Retelling interreligious marriage, from Andalusi Christians to Moriscos

Abstract

This article brings into question the use of Eulogius of Córdoba’s writings about the martyrs of Córdoba as a historical source for the study of intermarriage between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula, on the grounds of a critical analysis of the edition of Eulogius’s manuscript by the sixteenth-century royal chronicler Ambrosio de Morales. It argues that Morales had a very specific agenda, conditioned by his quest for relics for the monastery of El Escorial and his involvement in the building of a new cathedral inside the mosque of Córdoba, sanctioned by these same relics. He was also deeply moved by the discussion of mixed marriages between Old Christians and Moriscos, and by the social impact of the martyrdom of Christians during the Morisco revolts in the Alpujarras. Nevertheless, other unquestionable medieval sources show that mixed households were indeed perceived as a milieu where religious dissension or apostasy were likely to arise. The evidence provided by Paulus Alvarus of Córdoba, the Acts of Councils and the Council Canons compiled between the ninth and eleventh centuries are revisited in order to show how Andalusi Christian society sought to differentiate itself from other communities through the regulation of family ties, in the same way as the other churches of the Islamicate world.