One Land, Two Peasantries. Moriscos and Old Christians in the Upper Genal Valley, Málaga (16th – 18th Centuries) (original) (raw)

One land, Two peasantries: Moriscos and old Christians in the Upper Genal Valley, Málaga (16th-18th C.)

SETTLEMENT CHANGE ACROSS MEDIEVAL EUROPE OLD PARADIGMS AND NEW VISTAS, 2019

We present the results of research undertaken in the Genal Valley (Málaga, Spain), where Morisco and Castilian peasants coexisted for most of the 16th century. Our analysis of the written record, which was combined with fieldwork, enabled us to identify the agricultural areas used by both communities. Our examination of the distribution of land ownership has revealed that Morisco and Castilian fields formed separate compact blocks, and that the larger and flatter plots of land were owned by Castilians. We have also noted that the property of Moriscos tended to be fragmented into small plots, which must have prevented any single Morisco landowner from amassing large, compact blocks of land. The expulsion of the Moriscos in 1570 triggered a tendency towards the concentration of land in fewer hands.

Segregated Fields. Castilian and Morisco Peasants in Moclón (Málaga, Spain, Sixteenth Century)

International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2017

The aim of this paper is to analyze the distribution of the agricultural fields in the alquería of Moclón (Málaga. Spain) after the Castilian conquest of 1485. Moclón was populated by seven morisco neighbors and five Castilian settlers during the sixteenth century, until the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1570. The study of written evidence and the archaeological survey have permitted us to locate the fields of both communities. Clearly, there were segregated areas of irrigated and dry fields. The internal distribution of the Moriscos’ fields is also analyzed. Finally, some explanations for this segregation are put forward.

Land, Ceramics and Seigniorial Rents in the Late Middle Ages: the Manor of Manises in the Kingdom of Valencia, c. 1400-1575

Historia Agraria, 2023

During the last two centuries of the Late Middle Ages lords experienced a substantial fall in rents, which was exacerbated in the case of Valencia due to the small size of local manors. The will to keep their levels of incomes brought lords to demand higher burdens from their vassals, especially Muslims, while some nobles, in addition, invested in the productive structures of their estates. Such was the case in the manor of Manises, where since the early fourteenth century an important ceramicanufacturing had developed, which attracted the interest of buyers from all over Europe. This production took place in a medium-sized manorial village, inhabited by a mixed population of Muslims and Christians, which maintained its engagement with agricultural labour. The aim of this article is to analyse the rents of the manor of Manises through two unpublished and exceptional manorial sources, namely, two registries datable from the early fifteenth century and the early sixteenth century respectively,although the latter continued to be used until the end of the century. These allow the exploration of the structure of seigniorial revenues, showing the incidence that agrarian rents and those coming from ceramic production represented over the total. The tendency followed by the manorial rents in the long run is addressed and compared to those of other contemporary locations of the Kingdom of Valencia. Finally, the involvement of vassals in agriculture and ceramic manufacturing is also explored.

The early Castilian peasantry: an archaeological turn?

Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, 2009

Notions and interpretations of the peasantry of early medieval Castile evolved significantly during the twentieth century, along the lines of major historiographical changes. After a period largely dominated by the paradigm of legal and institutional history, the incorporation of social and economic approaches in the 1960s gave way to a significant increase in the volume of research and a deeper understanding of the articulation of local communities within the broader framework of early medieval Castilian society. This development was firmly rooted in changing visions of settlement and territorial structures and strongly biased towards social-political, rather than economic issues. This article aims to argue that we are now in the initial phase of a major turn defined by the sudden rise of the archaeology of early medieval peasant settlements. The combination of material culture and environmental date recovered from those sites are quickly forming a substantial body of fresh information to combine with a stable wellknown documentary corpus. These changes are opening the gate to a new, exciting horizon for research in this field, although they also pose a great challenge for both historians and archaeologists, who will need to build a hybrid conceptual space where the hitherto dominant textual information and methodologies can accomodate the increasing impact of archaeology.