On money, properties and expulsions: Mudejars and Granadan Moriscos in Campo de Calatrava

Abstract

The Moriscos from Granada suffered serious economic losses after the War of the Alpujarras, with their enforced exile to Castile dispossessing them of their real estate and leaving those who managed to settle in Castile with only a few personal assets for rebuilding their existence.Forty years later, when Philip III decreed their final expulsion, the Moriscos were again forced to abandon their properties. Once again, their real estate was seized by the Crown, and although they were allowed to retain personal property and money, they had to register and surrender half of the value of these assets before embarking for exile. The aim of this chapter is twofold: first, to analyse the strategies followed by Morisco families for integrating into the economic life of Castile and, second, to scrutinise the mechanisms they used to save their patrimony when they were forced to leave.