Treaty of Granada
The Capitulation of Granada by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz: Boabdil surrenders to Ferdinand and Isabella
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| Context | The Reconquista and the Spanish annexation of the Emirate of Granada |
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| Signed | November 25, 1491 |
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The Treaty of Granada was signed and ratified on November 25, 1491 between Boabdil, the sultan of Granada, and Ferdinand and Isabella, the King and Queen of Castile, León, Aragon and Sicily. It ended the Granada War which had started in 1482, culminating in the siege and battle of Granada beginning in spring 1491.
Also known as the Capitulation of Granada, the treaty provided a short truce, followed by the relinquishment in January 1492 of the sovereignty of the Moorish Emirate of Granada (founded five centuries earlier) to the Catholic monarchs of Spain. The treaty guaranteed a set of rights to the Moors, including religious tolerance and fair treatment in return for their surrender and capitulation.
The Catholics' subsequent policy inviting the Moors to either convert or be expelled triggered an uprising by the Moors in 1500, and the Catholic side used this uprising to argue that the Moors had violated the Treaty and justify revoking its provisions. See Morisco rebellions in Granada.
The capitulation of 1492 contained sixty-seven articles among which were the following:
Initially, the Catholic conquerors implemented and reinforced the generous terms of the treaty. A joint municipal council was established in Granada, and the Muslims were allowed to elect their own representatives. Despite pressure from the Spanish clergy, Ferdinand chose a laissez-faire policy towards the Muslim in the hope that interaction with Catholics will make them "understand the error" of their faith and abandon it. Hernando de Talavera, a friar of converso origins known for his moderation and piety, was appointed as the archbishop of Granada. He was known for his preference of preaching based on "Catholic reasoning" as opposed to "punishments and lashes". When Ferdinand and Isabella visited the city in the summer of 1499, they were greeted by enthusiastic crowd, including Muslims.
At the same time, cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the archbishop of Toledo, arrived in Granada and began working alongside Talavera. Cisneros disliked Talavera's approach, and began sending uncooperative Muslims, especially the noblemen, to prison where they were treated harshly until they agreed to convert. Emboldened by the increase in conversions, Cisneros intensified the efforts and in December 1499 he told Pope Alexander VI that three thousand Muslims converted in a single day. Cisneros' own church council warned that these methods might be a breach of the Treaty, and sixteenth-century hagiographer Álvar Gómez de Castro described the approach as "methods that were not correct".
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