Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614

by L.P. Harvey

On December 18, 1499, the Muslims in Granada revolted against the Christian city government's attempts to suppress their rights to live and worship as followers of Islam. Although the Granada riot was a local phenomenon that was soon contained, subsequent widespread rebellion provided the Christian government with an excuse—or justification, as its leaders saw things—to embark on the systematic elimination of the Islamic presence from Spain, as well as from the Iberian Peninsula as a whole, over the next hundred years.

Picking up at the end of his earlier classic study, Islamic Spain, 1250 to 1500— which described the courageous efforts of the followers of Islam to preserve their secular, as well as sacred, culture in late medieval Spain—L. P. Harvey chronicles here the struggles of the Moriscos. These forced converts to Christianity lived clandestinely in the sixteenth century as Muslims, communicating in aljamiado— Spanish written in Arabic characters. More broadly, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, tells the story of an early modern nation struggling to deal with diversity and multiculturalism while torn by the fanaticism of the Counter-Reformation on one side and the threat of Ottoman expansion on the other. Harvey recounts how a century of tolerance degenerated into a vicious cycle of repression and rebellion until the final expulsion in 1614 of all Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula.

Retold in all its complexity and poignancy, this tale of religious intolerance, political maneuvering, and ethnic cleansing resonates with many modern concerns. Eagerly awaited by Islamist and Hispanist scholars since Harvey's first volume appeared in 1990, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, will be compulsory reading for student and specialist alike.


“The year’s most rewarding historical work is L. P. Harvey’s Muslims in Spain 1500 to 1614 , a sobering account of the various ways in which a venerable Islamic culture fell victim to Christian bigotry. Harvey never urges the topicality of his subject on us, but this aspect inevitably sharpens an already compelling book.”—Jonathan Keats, Times Literary Supplement

Genres: History, Islam, Spain, Nonfiction, European History, Religion

448 pages, Paperback

First published May 16, 2005

About the author

Leonard Patrick Harvey

Reviews

[Hamdanil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very rewarding reading. The book covers the very interesting topic of the Muslims in Spain after the last Islamic Kingdom there was conquered and when they are persecuted by their government (now Catholics). It is well-written and quite academic, the author thoroughly cites his sources (from both sides of the stories) and otherwise explains his methods/analysis in arriving at the content of the book. The author is certainly an authority who has done extensive research in this topic throughout his career. Despite this 'heaviness', the book is very easy to follow, informative and still fascinating.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harvey offers a thorough examination of the plight of Muslims in Imperial Spain, providing an in depth look at legislation and various factors that effected the Muslims within Spain and shaped their expulsion. Well detailed, excellent use of primary sources throughout. My only complaints are that it was a little dry at times and he used the term "nowadays" repeatedly. Otherwise a very informative read.

[Noam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read the whole book, but the chapters I read for class were interesting, informative and easy to follow.

[Muhammad Abbasi]

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