Abstract
AbstractThe aim of this article is to broaden our knowledge of the metrological system of the Morisco period in the kingdom of Granada and, more specifically, in the rural area of the Alpujarra. The sources used in the analysis are two inventories of ecclesiastical goods from Islamic origin, drawn up in 1527 and 1530, four decades after the culmination of the Christian conquest of al-Andalus. The article explores the agrarian units of measurement used by the Morisco community of the Alpujarra in their daily lives (measures of surface area and length, weight or mass, volume or capacity, and of water used for irrigation). As far as possible, equivalences are presented for the units discussed. Attempts are made to establish whether these measures were inherited from the Andalusi period or whether, on the contrary, they were the result of the implementation of Castilian legislation on the matter. The data gathered have revealed the existence of a hybrid measurement system, which shows that the ordinances to modify the system of weights and measures of the Muslims and to seek a correspondence with the Castilian system had little effect in the Alpujarra, where, in many cases, the Islamic system of measurement continued in use. This circumstance indicates that the changes and transformations in the daily life of this rural community after the Christian conquest were not as imminent as might have been expected.
Highlights
The aim of this article is to broaden our knowledge of the metrological system of the Morisco period in the kingdom of Granada and, in the rural area of the Alpujarra
The current bibliography contains hardly any researches focusing on the analysis of measurements in the kingdom of Granada during the period of transition between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era. This was a time characterised by great complexity as a result of the culmination of the conquest of al-Andalus by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492 and the subsequent conversion to Christianity of the Granadan Moriscos in 1501.1 It should be pointed out that, after the fall of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada −the last Islamic stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula−, the Muslims largely continued with their way of life, but the status quo was soon disrupted: they faced the dilemma of conversion or exile
This article will focus on analysing the metrological system of the Moriscos in the Alpujarra ‒a rural area located south of the city of Granada,3 in order to elucidate whether this system represented a rupture or a continuity with past practices
Summary
The books of habices of 1527 and 1530 provide an insight into the organization of the productive activities in the Alpujarran districts of Poqueira, Ferreira, Jubiles, Ugíjar and Andarax, where agriculture was the foundation of the economy. Despite the existence of dryland farming, most of the agricultural activity was based on horticulture and arboriculture, and depended on irrigation; it is in this field where much of the metrological terminology is found Among other things, these inventories frequently collect information on the extension of the farmlands corresponding to ecclesiastical habices. The length and width of the plots are usually provided; on occasions, the highest and the lowest point appear in areas with a marked slope. Very rarely, both the area and the length are recorded in a hybrid form
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