page_title: Morisco
section_title: Literature
hierarchical_section_title: Morisco / Literature
context_page_description: Moriscos were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Roman Catholic church and the Spanish Crown obliged, under threat of death, to convert to Christianity or self exile after Spain outlawed the open practice of Islam by its sizeable Muslim population in the early 16th century.
  The government distrusted Moriscos and between 1609 and 1614 began to expel them systematically from the various kingdoms of the united realm. The most severe expulsions occurred in the eastern Kingdom of Valencia. The exact number of Moriscos present in Spain prior to expulsion is unknown and can only be guessed on the basis of official records of the edict of expulsion. Furthermore, the overall success of the expulsion is subject to academic debate, with estimates on the proportion of those who avoided expulsion or returned to Spain ranging from 5% to 40%. The large majority of those permanently expelled settled on the western fringe of the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Morocco. The last mass prosecution against Moriscos for crypto-Islamic practices occurred in Granada in 1727, with most of those convicted receiving relatively light sentences.
context_section_description: Miguel de Cervantes' writings, such as Don Quixote and Conversation of the Two Dogs, offer ambivalent views of Moriscos.
  In the first part of Don Quixote (before the expulsion), a Morisco translates a found document containing the Arabic "history" that Cervantes is merely "publishing". In the second part, after the expulsion, Ricote is a Morisco and a former neighbor of Sancho Panza.  He cares more about money than religion, and left for Germany, from where he returned as a false pilgrim to unbury his treasure.  He admits, however, the righteousness of their expulsion.  His daughter Ana Félix is brought to Berbery but suffers since she is a sincere Christian.
  Toward the end of the 16th century, Morisco writers challenged the perception that their culture was alien to Spain. Their literary works expressed early Spanish history in which Arabic-speaking Spaniards played a positive role. Chief among such works is Verdadera historia del rey don Rodrigo by Miguel de Luna (c. 1545–1615).
caption: Aljamiado text by Mancebo de Arévalo. c. 16th century. The passage invites Spanish Moriscos or crypto-Muslims to continue fulfilling Islamic prescriptions and disguise (taqiyya), so they would be protected while showing public adherence to the Christian faith.
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