Treaty of Granada (1491)

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Several complementary documents are known under the designation Treaty of Granada , which the Castilian royal couple Isabella and Ferdinand had issued on November 25 and December 30, 1491, respectively, in order to achieve a surrender of the city of Granada and the fortress of Alhambra without a fight . The documents laid down the terms of surrender and the basis for future relations between the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Granada under the rule of the Crown of Castile.

prehistory

During the war against the Emirate of Granada, the Castilian troops developed a method of conquering fortified cities. First, the fields and crops in the vicinity of the city were destroyed to prevent supplies and supplies. Later the city was surrounded by troops, so that supply from outside was no longer possible. Then the walls were attacked with artillery pieces . If the city did not surrender, it would be stormed. This approach required well-established logistics and an artillery for the attackers that was extraordinarily effective for the time.

There were different ways in which the populations of the defeated cities were treated. If no agreements were reached between the parties during the war, the losers ended up with unconditional surrender, imprisonment and the loss of all goods. The population of the city of Malaga did not respond to the offers of the besiegers. After the bombardment and a loss-making storming of the city, 11,000 to 15,000 people were captured by the attackers and sold as slaves. If the cities were surrendered without great resistance, the life and freedom of the Muslims were usually guaranteed, but they were forced to leave the city. In some cases, large parts of the property or even weapons could be taken away if the defeated left the city and settled elsewhere. In many cases the defeated population was allowed to emigrate to Morocco . Only rarely, when there was no resistance whatsoever, were the social structures, the legal and religious order and the Islamic culture preserved and the places placed under a new political and military power.

In the beginning of 1491, the Castilian troops began to build the future headquarters, the army camp of Santa Fe , as a fortified city next to the army camp on the Vega de Granada, which was ten kilometers from Granada . The Christian army at the time consisted of around 10,000 horsemen and 30,000 infantrymen . With the expansion of the camp and the presence not only of the Queen, but also of the Crown Prince and other members of the royal family, the defenders of Granada should be made clear that the Castilians were determined to besiege the city until the goal, Christians had come to power in the last Muslim-ruled area on the peninsula.

In August 1491 the fighting was practically stopped. At this time negotiations between the agents of Queen Isabellas and King Ferdinand with the agents of the Emir Muhammad XII began. (Boabdil). The negotiations were initially held in secret in order to avoid unrest in the besieged city of Granada. The official negotiations in November 1491 quickly led to a result on the basis of the earlier agreements. On November 25, 1491, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed the documents in which the results of the negotiations with the representatives of the Emir Muhammad XII. were summarized.

Form of the documents

Copy of the “Capitulación de los Reyes Católicos” in the Archivo General de Simancas
Copy of the “Privilegio rodado” in the Archivo Histórico de la Nobleza

One of the documents dated November 25, 1491 today bears the title Capitulación de los Reyes Católicos con Boabdil Rey de Granada. (Capitulación in relation to Boabdil, King of Granada) The other document of November 25, 1491 today bears the title Capítulos de la toma y entrega de Granada . (Capitulación regarding the capture and surrender of Granada)

The legal meaning of the "Capitulaciones" issued by the kings of Castile is controversial. The contractual character of the document is supported by some formal aspects, such as the repeated use of expressions such as "asiento" (consent) or "concierto" (agreement), legal terms that indicate a bilateral agreement and not a unilateral concession. However, it is also believed that the Capitulaciones were special rights granted by the Crown, so they were not international treaties or agreements. This would mean that these “Capitulaciones” could be withdrawn as a special royal right. Whether Christian kings were allowed to conclude a bilateral contract with a Muslim ruler as an equal partner was controversial at the time.

The document, which was issued on December 30, 1491, is now called Privilegio rodado de asiento y capitulaciones para la entrega de la ciudad de Granada a los Reyes Católicos . (Solemn confirmation of the agreed special rights and capitulaciones in relation to the transfer of the city of Granada to the Catholic Kings) A Privilegio rodado was a particularly solemnly decorated document of the royal chancellery. The designation refers to the representation of the seal in the form of a wheel, which is shown on the document. This document, written on parchment, shows the importance that has been attached to the matter for the future. There were a number of copies of the document made for different people.

Content

Capitulación in relation to Boabdil

In this capitulación, signed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, promises were made for the personal future of Emir Muhammad XII, his family and his close collaborators. A special kind of Islamic dominion in the Alpujarras in the Sierra Nevada was to be created as a place of residence for them . The area should get the port of Adra as access to the sea after all fortifications there had been destroyed. Muhammad XII. should get 30,000 "Castellanos de Oro" (gold coins). He should be exempt from tax. He and his family should be allowed to trade freely with Africa. He was offered to leave for North Africa.

After a stay of 22 months in the Alpujarras area, Muhammad XII. in October 1493 his property there, left the Iberian Peninsula and settled in North Africa.

Capitulación for the capture and surrender of Granada

In the Capitulaciones, the inhabitants of the capital Granada with its outskirts and suburbs as well as the dominion of the Alpujarras are guaranteed a large number of privileges which they should have after the surrender of the city as subjects of the rulers of the Crown of Castile. (The list below is only a selection.)

  • That only persons are appointed as royal officials who are recognized by the Muslims as honorable
  • That the previous administrative officials of the city remain in their positions
  • That the property of the Muslims is not affected
  • That all Muslims can continue to live in the houses they have previously lived in
  • That Muslims are allowed to own horses and weapons (except firearms)
  • That Christians are only allowed to enter the houses of Muslims if they are expressly invited to do so
  • That Muslims do not have to wear marks on their clothing like the Jews
  • That Muslims do not have to pay property tax for three years and the others pay taxes like Christians
  • That Muslims in the Christian kingdom do not have to pay higher taxes than in the emirate
  • That Muslim traders have the same rights as Christian traders in trade with North Africa and Castile
  • That no Muslim is prevented from exercising the religious commandments, and that this also applies to people who have converted from Christianity to Islam (Elches)
  • That the property of the Muslim communities is guaranteed
  • That the income of the mosques, the donations and other income of the Muslim communities are administered by Muslim legal scholars
  • That no Christian is allowed to enter a mosque without permission
  • That legal disputes between Muslims will be judged by Muslim judges according to the law that has existed up to now
  • That disputes between Christians and Muslims are settled by mixed courts
  • That Muslims with their families are allowed to emigrate to North Africa within the next three years and are allowed to take all their possessions (merchandise, jewelry, gold, silver, weapons except firearms) with them without paying export duties and transport on the ships is free
  • That people who only want to emigrate after these three years have to pay the transport costs and an export duty of 1/10 of the value of the goods taken with them
  • That outgoing Muslims are allowed to sell their real estate under normal conditions and if they cannot find a buyer, they can commission a person to collect the income in order to have it sent to Africa
  • That a number of regulations regulate the release of prisoners Christians and Muslims
  • That far-reaching amnesties are granted for crimes committed during the war

Solemn confirmation of the agreed special rights

The text of the document refers to the Capitulaciones issued by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in November. On the front page, in addition to the Queen and the King, Crown Prince Johann, Infanta Isabella and a large number of high-ranking church dignitaries and nobles, the validity of these documents was confirmed with their signature.

Keeping promises

On January 1, 1442, the fortress of Alhambra and the city of Granada by Emir Muhammad XII. handed over to Gutierre de Cárdenas, the representative of the Crown of Castile. The official handover took place in a solemn ceremony on January 2, 1442 in front of the city.

The intention pursued with the Capitulaciones was not the permanent coexistence of Muslim and Christian subjects in Granada. The Capitulaciones opened the way for a progressive conversion of the Muslim population. This goal was pursued with changing methods in the following years.

After the Christians took over the rule, the Muslims of Granada had the opportunity to trust the promises of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand and to continue to live in their old surroundings or to take advantage of the offer to emigrate to North Africa. Because of the generous concessions and because the future under Christian rule did not seem certain to them, many of the members of the higher social classes took the opportunity and emigrated to Morocco. Mainly Muslim artisans and workers remained in Granada.

Since the beginning of 1492, Íñigo López de Mendoza y Quiñones, as the fortress commander of the Alhambra and general captain of the Kingdom of Granada, tried to strictly comply with the privileges that had been granted to the Muslim population. The Archbishop of Granada , Hernando de Talavera , made great efforts to convert the Muslims who remained in the city to Christianity without violence through conviction. He was interested in maintaining the cultural achievements of the Muslims as long as they were not directly related to religion. Language, literature, music , science, architecture, etc. should be related to Christian values. Talavera himself learned the Arabic language . At various times during mass he used some texts in Arabic instead of Latin and at some church celebrations he allowed traditional dances by the inhabitants. Talavera found solutions that made the defense and expansion of the Catholic faith compatible with the privileges granted out of respect for the religion of Muslims. He had a clear opinion on how to encourage conversion while respecting the cultural habits and ideas that were not incompatible with the Christian faith. His successes in converting the Muslim population were not particularly successful. In the roughly seven years from 1492 to 1499 there were no complaints of acts of violence against Islam in Granada.

When Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand visited Granada again in 1499, Talavera's approach was sharply criticized by the Queen's new confessor, the Archbishop of Toledo and later Inquisitor General of the Spanish Inquisition Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros . But he also criticized the special rights granted to the Muslim population of Granada in 1491. Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros was commissioned in 1499 by the Inquisitor General Diego de Deza to investigate the problem of the Helches in the Archdiocese of Granada. As Helches converted to Islam Christians were called. They were protected from punishment by the privileges granted to the Muslim population of Granada in 1491. According to Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros , the privileges violated canon law , which the Queen and the King could not override. The granting of the privileges is therefore legally ineffective. The measures taken by Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, which went far beyond the rights conferred on him by the Spanish Inquisition, led to the uprising in the Alpujarras (1499-1501) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Joseph Perez: Ferdinand and Isabella . 1st edition. Callwey, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-7667-0923-2 , pp. 210 (French: Isabelle et Ferdinand, rois catholiques d'Espagne . 1988. Translated by Antoinette Gittinger).
  2. ↑ Thomas Freller: Granada, Kingdom between Orient and Occident . 1st edition. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0825-4 , p. 129 .
  3. ↑ Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez: La guerra de Granada . In: Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez (Ed.): La guerra y el nacimiento del Estado Moderno . Asociación Veritas para el estudio de la Historia, el Derecho y las Instituciones, Valladolid 2015, ISBN 978-84-616-8611-7 , p. 96 (Spanish, [1] [accessed February 28, 2016]).
  4. ↑ Thomas Freller: Granada, Kingdom between Orient and Occident . 1st edition. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0825-4 , p. 137 .
  5. ↑ Thomas Freller: Granada, Kingdom between Orient and Occident . 1st edition. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0825-4 , p. 136 .
  6. ^ Reyes Católicos: Capítulos de la toma y entrega de Granada. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte - Gobierno de España, 1491, accessed June 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  7. ^ Reyes Católicos: Capítulos de la toma y entrega de Granada. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte - Gobierno de España, 1491, accessed June 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  8. ^ Horst Pietschmann: Estado y conquistadores: Las Capitulaciones . In: Historia . No. 22 , 1987, pp. 250 (Spanish, [2] [accessed February 3, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez: Consecuencias de la guerra de Granada . In: Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez (Ed.): La guerra y el nacimiento del Estado Moderno . Asociación Veritas para el estudio de la Historia, el Derecho y las Instituciones, Valladolid 2015, ISBN 978-84-616-8611-7 , p. 101 (Spanish, 485 pages, [3] [accessed February 28, 2016]).
  10. ↑ Reyes Católicos: Privilegio rodado de asiento y la entrega de la Capitulaciones para ciudad de Granada a los Reyes Católicos. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte - Gobierno de España, 1491, accessed June 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  11. ^ José María de Francisco Olmos: El Signo Rodado Regio en España. Origen, Desarrollo y Consolidación. Siglos XII-XV. Real Academia Matritense de Heráldica y Genelogía, Madrid 2009, p. 71 f . (Spanish, [4] [PDF; accessed August 1, 2019]).
  12. ↑ Luis Mármol y Carvajal: Historia del [sic] rebelión y castigo de los moriscos del Reino de Granada . Ed .: Juan de Zúñiga Avellaneda y Bazán. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, Alicante 2001, XIX (Spanish, [5] [accessed August 1, 2019] Original edition: Madrid, M. Rivadeneyra, 1852).
  13. ↑ Thomas Freller: Granada, Kingdom between Orient and Occident . 1st edition. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0825-4 , p. 141 .
  14. ↑ Luis Mármol y Carvajal: Historia del [sic] rebelión y castigo de los moriscos del Reino de Granada . Ed .: Juan de Zúñiga Avellaneda y Bazán. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, Alicante 2001, XIX (Spanish, [6] [accessed August 1, 2019] Original edition: Madrid, M. Rivadeneyra, 1852).
  15. ↑ Isabelle Poutrin: Los derechos de los vencidos - las capitulaciones de Granada (1491) . In: Sharq Al-Andalus: Estudios mudéjares y moriscos . No. 19 , 2008, ISSN  0213-3482 , p. 13 (Spanish, unirioja.es [accessed August 1, 2019]).
  16. ^ Antonio Luis Cortés Peña: Boabdil, Granada y los Reyes Católicos. Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2005, accessed June 1, 2019 (Spanish).
  17. ↑ Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Mudéjares y repobladores en el Reino de Granada (1485-1501) . In: Cuadernos de historia moderna . No. 13 , 1992, ISSN  0214-4018 , pp. 50 (Spanish, ucm.es [accessed May 22, 2019]).
  18. ↑ Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Mudéjares y repobladores en el Reino de Granada (1485-1501) . In: Cuadernos de historia moderna . No. 13 , 1992, ISSN  0214-4018 , pp. 65 (Spanish, ucm.es [accessed May 22, 2019]).
  19. ↑ Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Mudéjares y repobladores en el Reino de Granada (1485-1501) . In: Cuadernos de historia moderna . No. 13 , 1992, ISSN  0214-4018 , pp. 66 (Spanish, ucm.es [accessed May 22, 2019]).

Remarks

  1. ↑ The date November 28, 1491 is sometimes given for this Capitulación.
  2. ↑ In the certificate, the date of issue is given as December 30, 1492. This is based on the fact that the turn of the year took place on December 25th and not on December 31st.

literature

  • Thomas Freller: Granada, Kingdom between Orient and Occident . 1st edition. Jan Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0825-4 (216 pages).
  • Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Mudéjares y repobladores en el Reino de Granada (1485-1501) . In: Cuadernos de historia moderna . No. 13 , 1992, ISSN  0214-4018 , pp. 47-72 (Spanish, ucm.es [accessed May 22, 2019]).
  • Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada: Fray Hernando de Talavera en 1492 . In: Chronica nova: Revista de historia moderna de la Universidad de Granada . No. 34 , 2008, ISSN  0210-9611 , p. 249–275 (Spanish, [7] [accessed February 2, 2017]).
  • Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez: La guerra de Granada . In: Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez (Ed.): La guerra y el nacimiento del Estado Moderno . Asociación Veritas para el estudio de la Historia, el Derecho y las Instituciones, Valladolid 2015, ISBN 978-84-616-8611-7 , p. 87-98 (Spanish, 485 pp., [8] [accessed February 28, 2016]).
  • Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez: Consecuencias de la guerra de Granada . In: Leandro Martínez Peñas; Manuela Fernández Rodríguez (Ed.): La guerra y el nacimiento del Estado Moderno . Asociación Veritas para el estudio de la Historia, el Derecho y las Instituciones, Valladolid 2015, ISBN 978-84-616-8611-7 , p. 99–135 (Spanish, 485 pp., [9] [accessed February 28, 2016]).
  • Miguel Ángel Olmedo Fornas, Luz Trujillo y Trujillo Bosque: Las capitulaciones para la rendición de Granada. Momentos Españoles, 2015, accessed August 1, 2019 (Spanish).

Web links

Wikisource: Tratado de Granada  - Sources and full texts (Spanish)