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Forced conversions of Muslims in Spain


The forced conversions of Muslims in Spain were enacted through a series of edicts outlawing Islam in the lands of Spain. This effort was overseen by three Spanish monarchies during the early 16th century: the Crown of Castile in 1500–1502, followed by Navarre in 1515–1516, and lastly the Crown of Aragon in 1523–1526.

After Christian kingdoms finished their conquest of Islamic Spain in 1492, the Muslim population stood between 500,000 and 600,000 people. At this time Muslims who lived under Christian rule were given the status of Mudéjar, legally allowing the open practice of Islam. In 1499, the Kingdom of Granada's Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros began a campaign in the city of Granada to forcibly coerce religious compliance with Christianity with torture and imprisonment; this triggered a Muslim rebellion. When the rebellion was eventually quelled, the kingdom's efforts to convert the Muslims of Granada were redoubled. In 1502, in order to cement their religious authority, the Crown of Castile issued an edict which banned Islam for all people living within the Kingdom of Grenada. With the annexation of the Iberian Navarre in 1515, more Muslims still were forced to observe Christian beliefs under the Castilian edict. The last realm to impose conversion was the Crown of Aragon, whose kings had previously been bound to guarantee the freedom of religion for its Muslims under an oath included in their coronations. In the early 1520s, an anti-Islam uprising known as the Revolt of the Brotherhoods took place, and Muslims under the rebel territories were forced to convert. When the Aragon royal forces, aided by Muslims, suppressed the rebellion, King Charles I of Aragon (better known as Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire) ruled that those forcible conversions were valid; thus, the "converts" were now officially Christians. This placed the converts under the jurisdiction of the Spanish Inquisition. Finally, in 1524, Charles petitioned Pope Clement VII to release the king from his oath protecting Muslims' freedom of religion. This granted him the authority to officially act against the remaining Muslim population; in late 1525, he issued an official edict of conversion: Islam was no longer officially extant throughout Spain.


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