Early Modern History: Society and Culture General Editors: Rab Houston, Professor of Early Modern History, University of St Andrews, Scotland and Edward Muir, Professor of History, Northwestern University, Illinois This series encompasses all aspects of early modern international history from 1400 to c.1800. The editors seek fresh and adventurous monographs, especially those with a comparative and theoretical approach, from both new and established scholars. Titles include: Guido Alfani CALAMITIES AND ECONOMY IN RENAISSANCE ITALY The Grand Tour of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse Robert C. Davis CHRISTIAN SLAVES, MUSLIM MASTERS White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast, and Italy, 1500 1800 Rudolf Dekker CHILDHOOD, MEMORY AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY IN HOLLAND From the Golden Age to Romanticism Caroline Dodds Pennock BONDS OF BLOOD Gender, Lifecycle and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture Elizabeth Drayson THE LEAD BOOKS OF GRANADA Steve Hindle THE STATE AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND, 1550 1640 Katharine Hodgkin MADNESS IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY AUTOBIOGRAPHY Craig M. Koslofsky THE REFORMATION OF THE DEAD Death and Ritual in Early Modern Germany, 1450 1700 Beat Kümin DRINKING MATTERS Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe John Jeffries Martin MYTHS OF RENAISSANCE INDIVIDUALISM A. Lynn Martin ALCOHOL, SEX AND GENDER IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN EUROPE Peter Mazur THE NEW CHRISTIANS OF SPANISH NAPLES 1528 1671 A Fragile Elite Laura J. McGough GENDER, SEXUALITY AND SYPHILIS IN EARLY MODERN VENICE The Disease that Came to Stay Samantha A. Meigs THE REFORMATIONS IN IRELAND Tradition and Confessionalism, 1400 1690
Craig Muldrew THE ECONOMY OF OBLIGATION The Culture of Credit and Social Relations in Early Modern England Niall Ó Ciosáin PRINT AND POPULAR CULTURE IN IRELAND, 1750 1850 H. Eric R. Olsen THE CALABRIAN CHARLATAN, 1598 1603 Messianic Nationalism in Early Modern Europe Penny Roberts PEACE AND AUTHORITY DURING THE FRENCH RELIGIOUS WARS C.1560 1600 Thomas Max Safley MATHEUS MILLER S MEMOIR A Merchant s Life in the Seventeenth Century Clodagh Tait DEATH, BURIAL AND COMMEMORATION IN IRELAND, 1550 1650 B. Ann Tlusty THE MARTIAL ETHIC IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY Civic Duty and the Right of Arms Richard W. Unger SHIPS ON MAPS Pictures of Power in Renaissance Europe Johan Verberckmoes LAUGHTER, JESTBOOKS AND SOCIETY IN THE SPANISH NETHERLANDS Claire Walker GENDER AND POLITICS IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE English Convents in France and the Low Countries Johannes. C. Wolfart RELIGION, GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CULTURE IN EARLY MODERN GERMANY Lindau, 1520 1628 Melinda Zook PROTESTANTISM, POLITICS, AND WOMEN IN BRITAIN, 1660 1714 Forthcoming titles: Caroline Dodds LIVING WITH SACRIFICE Also by Elizabeth Drayson THE KING AND THE WHORE: King Roderick and La Cava (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007) Early Modern History: Society and Culture Series Standing Order ISBN 978 0 333 71194 1 (Hardback) 978 0 333 880320 2 (Paperback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
The Lead Books of Granada Elizabeth Drayson Senior Lecturer in Spanish, Murray Edwards College and Peterhouse, University of Cambridge
Elizabeth Drayson 2013 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 2013 978-1-137-35884-4 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-47135-5 ISBN 978-1-137-35885-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137358851 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
To Fiona Isabel MacDonald
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Contents List of Illustrations Timeline Preface Acknowledgements ix xi xiii xv 1 A Mystery Unfolds 1 2 Books of Spells or Sacred Revelations? 9 3 History, Religion, Culture: Contextualizing Sixteenth-Century Granada 38 4 Prime Suspect: Alonso del Castillo 55 5 Miguel de Luna Hoaxer, Heretic or Hero? 68 6 As Precious as the Ark of the Covenant 94 7 Unification in Opposition: The Strategy of Ambivalence 113 8 Opposing Factions 140 9 Acts of Rebellion 166 10 Fact, Fiction, Myth: The Afterlife of the Lead Books 193 11 The Lead Books Today 223 Appendix 1: Titles of the Lead Books 242 Appendix 2: Summaries of the Content of the Lead Books of Granada 245 Appendix 3: Translation of the Lead Book entitled, Libro de la Historia de la Verdad del Evangelio, (Kitāb tara ij haqīq al-aynīl in Arabic), from the Spanish version by Adán Centurión, Marquis of Estepa 251 vii
viii Contents Appendix 4: A Translator at Work 257 Appendix 5: Al Monte Santo de Granada, sonnet by Luis de Góngora 259 Notes 260 Select Bibliography 275 Index 283
Illustrations Figures 1.1 Cardinal Ratzinger hands over the Lead Books in Rome (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 2 1.2 Workmen demolishing the Torre Turpiana, seventeenth-century engraving by Heylan (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 4 2.1 Funerary plaque of Saint Cecilius, seventeenth-century engraving by Heylan (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 19 2.2 Engraving of the Emerald Tablet 20 2.3 The Phaistos Disk at the archaeological museum of Heraklion 21 2.4 Jordanian Lead Tablet 23 2.5 Cover of the Lead Book entitled Essence of God 24 2.6 Lead Books on display at the abbey of the Sacromonte 24 2.7 Seal of Solomon on one of the Lead Books (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 25 2.8 Example of script of the Lead Books (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 27 2.9 Seal of Solomon on door of chapter house, abbey of the Sacromonte (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 30 2.10 Seals of Solomon found in Lead Books (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 32 6.1 One of the crosses paying homage to the martyrs on the Sacromonte (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 95 7.1 Archbishop Pedro de Castro holding one of the Lead Books (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 115 7.2 Archbishop Pedro de Castro climbs the Sacromonte in the early hours, seventeenth-century engraving, Heylan (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 121 7.3 Council meeting of 1600 at archbishop s palace, seventeenth-century engraving, Heylan (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 125 7.4 Interior of the collegiate church altarpiece of the presbytery with statues of the martyred bishops and the relics (abbey of Sacromonte archive) 127 ix
x List of Illustrations 8.1 Benito Arias Montano, Atr. Zurbarán, Biblioteca del Escorial (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 146 9.1 Monument of the Virgin del Triunfo, Granada 167 9.2 Seat of authority of the founder Archbishop Pedro de Castro, showing his personal seal (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 169 9.3 Saint James the Moorslayer on the Monument of the Virgen del Triunfo 170 9.4 Statue of Saint Cecilius on the façade of the hermitage in the Albaicín, Granada 183 9.5 The catacombs of the abbey of the Sacromonte 188 9.6 Chest containing the funerary relics of the martyrs on the altar of the collegiate church of the Sacromonte (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 189 9.7 Saint James preaching in Granada, by Bocanegra, Upper Galleries, abbey of the Sacromonte (abbey of the Sacromonte archive) 190 11.1 Main mosque of Granada 225 11.2 View of the abbey of the Sacromonte from the Alhambra 227 11.3 Facade of the abbey of the Sacromonte 230 11.4 Inner courtyard, abbey of the Sacromonte 230
Timeline 1491 Agreements surrounding the surrender of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada to the Catholic monarchs. 1492 Surrender of the Muslim city of Granada to Christian forces on 2 January. 1499 Mass conversions of Granadan Muslims. 1500 Rebellion in the Albaicín quarter of Granada against the Christians reneging on their agreements. 1501 Decree ordering the baptism of the Granadan Moriscos. 1502 Decree of expulsion or conversion of the Muslims living under Christian rule (mudéjares) in the kingdom of Castile. 1524 Pope Clement VII permits the expulsion of unbaptized Muslims. 1567 Decree prohibiting Moriscos in perpetuity from all customs and habits judged to have Muslim origins. Francisco Núñez Muley writes a defence of the customs prohibited, trying to differentiate between local and religious. 1568 Armed uprising in various towns in the Alpujarra region of the kingdom of Granada. The war of Granada begins. 1570 Final defeat of the rebels at the siege of Galera. Deportation of Granadan Moriscos to various territories in Castile. 1582 Council meeting in Lisbon at which the expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain is officially requested by King Philip II. 1588 Discovery of the Torre Turpiana parchment and relics. 1595 The first of the Lead Books is discovered on the Valparaíso mountain, together with bones and ashes. 1598 King Philip III ascends to the throne. 1609 Twelve-year peace treaty is signed with rebel Dutch provinces. Edict of expulsion of the Valencian Moriscos is made public. 1610 Edict of expulsion of Andalusian Moriscos is proclaimed in Seville; announcement of edict of expulsion of Moriscos in Castile, Extremadura and la Mancha; edict of expulsion of Aragonese Moriscos. Founding of the abbey of the Sacromonte, Granada. 1614 Final expulsion of Moriscos from the Valle de Ricote in Murcia. xi
xii Timeline 1619 Death of Miguel de Luna. 1621 King Philip IV ascends to the throne. 1623 Death of Archbishop Pedro de Castro. 1682 Condemnation of the Lead Books by the Vatican as heretical Morisco texts.
Preface This book has two sources of inspiration. The first is the desire to bring to the fore a man who has not been regarded as a hero, chiefly because of his duplicitous involvement in archaeological and literary forgeries. Yet this man risked everything for the sake of his religion and to preserve the way of life he and his fellow Spaniards enjoyed in the beautiful kingdom of Granada and elsewhere in Spain during the second half of the sixteenth century. The history of mankind is full of unsung heroes and heroines who sacrificed everything for a cause, but who have been forgotten within a generation. Miguel de Luna should not be one of those who languish in oblivion. Although he achieved a degree of notoriety during his own lifetime in Spain, he is largely unknown in the modern world outside the Hispanic Peninsula, and even within it. His extraordinary story deserves to be told. The second source of inspiration is a desire to draw attention to the monstrous injustice inflicted upon a group of Spaniards, an injustice which brought with it physical and emotional cruelty, exile and death. The Moriscos, Moorish converts to Catholicism living in Spain in the late 1500s, were the victims of a situation whose origins and existence lay beyond their control for complex reasons that harked back to the eighth century. The ancestors of the Moriscos had created a rich artistic, cultural and intellectual milieu in Spain during the Middle Ages. After an 800-year presence in this country, the right of these people to consider themselves native Spaniards was undermined by the new Catholic regime; their cultural and religious customs were condemned, and they were finally forced to leave their homeland. This was an act equivalent to making all English people descended from the Norman French leave the British Isles, never to return. The Lead Books of Granada tells a story of resistance and creative ingenuity in the face of overwhelmingly powerful religious and political forces, a resistance embodied in a hidden network of courageous, idealistic men, two of whom lived a double life at the heart of the royal court of Spain. The end of their story was not a happy one, and it remained virtually unacknowledged and even suppressed until the 1980s, when a series of important manuscripts came to light, written by Moriscos in their own unique language, which brought the plight of the Muslims of early xiii
xiv Preface modern Spain into focus. The events of recent years have reinforced the sense that the time is right to bring these matters fully into the light of day, and, fortunately, a considerable body of scholarly writing now exists in the field of Morisco studies. Despite this, the astonishing events that took place in Spain from 1568 until 1682 remain largely unknown outside scholarly circles. It is my hope that this book will draw wider attention to those events, as well as to their repercussions and implications for contemporary religious and cultural issues.
Acknowledgements Sincere gratitude is due to the many colleagues and friends in both England and Spain who have helped and encouraged me in the years taken to research and write this book. First and foremost, I give special thanks to Don Juan Sánchez Ocaña, former abbot and current archivist of the abbey of the Sacromonte, and María Luisa García Valverde, who welcomed me to the abbey archive, treated me with great kindness and friendliness, and made available the majority of the images used in the text. Also in Granada, I received great help and encouragement from Mercedes Castillo Ferreira, José María Pérez Fernández and Miguel José Hagerty, all of whom generously shared their valuable time and expertise. Thanks are also due to José María Pérez Lledó from the Ayuntamiento de Granada, and to the archivists and staff of the cathedral and municipal archives, as well as to Francisco M. González de la Oliva, Director of the Museo Casa de los Tiros in Granada. I have benefited enormously from the suggestions and advice of Mercedes García-Arenal, Luis Bernabé Pons, Pieter van Koningsveld, Philip Davies and Pat Harvey, all of whom were kind enough to share their ideas and research with me. Jenny McCall and Holly Tyler have provided invaluable editorial assistance, expertise and patience, for which I am extremely grateful, and Francis Arumugam steered me safely through the production process. I also thank the students and colleagues at Cambridge and elsewhere who have shown such interest in my project. Deepest thanks to my husband Kiernan Ryan, who is my inspiration and my rock, and to my daughter Fiona, to whom this book is dedicated. xv