Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266
Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 | |||||||
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Muhammad I of Granada (in red tunic and shield) leading his troops during the rebellion, illustrated in the contemporary Cantigas de Santa Maria.[2] | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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The Mudéjar revolt of 1264–1266 was a
Background
A rebellion occurred during the
On 2 April 1243, the city of
In the south of the Iberian peninsula, the
Course of the war
Beginning of rebellion
The revolt began almost simultaneously in Lower Andalusia and Murcia.[16] The rebellion likely started between April and June 1264, when Muhammad I's name was struck from the list of Alfonso X's loyal vassals.[17] A skirmish took place on 10 July, in which Granada defeated Castilian forces.[1] In August 1264, the Muslim inhabitants of Jerez, aided by allies from Algeciras and Tarifa,[18] attacked the outnumbered royal garrison led by Nuño González de Lara.[19] The demoralized Nuño deserted his post and the alcázar was taken on 8 August.[17] According to songs in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, the Mudéjars captured all the soldiers, destroyed the chapel of Mary and tried to burn a statue of Mary, but the statue miraculously resisted the flames.[19] Reinforcements from Seville arrived two days later but it was too late.[17]
Following Jerez, the Lower Andalusian towns of
The Emirate of Granada, whose forces would later be bolstered by volunteers from North Africa, fully supported the rebellion.
Castile's counter-attack
Castilian forces counter-attacked by marching on Jerez, a key garrison town, recapturing it in late 1264 (possibly on 9 October), after
Even though Jerez and other towns fell, Granadan forces were still actively attacking Castilian positions. The Cantigas mention an unsuccessful Granadan siege of the Chincoya castle, purportedly after the a statue of the Virgin Mary put on the ramparts discouraged the Granadans from attacking.[26] Despite the failure in Chincoya, Muhammad I likely took many poorly defended castles along the border.[26] In response to the Granadan threat, towns in Upper Andalusia established a brotherhood pact at Andújar on 26 April 1265, swearing cooperation and a common defense.[26]
Meanwhile, Alfonso began preparations for invading Granada.
Aragonese conquest of Murcia
Even though James I agreed to help Castile, initially he was delayed by negotiations with his nobles.
As James' army advanced to Murcia, Muslim-held towns in the region—including Villena, Elda, Petrer, Orihuela—surrendered to his forces.[28] Granada sent a column numbering 2,800 men to relieve Murcia, but it was defeated by Aragonese troops.[29] On 2 January 1266, James laid siege to the city.[29] After skirmishes and negotiations, Murcia surrendered on 31 January.[29] James entered the city on 3 February 1266, and its mosque was reconsecrated as a church (later Murcia Cathedral), where James' priests held mass.[30] With Murcia secured, James returned to his realm in March and no longer participated in the war.[30]
End of the war
Still in 1266, the Banu Ashqilula rebelled against Muhammad I from their stronghold at Málaga.[22] They offered alliance to Alfonso X, who responded by promising to personally protect them and sent a force of 1,000 men under the command of Nuño González de Lara to defend Málaga.[31] In exchange, the Banu Ashqilula might have promised to cede Antequera, Archidona and Marbella to Castile.[31] There is a lack of record about battles or military operations from this point onward, but it seemed that the Castile-Banu Ashqilula alliance was gaining advantage.[32]
With his allies defeated and facing enemies in two fronts, Muhammad I sued for peace. He and his son (the future
Aftermath
The failure of the rebellion had disastrous consequences for Muslims in Andalusia and Murcia. Castile annexed Murcia—which had been semi-independent since 1244—outright, except for Orihuela and Elche which were annexed by Aragon.[35] The victors imposed harsh punishments in the rebellious territories, including mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing.[8][22] Alfonso paid Christians from elsewhere to settle the formerly Muslim lands,[36] and mosques were reconsecrated as churches.[8] From this point on Muslims were almost non-existent in Andalusia.[8][22] In Murcia, the large Muslim population remained with their religious rights guaranteed, but they were forced to move to the suburb of Arrixaca, and their houses and lands in the city were divided among Christian settlers.[37] Over time, Alfonso reduced the portion of lands allocated to the Muslims.[37]
In Granada, the rebellion had mixed consequences. Granada had suffered a heavy defeat and had to pay an enormous tribute to Castile, significantly greater than what it paid before the rebellion.[33] However, the signing of the treaty ensured its survival and Granada emerged as the sole independent Muslim state in the peninsula.[7] Muslims who were expelled by Castile emigrated to Granada, strengthening the Emirate's population.[7]
For Castile, the revolt, which had nearly succeeded, had been a grave threat to Alfonso's rule and had shaken his self-confidence.[18] In the years after the rebellion, he accomplished little and, subsequently, rebellion began to foment among his nobles, including those who had taken refuge in Granada.[18] The presence of Granada on his southern borders also complicated his efforts to launch a crusade in Africa.[33] The tribute payments from Granada became both a source of income and a major problem, because the resulting inflation reduced the effective revenue of Castilian nobles and made attracting settlers using payments more difficult.[36] Alfonso stayed in Jerez until late 1268, overseeing the Christian settlement of the territories and attempting to stem the inflation.[36]
The Mudéjars of Old and New Castile, most of whom did not join the rebellion, were unaffected by the expulsion imposed in the rebellious territories. However, the community became less prominent than before, accepting that discretion and second-class status were the price to be paid to ensure survival.[8]
Notes
- ^ "The term 'Mudejar Rebellion' appears commonly in scholarship, but its utility and accuracy is questionable. Many scholars point out that the states involved were incompletely subjugated and maintained governments to manage their internal affairs, or, in the case of Granada, were not vassals to Castile. These communities were not 'Mudejars,' in the sense that they had chosen to remain under Christian rule, nor were they in a state of rebellion since they had not been conquered. Their combined uprising instead created the conditions that typified the Mudejar experience and the lasting antagonism between Granada and Castile." (Minnema 2020)
- ^ O'Callaghan 1993, pp. 187–188 rejected that Jerez and the lower Andalusian towns were recaptured in 1264 and suggested that Alfonso X took Jerez between 4–9 October 1266, followed by other towns. However, O'Callaghan's later work O'Callaghan 2011, p. 38 as well as other sources like Doubleday 2015, p. 121 use the 1264 date.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c O'Callaghan 2011, p. 44.
- ^ O'Callaghan 2011, p. 42.
- ^ Harvey 1992, pp. 7–8.
- ^ a b Harvey 1992, p. 8.
- ^ a b c Fernández-Puertas 1993, p. 1020.
- ^ Harvey 1992, pp. 8–9.
- ^ a b c d e f g Harvey 1992, p. 51.
- ^ a b c d e f g Harvey 1992, p. 54.
- ^ Harvey 1992, p. 10.
- ^ Harvey 1992, p. 45.
- ^ Harvey 1992, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Wiegers 1994, p. 8.
- ^ Harvey 1992, pp. 24.
- ^ Kennedy 2014, p. 277.
- ^ Kennedy 2014, p. 276.
- ^ a b c Doubleday 2015, p. 109.
- ^ a b c O'Callaghan 2011, p. 36.
- ^ a b c d e Harvey 1992, p. 53.
- ^ a b c Doubleday 2015, p. 110.
- ^ a b O'Callaghan 2011, p. 37.
- ^ a b Harvey 1992, p. 52.
- ^ a b c d Kennedy 2014, p. 279.
- ^ Harvey 1992, pp. 53–54.
- ^ a b c d e Doubleday 2015, p. 121.
- ^ O'Callaghan 2011, p. 38.
- ^ a b c d e O'Callaghan 2011, p. 41.
- ^ a b c d e f O'Callaghan 2011, p. 45.
- ^ O'Callaghan 2011, pp. 45–46.
- ^ a b c O'Callaghan 2011, p. 46.
- ^ a b O'Callaghan 2011, p. 47.
- ^ a b O'Callaghan 2011, p. 48.
- ^ O'Callaghan 2011, p. 49.
- ^ a b c d Doubleday 2015, p. 122.
- ^ a b c d O'Callaghan 2011, p. 50.
- ^ Harvey 1992, p. 50.
- ^ a b c Doubleday 2015, p. 123.
- ^ a b O'Callaghan 2011, p. 52.
Bibliography
- Doubleday, Simon R. (2015). The Wise King: A Christian Prince, Muslim Spain, and the Birth of the Renaissance. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-07391-7.
- Fernández-Puertas, Antonio (1993). "Nasrids". In ISBN 978-90-04-09419-2.
- ISBN 978-0-226-31962-9.
- ISBN 978-1-317-87041-8.
- Minnema, Anthony (18 May 2020). "Squire to the Moor King: Christian administrators for Muslim magnates in late medieval Murcia". Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies. 12 (2): 248–266. S2CID 219445567.
- O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (1993). The learned king: the reign of Alfonso X of Castile. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812232264.
- O'Callaghan, Joseph F. (2011). The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the Battle for the Strait. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 34–59. ISBN 978-0-8122-0463-6.
- ISBN 978-90-04-09936-4.