Placing Islam: Alternative Visions of the Morisco Expulsion and Spanish Muslim- Christian Relations in the Sixteenth Century by Meaghan O’Halley Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date: ______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Margaret Greer, Supervisor ___________________________ Walter Mignolo ___________________________ Michele Longino ___________________________ Ryan Szpiech Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2013 i v ABSTRACT Placing Islam: Alternative Visions of the Morisco Expulsion and Spanish Muslim- Christian Relations in the Sixteenth Century by Meaghan O’Halley Department of Romance Studies Duke University Date: ______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Margaret Greer, Supervisor ___________________________ Walter Mignolo ___________________________ Michele Longino ___________________________ Ryan Szpiech An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Department of Romance Studies in the Graduate School of Duke University 2013 i v Copyright by Meaghan O’Halley 2013 Abstract This thesis explores attitudes of Christians toward Islam and Muslims in Spain in the sixteenth century and intends to destabilize Islam’s traditional place as adversary in Early-Modern Spanish history. My research aligns itself with and employs new trends in historiography that emphasize dissent and resistance exercised by individuals and groups at all levels of Spanish society in order to complicate popular notions about the extermination of Islam in Spain. I argue that within Spain there was, throughout the sixteenth century and after the expulsion of the Moriscos in the early seventeenth century, a continued interest in the religion and culture of Islam. I show that, far from isolating itself from Islam, Christian Spain was engaged with Muslims on multiple levels. The voluntary and involuntary migration of Spaniards to Muslim lands, for many emigrants of Christian decent, led to the embrace of a multicultural, multireligious, polylingual and polyethnic reality along the Mediterranean that was contrary to Spanish Counter-Reformation ideology. The dissertation includes textual examples from sixteenth-century Spanish and colonial “histories,” and works by Cervantes, to support the argument that this official ideology, which has dominated historiography on this period, does not reflect much of the Spanish experience with non-Christians within and without its iv borders. My goal is to expose a context within the field of Early-Modern Peninsular studies for alternative forms of discourse that emphasize toleration for religious and cultural difference, interfaith and intercultural dialogue and exchange, and a basic interest in and curiosity about Islamic ways of life. v Dedication For Carlos and Rio vi Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 1. Contextualizing the Morisco Expulsion .............................................................................. 14 1.1 Ambiguous Conquest .................................................................................................... 15 1.2 A Dissonant Retelling of the Expulsion ...................................................................... 22 1.3 Institutions and Persecution ......................................................................................... 29 1.4 Censorship: Undifferentiated Targets ......................................................................... 35 1.5 Heritage and Habits in Counter-Reformation Spain ................................................. 39 1.6 Cultural Hybridity ......................................................................................................... 49 1.7 The Case of the Sacromonte .......................................................................................... 51 2. Portraits of European Barbary and the European Non-Christian ................................... 59 2.1 Spanish Empire: Barbarians Within and Without ..................................................... 60 2.2 Travelers and Captives .................................................................................................. 65 2.3 Life off Shore ................................................................................................................... 71 2.4 Shades of Conversion ..................................................................................................... 80 2.5 Sancho Panza and the Independent Republic ............................................................ 85 2.6 Reading Barbary ............................................................................................................. 87 3. Placing Islam in Early-Modern Spanish History ................................................................ 93 3.1 Spain and the Quasi-Historical: Moorish Pillars ....................................................... 93 vii 3.2 New and Improved Histories ..................................................................................... 100 3.3 A Voyage to Turkey: Perpetuation of the Islamic Model ....................................... 109 3.4 Against Islam: History as Spiritual Exercise ............................................................ 116 3.5 Readers: Receiving Impressions of the Other .......................................................... 122 3.6 New World Interventions ........................................................................................... 127 3.7 The Islamic Context ...................................................................................................... 132 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 134 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................... 144 Biography ................................................................................................................................... 152 viii Acknowledgements Of my four outstanding committee members, I would like to express my deepest appreciation first to Margaret Greer, who has given me boundless support throughout the dissertation process. Without her invaluable direction, profound generosity, and constant encouragement this project would not have been possible. I would like to thank Ryan Szpiech for his unwavering commitment over the past several years to mentoring me throughout the program and the writing process. His timely advice and criticism of my work have kept me going. I am indebted to Walter Mignolo for helping me make the perspectival shift that became foundational in my thinking about religion and race in the sixteenth century and beyond. Finally, I am grateful to Michele Longino for serving on my committee with such short notice and for helping me advance my research through access to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. I am thankful to her for introducing me to her friend and colleague, Emily Picherot, to whom I would also like to extend my deepest gratitude for pointing me toward Luna’s work. Our many conversations about Spain and Islam proved indispensible for developing my dissertation topic. I feel privileged to have formed a part of the Romance Studies Department at Duke University. From my first days at the university there has been no lack of enthusiasm, encouragement or support from my professors. I would especially like to thank Stephanie Sieburth and Helen Solterer for giving me the opportunity to develop ix my ideas and research through independent studies. I kindly thank Roberto Dainotto for listening to early sketches of my work, and Adrián for his enlightening remarks about the Spanish Counter-Reformation. Likewise, I have felt nothing but goodwill and support from my friends and colleagues at Duke. I would especially like to thank Brantley Nicholson, Aaron Castroverde, and Joaquin Bueno, who were my frequent companions at the beginning of the dissertation process. The flow of conversation about our topics was vital to the development of my ideas. I am also dearly grateful to Eglantine Colon for her company and smart conversation, and for her constant optimism about the writing process. I am deeply obliged to Dan Sallitt for reading and correcting my dissertation. My studies were made possible by the love and encouragement of my dearest friends Amir Farah and Jennifer Schmitz. I am grateful to Emily Melander for the wonderful care she provided for my child, without which I could not have concentrated on my writing. The patience, support, and understanding shown to me by my husband, Carlos, and my daughter, Rio Fox Fernández, are immeasurable. To my mother, Nancy O’Halley, I owe my love of books. x Introduction Among the curious incidents that occur at the inn in the first book of Don Quixote is the encounter with the captive and his beautiful Moorish travel companion, Zoraida. When the two first appear