscuous and that they maintained family vendettas. This all fuelled suspicion and a number of Moriscan communities were forced to live in mountainous regions to exclude them from Spanish life.

From 1500 to 1550, civil and ecclesiastical authorities were at odds with each other on what action to take and combined action failed to materialise. This allowed the Moriscans time to develop a new balance of power.

The area in question where this took place was governed by the Count of Tendilla from the Mondejar branch of the Mendoza family. To maintain their position the Moriscans developed a "special relationship" with Tendilla. The position of the Moriscans came to be closely dependent on the ability of the Mondejar’s to maintain their position at court against increasing intrigue against them.

From 1540 to 1550, the position of the Mondejar family was severely undermined and this increasingly affected the Moriscans position. It also coincided with a chronic economic and religious crisis.

The Moriscans depended on silk for their trade. In the 1550’s the export of woven silk was banned and in 1561 a huge tax was put on Granadan silk. This severely hit the Moriscans. Also at this time the Inquisition was very active especially in investigating the ownership of land in Granada. The Inquisition confiscated much land owned by the Moriscans despite the pleas of Tendilla who needed the tax paid by the Moriscans on the land they owned to pay for his own troops.

Combined with these, the Catholic Church went on the offensive. It cured its own problems of absenteeism and poor work done by the clergy and the appointment of a new Archbishop of Granada (Pedro Guerrero) lead to a more forceful campaign by the Church to fully convert the Moriscans to Christianity.

In November 1566, a reform of Moriscan habits were agreed to.

In January 1567 the reforms were published. They were only an attempt to enforce earlier decrees so they were not novel. 1) Arabic was forbidden 2) Traditional Arabic dress was forbidden 3) the Moriscans were to "abandon their traditional habits" (this was a reference to their supposed sexual habits). The Moriscans sent a deputation to Madrid to plead for the reforms not to be introduced but Pedro de Deza was put in charge of enforcing them. It was this attempt to introduce these reforms that sparked off the revolt.

Why were the reforms introduced?

Nobody had bothered to do so for the previous 50 years so why now?

The answer involved 3 people.

A successful enforcement would greatly enhance the prestige of de Deza at court. It would also give him an advantage over the Mendoza family. The Deza and Mendoza families had been fighting out an age-old family feud and Deza did all he could to embarrass someone (Tendilla) who was known to be lenient towards the Moriscans.

The President of the Council of Castille was Cardinal Espinosa. He was a classic orthodox Catholic and he disliked Tendilla’s leniency towards the Moriscans. He was also concerned that the region was experiencing an administrative breakdown which might result in social unrest. His solution was simple - remove Tendilla and put the region under the control of the President of the Audiencia who happened to be de Deza. This would ensure stability Espinosa claimed and at this time Philip II was very much under the influence of Espinosa.

Philip himself needed stability in Granada because of the threat of the Turks. In 1565, three Moriscan spies had confessed that there was a plan for the Moriscans to seize the Granadan coast as the Turks attacked Malta. Logic dictated that the Turks would then concentrate an attack on Spain aided by the Moriscans who held Granada. This all confirmed the fears of Philip II and to prevent even the merest chance of this happening, Philip agreed to the enforcement of the reforms.

This enforcement caused a revolt by the Moriscans. It broke out in 1568 and confirmed to Philip that the Moriscos could not be trusted and that Islam was about to attack Spain using the revolt to aid them. The terrain proved very difficult for a military campaign but Tendilla, using his local troops, fought some brilliant campaigns. Fearing that he would be too successful and that his power base would expand, Philip II replaced him with his own half-brother called Don John of Austria. He, however, had to wait for his men to arrive from all over Spain. This gave the Moriscos time to organise themselves and it took him until 1570 to put down the revolt.

Philip II needed a solution to the problem and he decided that he would disperse the Moriscos throughout Castille in small isolated villages and he then replaced them with 50,000 Spaniards. However, between 60,000 and 150,000 Moriscos continued to live in Granada and all this ‘solution’ did was spread throughout Castille some very angry people who in their own minds had done nothing wrong and had been punished for no reason at all.

This had a knock-on effect economically in that the Moriscos had always been advanced in their approach to work and they now had little time for Madrid and Spain’s economy was affected accordingly. They had no incentive to work hard for the country and combined with Spain’s poor economic standing further pushed down Spain’s financial and economic standing.

Moriscos

Musulmani arabi rimasti in Spagna dopo la caduta del loro ultimo baluardo, Granada, nel 1492. Nel 1502 un decreto regio impose loro la conversione al cattolicesimo o l'esilio. Il decreto causò numerose rivolte sino alla loro completa espulsione avvenuta tra il 1609 e il 1614.

Il mago di S.Tobia

Nel campionario di svitati di S.Tobia mancava un cultore di arti magiche,cartomanzia e chiromanzia.
Beh,vi comunico che Isaia Martellacci ha provveduto a colmare questa grave lacuna,per la gioia dei nostri paesani.
Dato che in Burundi si annoiava, ha frequentato una scuola di cartomanzia online e,conseguito il diploma,è tornato al suo paesello ed ha cominciato a esercitare nel retrobottega del laboratorio del negozio di Geremia.In men che non si dica,si è ritrovato pieno di clienti.
Nulla da eccepire se non fosse che si è rivelato un emerito incapace ed ha combinato un sacco di pasticci,come vedrete.
LUNEDI'- Isaia ha letto le carte alla Strascicotti e le ha detto che Anatolio l'avrebbe lasciato per una donna grassa e bruna.
Tornata a casa la Marianastasia ha beccato lo Sgozzaloca che abbracciava una donna identica alla descrizione.
Furiosa,ha semiscotennato la cicciona prima che Anatolio riuscisse a spiegarle che quella altri non era che sua sorella,che da anni vive in Argentina.
MARTEDI'- Lo Scannacipolle ha uno zio milionario morto da poco.
Isaia gli ha predetto che gli avrebbe lasciato il suo cospicuo patrimonio.
Di cospicuo l'Eurimaco ha solo ereditato 120 milioni di euro di debiti e un vaso da notte bucherellato
MERCOLEDI'- Pippipù ha chiesto a Isaia un filtro che facesse smettere di bere il marito.
Risultato:B'erino è in prigione per il furto di un TIR carico di fiaschi di Chianti.
GIOVEDI'- Alfredino ha chiesto a Isaia un talismano attiraclienti.
Dopo un mese é sull'orlo del fallimento.
VENERDI'- Isaia ha venduto al barbiere Scipione Manunta una pozione anticalvi.
Risultato: i calvi del paese sono sempre calvi e il Manunta è stato dennuciato per truffa.
SABATO-Fatima Makimmazzameh è innamorata di Teseo Scozzagalli da tempo ed ha chiesto a Isaia un filtro d'amore.
Purtroppo per lei quel giorno Teseo ha portato a pranzo a casa Maciste Trappoloni,che si è bevuto il caffè destinato all'amico.
Risultato:per sfuggirgli,Fatima si è dovuta lanciare dal balcone ed è finita addosso a Ireneo.
DOMENICA- I paesani esasperati hanno preso d'assalto lo studio.Isaia si è salvato solo con una fuga precipitosa.
Sono passati dieci giorni.
Anatolio ha lasciato la Strascicotti.
La poveretta è di nuovo nella clinica Luminaris
Lo Scannacipolle ha cominciato a pagare i debiti dello zio buonanima:se va bene finisce per il 2056.
Be'erino è ai domiciliari e Pippipù è in Burundi.
Il Manunta e il Trombettoni hanno l'esaurimento nervoso.
Fatima vive barricata nel campanile.Sotto l'attendono pazienti Ireneo e Maciste,e non so chi dei due sia quello meglio.
Isaia è scomparso e nessuno ne sente la mancanza.
Il qui scrivente passa e chiude

Uriel Acosta

Costa was born in Porto with the name Gabriel da Costa. His parents were conversos, or New Christians, Christians who had converted from Judaism to Catholicism in order to avoid the civil persecutions of Jews. A member of a devoutly religious family, his father had been a Catholic priest who was well-versed in Canon law.^[2]

Costa also occupied an ecclesiastical office. While a student of canon law, he began to read the Bible and contemplate it seriously. He was aware that his family had Jewish origins, and in the course of his studies, he began to consider a return to Judaism. After his father died, he began to very carefully reveal his newfound sentiments to his family. Ultimately, in 1617, the whole family decided to return to Judaism; they fled Portugal for Amsterdam, which would soon become a thriving center of the Sephardic diaspora.

However, upon arriving in the Netherlands, Costa very quickly became disenchanted with the kind of Judaism he saw in practice there. He came to believe that the rabbinic leadership was too consumed by ritualism and legalistic posturing. In 1624 he published a book titled An Examination of the Traditions of the Pharisees which questioned the fundamental idea of the immortality of the soul. Costa believed that this was not an idea deeply rooted in biblical Judaism, but rather had been formulated primarily by rabbis. The work further pointed out the discrepancies between biblical Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism; he declared the latter to be an accumulation of mechanical ceremonies and practices. In his view, it was thoroughly devoid of spiritual and philosophical concepts.

The book became very controversial and was burned publicly. Costa was called before the rabbinic leadership of Amsterdam for uttering blasphemous views against Judaism and Christianity. He was fined a significant sum and excommunicated.

He ultimately fled Amsterdam for Hamburg, Germany (also a prominent Sephardic center), where he was ostracized from the local Jewish community. He did not understand German, which further compounded his difficulties. Left with no place to turn, in 1633 he returned to Amsterdam and sought a reconciliation with the community. He claimed that he would go back to being "an ape amongst the apes"; he would follow the traditions and practices, but with little real conviction.

However, he soon again began to express rationalistic and skeptical views; he expressed doubts whether biblical law was divinely sanctioned or whether it was simply written down by Moses. He came to the conclusion that all religion was a human invention. Ultimately he came to reject formalized, ritualized religion. In his view, religion was to be based only on natural law; God had no use for empty ceremony. In many ways his beliefs were Deistic; he believed that God resides in nature, which is full of peace and harmony, whereas organized religion is marked by violence and strife.

Eventually Costa encountered two Christians who expressed to him their desire to convert to Judaism. In accordance with his views, he dissuaded them from doing so. For the communal leadership of Amsterdam, this was the final straw. He was thus again excommunicated. For seven years he lived in virtual isolation, shunned by his family and loved ones. Ultimately, the loneliness was too much for him to handle, and he again returned to Holland and recanted.

As a punishment for his heretical views, he was publicly given 39 lashes at the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam. He was then forced to lie on the floor while the congregation trampled over him. This left him so demoralized and depressed that he became suicidal. After writing his autobiography, Exemplar Humanae Vitae (1640), in which he wrote about his experience as a victim of intolerance, he set out to end the lives of both his cousin and himself. Seeing his relative approach one day, he grabbed a pistol and pulled the trigger, but it misfired. Then he reached for another, turned it on himself, and fired, dying a reportedly terrible death.

I Marrani

Se da un lato i marrani rappresentano uno dei capitoli più crudeli e tristi del martirio ebraico sotto il dominio cristiano, essi sono nello stesso tempo uno dei fenomeni più affascinanti dell’inizio dell’età moderna. Il loro coraggio, ma anche la loro capacità di adattarsi e di salire alle più alte funzioni dello Stato nemico e della Chiesa che li aveva nullificati, la loro imponente attività economica in tutta l’Europa e nei nuovi territori spagnoli e portoghesi d’oltremare, l’originalità di alcuni pensatori, poeti e uomini di Stato hanno lasciato tracce inestinguibili nella storia europea e americana negli ultimi cinquecento anni (¹)».

Dell'infanticida Maria Farrar (Brecht) parte II

gni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Lasciate che lei seguiti a narrarvi
come finì la sua creatura,
(nessun particolare lei vuole celarvi)
così di ogni essere si vede la natura.
Appena giunta a letto un forte malessere
l'aveva pervasa, e, da sola,
senza sapere quello che succedesse
a stento si trattenne dal gridare.
E voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Con le ultime forze, lei dice, seguitando,
dato che la sua stanza era fredda da morire
al gabinetto s'era trascinata, e lì (quando
più non ricorda) partorì alla meglio
così verso il mattino. Lei dice ch'era tutta
sconvolta ormai e mezzo intirizzita
e il suo bambino lo reggeva a stento,
poiché nella latrina ci nevicava dentro.
Anche voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Fra la stanza e il gabinetto, prima, lei dice,
non avvenne proprio nulla, il bambino scoppiò in pianto
e questo l'urtò talmente, lei dice,
che con i pugni l'aveva picchiato tanto
alla cieca, di continuo, finché smise di piangere.
E poi s'era tenuta sempre il morto
vicino a sé, nel letto, per il resto della notte
e al mattino nel lavatoio l'aveva nascosto.
Anche voi, di grava, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Maria Farrar, nata in aprile,
defunta nelle carceri di Meissen,
ragazza madre, condannata, vuole
mostrare a tutti quanto siamo fragili.
Voi, che partorite comode in un letto
e il vostro grembo gravido chiamate «benedetto»,
contro i deboli e i reietti non scagliate l'anatema.
Fu grave il suo peccato, ma grande la sua pena.
Di grazia, quindi, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.

Dell'infanticida Maria Farrar (Brecht) parte I

Maria Farrar, nata in aprile, senza segni
particolari, minorenne, rachitica, orfana,
a sentir lei incensurata, stando alla cronaca,
ha ucciso un bambino nel modo che segue:
afferma che, incinta di due mesi,
nella cantina di una donna ha tentato
di abortire con due iniezioni
dolorose, dice lei, ma senza risultato.
Ma voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Tuttavia, lei dice, il prezzo stabilito
lo ha pagato subito, si è legata stretta,
ha bevuto la polvere di pepe nello spirito
ma quello d'una purga, non altro fu l'effetto.
Le si gonfiava il ventre a vista d'occhio, allora
lavando le stoviglie aveva assai sofferto.
Lei stessa, così dice, era cresciuta ancora.
Molto aveva sperato pregando la Madonna.
Anche voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
Ma, così pareva, era inutile pregare.
Si pretendeva troppo. E quando fu più grossa,
le venne il capogiro durante il mattutino. Sudò più d'una volta
ed anche per l'angoscia, ai piedi dell'altare.
Ma lei tenne segreta la sua condizione
fino a quando la colsero le doglie del parto.
Ci era riuscita: nessuno credeva che fosse
caduta in tentazione, lei così sgraziata.
E voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
In questo giorno, dice, alla mattina presto
sente una fitta, lavando le scale,
come di spilli nel ventre. Un brivido la scuote.
Ma pure le riesce di nascondere il suo male.
E tutto il giorno, stendendo i suoi panni,
si rompe la testa, poi le viene in mente
che doveva partorire, ed improvvisamente
sente una stretta al cuore. In casa torna tardi.
Ma voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:
ogni creatura ha bisogno dell'aiuto degli altri.
La si chiamò ancora, mentre era coricata:
la neve era caduta e doveva scopare.
Alle undici finì. Era lunga la giornata.
Soltanto nella notte potè sgravarsi in pace.
E partorì, a quanto dice, un figlio.
Il figlio somigliava a tutti gli altri.
Ma lei non era come le altre madri.
Non la schernisco: non ce n'è motivo.
Anche voi, di grazia, non vogliate sdegnarvi:

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Chi è veramente Rebecca, l'indimenticabile protagonista di "Rebecca la prima moglie"?
Sally Beauman prova a rispondere a questo interrogativo e ne nasce un libro bellissimo

Frase del giorno

Il tempo di imparare a vivere ed è già troppo tardi (Aragon)