The Orient in Spain: Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada, and the Rise of Orientalism

487 Pages·2013·4.98 MB·English

by  Mercedes Garcia-Arenal Rodriquez

The Orient in Spain
Numen Book Series
Studies in the History of Religions
Series Editors
Steven Engler (Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada)
Richard King (University of Kent, UK)
Kocku von Stuckrad (University of Groningen,
The Netherlands)
Gerard Wiegers (University of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands)
VOLUME 142
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/nus
The Orient in Spain
Converted Muslims, the Forged Lead Books of Granada,
and the Rise of Orientalism
by
Mercedes García-Arenal and Fernando Rodríguez Mediano
Translated by
Consuelo López-Morillas
LEidEN • BOSTON
2013
Originally published as: Un Oriente Español Los moriscos y el Sacromonte en Tiempos de
Contrarreforma. Published in 2010 by Marcial Pons, Ediciones de Historia, S.A. Madrid.
Translated from the Spanish by Consuelo López-Morillas.
Cover illustration: Aḥmad b. Qāsim al-Ḥajarī reproduces a Seal of Solomon. From al-Ḥajarī,
Aḥmad b. Qāsim, Kitāb nāṣir al-dīn ʿalā l-qawm al-kāfirīn (The Supporter of Religion Against the
Infidel), study, critical edition, and English translation by P. S. van Koningsveld, Q. al-Samarrai,
and G. A. Wiegers (Madrid, 1997), 259.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
García-Arenal, Mercedes.
 [Oriente español. English]
 The Orient in Spain : converted Muslims, the forged lead books of Granada, and the rise of
orientalism / by Mercedes Garcia-Arenal and Fernando Rodriguez Mediano ; translated by
Consuelo Lopez-Morillas.
  pages cm. — (Numen book series. Studies in the history of religions, iSSN 0169-8834 ; volume 142)
 Translation of: Un oriente español. Madrid : Marcial Pons Historia, 2010; corrected and
expanded, with new research and a new bibliography.
 includes bibliographical references and index.
 iSBN 978-90-04-24450-4 (hardback : acid-free paper) — iSBN 978-90-04-25029-1 (e-book)
1. Moriscos—Spain—Granada—History—16th century. 2. Granada (Spain)—History—16th
century. 3. Granada (Spain)—Church history—16th century. 4. Abadía del Sacromonte (Granada,
Spain)—History. 5. Forgery—Spain—Granada—History—16th century. 6. Orientalism—Spain—
History—16th century. 7. Arabic language—Spain—History—16th century. 8. islam—Spain—
History—16th century. 9. Spain—intellectual life—16th century. 10. Spain—Historiography.
i. Rodríguez Mediano, Fernando. ii. Title.
 dP104.G3713 2013
 946’.04—dc23
2013000781

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iSSN 0169-8834
iSBN 978-90-04-24450-4 (hardback)
iSBN 978-90-04-25029-1 (e-book)
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CONTENTS
Abbreviations  ................................................................................................... ix
Note to the English Translation  ................................................................. xi
introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1
1 The Sacromonte Lead Books: The Events  ........................................ 13
The Turpiana Tower Parchment  ......................................................... 13
Archbishop don Pedro de Castro  ....................................................... 21
The Lead Books  ........................................................................................ 22
The Reception of the Finds  .................................................................. 25
The Evaluation Process  .......................................................................... 27
Polemics and Resistance  ....................................................................... 28
The Lead Books Leave Granada  .......................................................... 30
The Lead Books in Rome  ...................................................................... 31
The Defensorios  ........................................................................................ 32
2 Granada Conquered: Castilianization and Conversion  ............... 35
Granada Conquered  ................................................................................ 35
Language and Evangelization  .............................................................. 42
The Eradication of Arabic  ..................................................................... 47
The defense of Arabic and its Persistence in Granada  ............... 51
Reformers and Alumbrados  .................................................................. 56
Granada and its Moriscos around 1580  ............................................. 62
3 The Noble Families  ................................................................................. 65
Old Christians of Moorish Origin  ....................................................... 66
Conversion  ................................................................................................. 69
integration  ................................................................................................. 74
Muley Fez and Granada Venegas  ....................................................... 76
The Happy Former days of Our Glory  .............................................. 80
The Origen de la Casa de Granada  ..................................................... 86
The Granada Venegas Literary Tertulia  ............................................ 88
4 Alonso del Castillo: Translator, Author?  .......................................... 95
Alonso del Castillo and other Translators of the Parchment  .... 97
The Chapiz Family  .................................................................................. 98
Physician  .................................................................................................... 103
vi contents
Translator  ................................................................................................... 107
The War  ...................................................................................................... 111
The Prophecies  ......................................................................................... 115
5 Alonso del Castillo’s Friends: Priests, Soldiers, interpreters  ...... 121
Priests  .......................................................................................................... 121
diego Marín  ............................................................................................... 123
Francisco López Tamarid  ...................................................................... 124
diego Marín in Morocco  ....................................................................... 130
diego Marín’s diplomatic Career  ....................................................... 133
6 diego Bejarano Al-Ḥajarī and the Morisco Understanding
of the Lead Books  .................................................................................... 139
diego Bejarano or Aḥmad B. Qāsim Al-Ḥajarī  ............................... 139
Al-Ḥajarī and the Parchment and Lead Books  ............................... 144
How the Moriscos Read the Lead Books  .......................................... 148
7 Miguel de Luna: Historian, Novelist, Physician  .............................. 155
The Historia Verdadera Del Rey Don Rodrigo  .................................. 157
Physician: The Tratado De Los Baños (Treatise on Baths)  .......... 165
8 Miguel de Luna: Translator, Apologist, Author  .............................. 171
The Parchment  ......................................................................................... 171
Miguel de Luna, Pedro Guerra de Lorca, and Benito Arias
 Montano  ................................................................................................ 172
The Lead Books Translated  .................................................................. 174
The Solomonic Letters  ........................................................................... 176
Friendship with Joan de Faría  ............................................................. 183
Miguel de Luna and the Moriscos of Toledo:
 “There is No Better Moor in Spain”  .............................................. 187
9 Jerónimo Román de la Higuera: The False Chronicles
and the Sacromonte Lead Books  ........................................................ 195
Annius of Viterbo and Spain  ................................................................ 197
Jerónimo Román de la Higuera and the False Chronicles .......... 201
Saint James  ................................................................................................ 202
Toledo and the Cult of San Tirso  ........................................................ 205
Román de la Higuera and Alonso del Castillo  ............................... 206
Román de la Higuera and Pedro de Castro  ..................................... 207
Román de la Higuera, Miguel de Luna, and the Tower of
 Hercules  ................................................................................................. 213
contents vii
The True Cross of Caravaca  ................................................................ 215
The influence of Higuera: Jews and Phoenicians  ........................ 219
10 diego de Urrea  ........................................................................................ 225
diego de Urrea between italy and North Africa  .......................... 225
Urrea in Spain  ......................................................................................... 227
diego de Urrea and the Lead Books  ................................................ 230
Urrea the Historian ................................................................................ 233
diplomatic Missions  ............................................................................. 235
diego de Urrea in Naples  .................................................................... 236
Francisco de Gurmendi  ........................................................................ 241
11 Marcos dobelio  ....................................................................................... 245
The Sacromonte Seeks Arabic Translators  ..................................... 245
An Arabist in italy and Spain  ............................................................. 248
Marcos dobelio and the Arabic Manuscripts of El Escorial  ..... 253
Marcos dobelio’s Arabic Books  ......................................................... 254
A Partial Translation of Abū l-Fidāʾ ’s History  ............................... 260
A Translation of a Medical Work and a Grammar  ...................... 263
dobelio’s Papers  ..................................................................................... 265
12 Marcos dobelio and the Books from Pastrana: The islamic
Content of the Lead Books  ................................................................. 269
Writing and Necromancy  .................................................................... 272
Pastrana ..................................................................................................... 275
The Pastrana Books  ............................................................................... 280
Genealogies, Religious Polemic, and Stories of the Prophets  ... 282
Al-Bakrī’s Kitāb al-Anwār  ..................................................................... 285
islamic Texts for a Morisco Audience  ............................................. 289
Muhammad Alguazir or diego Alguacil  ......................................... 291
13 is The Arabic of the Lead Books the Language of islam?  ......... 295
The Laminae Granatenses and the Vatican Experts  .................... 297
Arabic in Rome  ....................................................................................... 298
Mohammedan Terms  ........................................................................... 304
14 Father Tomás de León and the Marquis of Mondéjar:
A Learned Correspondence  ................................................................ 307
Gaspar ibáñez de Segovia, Marquis of Agrópoli and of
 Mondéjar  ............................................................................................. 309
Father Tomás de León  .......................................................................... 310
viii contents
Works by Tomás de León  .................................................................... 312
Father Tirso González de Santalla  .................................................... 315
Tomás de León and the Sacromonte Abbey  ................................. 319
Tomás de León, Orientalist  ................................................................. 320
Networks of Arabists  ............................................................................. 322
Martín Vázquez Siruela  ........................................................................ 327
A Circle of Orientalists?  ....................................................................... 331
15 The Arabic Language and Orientalism in Spain ........................... 335
Learning Arabic: The Problem of Texts  .......................................... 336
Learning Arabic: The New Materials  ............................................... 339
Orientalist Books in Spain  ................................................................... 344
16 Al-Andalus in the History of Spain  ................................................... 353
Al-Andalus: Part of the History of Spain?  ...................................... 353
diego Pérez de Mesa  ............................................................................. 355
Arabic Sources for Writing the History of Spain:
 Luis del Mármol  ................................................................................ 358
diego de Guadix  ..................................................................................... 360
The Relics of al-Andalus  ...................................................................... 365
Continuities and Ruptures  .................................................................. 366
Problems of interpretation  ................................................................. 369
17 The Arabic Language as a Tool for Scholarship  ........................... 375
in defense of Oriental Languages  ..................................................... 375
Arabic Script  ............................................................................................ 380
Manuscripts and Translations  ............................................................ 386
18 The Orient in Spain  ............................................................................... 395
Problems of Chronology: The Hijra  .................................................. 395
The Orient in Spain: Judaism  ............................................................. 405
The Orient in Spain: Egypt  .................................................................. 409
Egyptian Chronology  ............................................................................ 413
“The Perverse domestic Enemies of the Church”  ........................ 416
Epilogue  ............................................................................................................. 423
Sources and Bibliography  ............................................................................. 425
illustrations  ....................................................................................................... 449
index of Persons  .............................................................................................. 461
index of Places  ................................................................................................. 472
ABBREViATiONS
AASG Archivo de la Abadía del Sacromonte, Granada
ACdF Archivio della Congregazione per la dottrina della Fede, Vatican,
Rome
AdC Archivo diocesano Conquense, Cuenca
AGS Archivo General de Simancas
AHN Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid
BAE Biblioteca de Autores Españoles
BAV Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Rome
BHR Biblioteca del Hospital Real, Granada
BNE Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid
BNF Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
CSiC Consejo Superior de investigaciones Científicas
Ei2 Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, Leiden: E.J. Brill
FUE Fundación Universitaria Española
iVdJ instituto Valencia de don Juan, Madrid
RAH Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid