The disapointment could be great

When he felt secure in the city (the king of Castile) allowed them to leave and laid on boats for them. Accordingly, all those who wanted to leave began selling their property... at very low prices. Some of it was bought by mudejares Muslims and others by Christians along with other goods and wares. He ordered them to walk to the coast with their goods, with Christians taking them there in safety with dignity and respect... They got to Fez. Thus they felt the seriousness of their situation to the extent that some of them returned to Andalusia. It became a known fact and some forwent all thoughts of leaving. They remained and chose to become mudejares. When the king of Castile observed that people no longer left and that they had decided to stay in Spain, he began to renege on the articles of agreements that had been signed previously, one after another until they had all been broken... He then ordered them to move out of Granada and to settle on the outskirts of the town or in the countryside. Later he invited them to convert to Christianity. Then he forced them to do so ; this was in the year 904 (1499). They embraced against their will the Catholic faith. This is how the whole of Andalusia became Christian. They could only say « There is no god but God, and Muhammad is his messenger » in silence... They no longer dared migrate and join their Muslim brothers. They looked on their offspring wearing the cross and prostrating themselves before statues, eating pork, drinking wine... They could not forbid them such practices for those who did were harshly punished.

Anonymous, Akhbar al-‘asr fin-qidae dawlat bani nasr, Cairo, 1991, p.125-121. (translated from the French)

ImprimerImprimer