Mudéjar
Mudéjar
Muslims living in the Iberian Peninsula after the Reconquista
Mudéjar[lower-alpha 1] were Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period following the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for Mudejar art, which was much influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for Christian patrons.
Mudéjar was originally the term used for Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not initially forcibly converted to Christianity or exiled. The word Mudéjar references several historical interpretations and cultural borrowings. It was a medieval Castilian borrowing of the Arabic word Mudajjan مدجن, meaning "subjugated; tamed", or al-Madjun المدجون meaning "those who remained or stayed on", referring to Muslims who remained and submitted to the rule of Christian kings. The term likely originated as a taunt, as the word was usually applied to domesticated animals such as poultry.[5] The term Mudéjar also can be translated from Arabic as "one permitted to remain", which refers to the Christians allowing Muslims to remain in Christian Iberia.
Another term with the same meaning, ahl al-dajn ("people who stay on"), was used by Muslim writers, notably al-Wansharisi in his work Kitab al-Mi'yar.[5] Mudéjars in Iberia lived under a protected tributary status known as dajn, which refer to ahl al-dajn. This protected status suggested subjugation at the hands of Christian rulers, as the word dajn resembled haywanāt dājina meaning "tame animals". Their protected status was enforced by the fueros or local charters which dictated Christians laws. Muslims of other regions outside of the Iberian Peninsula disapproved of the Mudéjar subjugated status and their willingness to live under subjugation.[6]
Mudéjar was used in contrast to both Muslims in Muslim-ruled areas (for example, Muslims of Granada before 1492) and Moriscos, who were forcibly converted and may or may not have continued to secretly practice Islam.[7]
The Treaty of Granada (1491) protected religious and cultural freedoms for Muslims in the imminent transition from the Emirate of Granada to a province of Castile. After the fall of the last Islamic kingdom in the Battle of Granada in January 1492, the Mudéjars, unlike the Jews who were expelled that same year, kept a protected religious status, although there were Catholic efforts to convert them. However, over the next several years, their religious freedom deteriorated and they were increasingly persecuted.
Islam was outlawed in Portugal by 1497,[8] the Crown of Castile by 1502,[9] and the Crown of Aragon by 1526,[10] forcing the Mudéjars to convert or leave the country.[11] Following the forced conversions, they faced suspicions that they were not truly converted but remained crypto-Muslims, and were known as Moriscos. The Moriscos, too, were eventually expelled, in 1609–1614.