Disfrutar
in the Alhambra

Mr José González Vílchez
The Morisco uprising led to a terrible war marked by especially bloody moments of extreme cruelty with thousands of innocent victims. This tragedy was played out from 1568 to 1571 and is known as the Rebellion of the Alpujarras, as the city of Granada itself and the neighbouring towns in the Vega were hardly involved, opting to sit on the fence, although the rebellion later spread to the rural areas of Almería and Málaga. 
This was the most serious war in Spanish history until the War of Independence and was the result of a long period of constant conflict.
Respect for the the peace agreement signed in Santa Fe by which the Sultan surrendered to the Christians soon began to crumble. Within three years of the fall of Granada, the agreement suffered a severe setback with the actions of Cardinal Cisneros in 1499 and a definitive coup de grace with the repressive measures taken at the Royal Chapel in 1526.
From that moment on, this situation got worse and worse due above all to the discrimination against the Moriscos in both fiscal and legal matters, culminating in the rising that led to the war. These events took place in a mountainous area in which it was easy for the monfíes (morisco bandits) to hide out and make surprise attacks and ambushes.  
Most of the morisco population was removed from the Kingdom of Granada, but as we will see during this talk, some remained. Recent studies indicate perhaps surprisingly that although officially in Spain from the beginning of the 17th century onwards there were no moriscos, in fact this was not the case and even in the city of Granada itself some families managed to live on, maintaining their customs and religious rituals, at times even while continuing to hold a privileged position within Granada society.   
The expulsion of the moriscos was not the final solution or at least not the definitive one, there is evidence of various mechanisms of resistance, some of which is invisible, that remains and will continue to remain with us for a long time.  
Time: 2nd and 3rd Sundays 10^th and 17^th April, at 12.00
Place: Museum of the Alhambra, Palace of Charles V