An appeal of the Moriscos to the Mamluk sultan and its counterpart to the Ottoman court: Textual analysis, context, and wider historical background

An appeal of the Moriscos to the Mamluk sultan and its counterpart to the Ottoman court: Textual analysis, context, and wider historical background

The present article deals with a shorter and different version of the poem containing a Morisco appeal to the Ottoman Empire, studied by James Monroe in Al-Andalus 31 (1966), 281-303. The shorter version proves that there had been another, similar appeal for help by the Moriscos which was directed, not to the Ottoman court, but to the Mamluk Sultan in Cairo. A close examination of the Mamlūkī and the Ottoman versions shows that the shorter version, directed to the Mamluk Sultan, was the original one. The present article contains (I) a comparative analysis of the Mamluk and the Ottoman versions of the qaṣīda, (II) a sketch of the wider historical framework of the international relations between the Christian and Muslim kingdoms of Spain on the one hand, and the Mamluk and Ottoman empire on the other hand, and (III) a discussion of the date of both versions of the qaṣīda (in the beginning of 1500 and first half of 1501, respectively) and of its authorship. It seems likely that the we have to look for the author of the qaṣīda in circles of Granadan Muslims who had belonged to the ruling class and, having accepted Christian rule, decided to accept administrative responsibility, such as for example several members of the al-Baqannī family (el Pequeñí in the Christian sources), some of whom who had first emigrated with Ibn al-Azraq to North Africa, but had returned and became members of the ruling Mudejar class.

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