Treaty of Granada (1491)

Not to be confused with the Treaty of Granada (1500) partitioning Naples between Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon. For more information on that treaty, see Italian War of 1499–1504.
Treaty of Granada

The Capitulation of Granada by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz: Boabdil surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella
Context The Reconquista and the Spanish annexation of the Emirate of Granada
Signed November 25, 1491 (1491-11-25)
Signatories
Tratado de Granada at Wikisource

The Treaty of Granada was signed and ratified on November 25, 1491 between Boabdil, the sultan of Granada, and Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Castile, León, Aragon and Sicily. It ended the Granada War which had started in 1482, culminating in the siege and battle of Granada beginning in spring 1491.

Also known as the Capitulation of Granada, the treaty provided a short truce, followed by the relinquishment in January 1492 of the sovereignty of the Moorish Emirate of Granada (founded five centuries earlier) to the Catholic monarchs of Spain.[1] The treaty guaranteed a set of rights to the Moors, including religious tolerance and fair treatment in return for their surrender and capitulation.

The Catholics' subsequent forced conversion policy triggered an uprising by the Moors in 1500, and the Catholic side used this uprising to argue that the Moors had violated the Treaty and justify revoking its provisions. See Morisco rebellions in Granada.

Treaty articles

The capitulation of 1492 contained sixty-seven articles among which were the following:

Implementation and breakdown

Forced conversions under Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros were seen as violations of the treaty and the main reason for the later rebellions by the Muslim population. Painting by Edwin Long

Initially, the Catholic conquerors implemented and reinforced the generous terms of the treaty. A joint municipal council was established in Granada, and the Muslims were allowed to elect their own representatives. Despite pressure from the Spanish clergy, Ferdinand choose a laissez-faire policy towards the Muslim in the hope that interaction with Catholics will make them "understand the error" of their faith and abandon it. Hernando de Talavera, a friar of converso origins known for his moderation and piety, was appointed as the archbishop of Granada. He was known for his preference of preaching based on "Catholic reasoning" as opposed to "punishments and lashes". When Ferdinand and Isabella visited the city in the summer of 1499, they were greeted by enthusiastic crowd, including Muslims.[2]

At the same time, cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the archbishop of Toledo, arrived in Granada and began working alongside Talavera. Cisneros disliked Talavera's approach, and began sending uncooperative Muslims, especially the noblemen, to prison where they were treated harshly until they agreed to convert. Emboldened by the increase in conversions, Cisneros intensified the efforts and in December 1499 he told Pope Alexander VI that three thousand Muslims converted in a single day. Cisneros' own church council warned that these methods might be a breach of the Treaty, and sixteenth-century hagiographer Álvar Gómez de Castro described the approach as "methods that were not correct".[3]

In December 1499, amid the increasingly forced conversions and triggered by an incident involving an attempt by the authorities to reconvert a Muslim woman had converted from Christianity, the population of Albayzín (the Muslim quarter of Granada) began an open and armed revolt. Talavera and Captain-General Tendilla resolved the situation by negotiating with the Muslims. Meanwhile, Cisneros were summoned to the court in Seville to account for his actions. He convinced the Catholic monarchs to issue a collective pardons on the rebels, on condition that they convert to Christianity. Consequently, the whole city of Granada nominally became Christian, and the treaty began to unravel.[4]

See also

Spanish Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Notes

  1. Early Modern Spain: A Documentary History, ed. Jon Cowans, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), 15.
  2. Carr, Matthew (2009). Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain. New Press. pp. 51–57. ISBN 978-1-59558-361-1.
  3. Carr 2009, pp. 57-58.
  4. Carr 2009, pp. 59-61.

References

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