...the Valencia area specifically, where they are …
Years: 1609 - 1609
...the Valencia area specifically, where they are thirty-three percentf the total population.
In addition, the Moorish population growth is somewhat higher than that of the Christian population; in Valencia, the Morisco population has an estimated 69.7% growth rate compared to 44.7% for the Old Christians.
The rich and those who live in the cities are mostly Christians, while the Moriscos occupy the outlying countryside and the poor suburbs.
There is practically universal agreement in Spain that Islam is a threat that should be crushed.
However, it is not clear how that should apply to the Moriscos, who are officially Christian.
Some clerics such as Fray Luis de Aliaga, a royal councilor, supports giving time to the Moriscos to assimilate and become full Christians, an option lightly supported also by the Catholic Church in Rome.
The most dedicated defenders of the Moriscos are the Valencian and Aragonese nobility, as their self-interest is involved.
These nobles benefit the most from the poor and cheap workforce that the Moriscos provide.
Opposing this view are a variety of notables and classes of people.
Clerics against Aliaga include Jaime Bleda, the most prominent member of the Inquisition in Valencia.
Bleda had made several early proposals to King Philip III to banish or otherwise end the Morisco problem; he had even recommended genocide.
At first, these entreaties were without success.
The Duke of Lerma, King Philip III's chief financial officer, had in 1596 accused the Moriscos of collaboration with the Muslim Barbary pirates, a charge that had dogged them for years.
Still, while many in the population held to this, others considered that this threat had long since passed.
The Council of Aragon, in opposing any punitive measures, had written that even if they wished to betray Spain, the Moriscos were in no position to do so "for they possess neither arms, nor supplies, nor fortified positions, nor a base for the Turkish fleet."
Nothing came of it at the time, but the Duke of Lerma continues his in his antipathy toward the Moriscos.
Among the populace itself, the Valencian peasantry has the most interest in the matter.
They view the Moriscos with resentment and consider them economic and social rivals.
This had bubbled over before in 1520, when in the Revolt of the Brotherhoods, the citizenry of Valencia had revolted against not only their nobles but also the Muslim mudéjars.
The rebels had killed many, and forced the mass baptism and conversion of the remainder of the Muslim population, which had created the Moriscos of Valencia.
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Years: 1609 - 1609
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