In Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614, Matthew Carr explores how, following the 1492 conquest of Granada, the sixteenth-century Spanish monarchy conducted peninsula-wide expulsions and conversions of Muslims as well as Jews. Ed Jones finds in the book’s historical analysis a valuable cautionary tale for contemporary public conversations surrounding immigration and integration regarding the consequences of legitimating fear and violence

Jones, Ed

LSE Research Online

Book	Review:	Blood	and	Faith:	The	Purging	ofMuslim	Spain,	1492-1614	by	Matthew	CarrIn	Blood	and	Faith:	The	Purging	of	Muslim	Spain,	1492-1614,	Matthew	Carr	explores	how,	following	the	1492conquest	of	Granada,	the	sixteenth-century	Spanish	monarchy	conducted	peninsula-wide	expulsions	andconversions	of	Muslims	as	well	as	Jews.	Ed	Jones	finds	in	the	book’s	historical	analysis	a	valuable	cautionarytale	for	contemporary	public	conversations	surrounding	immigration	and	integration	regarding	the	consequencesof	legitimating	fear	and	violence.	Blood	and	Faith:	The	Purging	of	Muslim	Spain,	1492-1614.	Matthew	Carr.	Hurst.	2017	(PB	edition).	Find	this	book:	Four	hundred	years	later,	the	destruction	of	the	Moriscos	isan	example	of	what	can	happen	when	a	society	succumbsto	its	worst	instincts	and	its	worst	fears	in	an	attempt	to	castout	its	imaginary	devils.The	closing	lines	of	Matthew	Carr’s	Blood	and	Faith:	The	Purgingof	Muslim	Spain,	1492-1614	are	a	lucid	illustration	of	the	salienceof	his	book	in	today’s	world.	Carr	gracefully	explores	the	wayfifteenth-century	Muslims,	Jews	and	Christians	who	inhabited	theIberian	Peninsula	understood	one	another,	before	plunging	into	astory	of	conquests,	crusades,	assimilation	and	the	expulsion	ofJews	and	Muslims.In	Carr’s	telling,	following	the	1492	conquest	of	Granada,	thesixteenth-century	Spanish	monarchy	gave	in	to	fanatical	Christiantendencies	and	conducted	peninsula-wide	conversions	andexpulsions	of	both	Jews	and	Muslims.	Those	Muslims	whoconverted	to	Christianity	were	allowed	to	remain	in	the	peninsulaand	became	known	as	‘Moriscos’.	However,	a	culture	of	fear	andzealotry	gained	strength	and	culminated	in	the	1609	edictaccusing	the	Moriscos	of	heresy,	which	led	to	the	expulsion	oftens	of	thousands.	Seventeenth-century	political	economistsbemoaned	the	damage	this	population	loss	inflicted	on	Spanishagriculture,	and	would	blame	Spain’s	subsequent	economicdecline	on	the	effects	of	this	religious	zealotry.Carr’s	work	belongs	to	the	historiography	on	Great	Powers:	one	that	seeks	to	explain	the	rise	and	fall	of	empiresand	states.	In	this	regard,	the	work	explores	how	Spain’s	self-perceived	need	to	remain	at	the	helm	of	CatholicEurope	pitted	it	against	Protestant	and	Muslim	nations	alike.	Stoking	the	fear	of	invasion,	domination	andencirclement	of	the	peninsula	only	encouraged	short-sighted	and	tyrannical	grand	gestures	against	the	Muslimpopulation,	and	ultimately	hindered	Spain’s	peninsular	economy.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 by Matthew Carr Page 1 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-13Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/13/book-review-blood-and-faith-the-purging-of-muslim-spain-1492-1614-by-matthew-carr/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/Image	Credit:	Alhambra,	Granada	(Barbara	Eckstein	CC	BY	2.0)It	is	nonetheless	rather	regrettable	that	Carr	does	not	frame	his	study	within	a	broader	historical	context	that	couldinclude	the	focal	relationship	between	the	dynamics	of	the	conquest	of	Granada	and	that	of	America	–	for	this,one	may	read	John	Elliott’s	body	of	work,	particularly	his	seminal	book	Imperial	Spain:	1469-1716,	to	learn	howthe	narrative	and	practices	of	the	former	served	as	a	blueprint	for	the	conquistadors	of	the	New	World.	Carr’saccount	also	turns	on	a	number	of	tropes	that	have	long	been	discredited	by	the	historiography	surroundingSpain’s	medieval	fanaticism.	The	failure	to	acknowledge	how	Spain’s	treatment	of	Muslims	contributed	to	the‘Black	Legend’	–	a	narrative	that	saw	Spain’s	backwardness	as	the	result	of	the	protracted	effects	of	institutionssuch	as	the	Inquisition	–	undermines	some	of	the	analysis.Carr’s	work	is	best	understood	as	an	allegory	to	illuminate	present	dilemmas	about	migration	and	integration.	Inthat	sense,	Carr	navigates	issues	of	assimilation	and	integration	rather	elegantly,	and	arrives	at	carefullyconsidered	conclusions	with	his	deft	analysis	of	the	events	that	led	to	the	expulsion	and	its	aftermath.	Indeed,Carr	has	written	a	valuable	cautionary	tale	for	the	public	on	the	pathways	that	crystallise	imaginary	evils.	And	it	isonly	in	the	book’s	epilogue	that	the	echoes	between	past	and	present	can	truly	be	heard,	and	where	Carr	carvesout	the	most	alarming	connections	between	the	seemingly	distant	practices	of	late-medieval	Spain	and	today’sworld.Carr	shows	that	the	spread	of	secularism	in	the	twentieth	century	failed	to	act	as	a	barrier	to	ethnic	cleansing.Instead,	bigotry	and	hatred	have	found	new	forms	of	legitimation	and	new	outlets	for	their	discourse.Technological	changes	have	equally	failed	to	act	as	a	bulwark.	Rather,	in	many	ways,	they	have	amplified	thesevoices.	For	all	of	modernity’s	progress,	the	construction	of	the	other	appears	to	be	made	from	the	samesubstance.	As	Carr	suggests,	today’s	notion	of	Muslims	as	the	‘enemy	from	within’	echoes	past	formulations	ofthe	Morisco	as	a	‘domestic	enemy’.This	febrile	antagonism	both	resembles	and	encourages	a	narrative	of	fear,	aided	by	metaphors	of	contagion	andmetastasis	that	serve	primarily	to	dehumanise	migrants.	As	Carr	shows,	these	narratives	would	also	be	applied	toJews	of	nineteenth-century	and	early-twentieth-century	Europe.	Too	often	this	logic	has	directly	informedcontemporary	policies	of	assimilation	which	impose	a	model	of	social	integration	onto	an	imagined	community,rather	than	negotiating	cultural	and	social	differences	between	host	and	guest	cultures.	Carr’s	hope	is	that	thebook	will	convey	the	flawed	logic	of	forced	assimilation,	a	government	approach	that	only	spurs	distrust	andantipathy.LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 by Matthew Carr Page 2 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-13Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/13/book-review-blood-and-faith-the-purging-of-muslim-spain-1492-1614-by-matthew-carr/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/At	the	time	of	first	writing	this	review,	a	van	had	just	ploughed	through	the	busiest	pedestrian	street	in	Barcelona,Spain’s	second	largest	city.	The	incident	took	place	on	the	same	day	that	the	frontier	between	Ceuta	andMorocco	was	reopened,	after	it	was	shut	for	ten	days	due	to	several	attempts	to	jump	across	the	frontier.	A	fewhours	earlier,	the	Spanish	spokeswoman	for	the	UN’s	refugee	commission	stated	Spain	lacked	‘the	resourcesand	capacity	to	protect	the	rising	number	of	refugees	and	migrants	reaching	it	by	sea’.	The	statement	wasdelivered	in	response	to	events	earlier	in	the	week,	when	the	Spanish	coastguard	reported	600	migrants	hadbeen	rescued	from	drowning,	including	a	baby.Making	sense	of	these	events	and	formulating	policies	to	respond	to	the	core	problems	that	perpetuate	them	isno	easy	challenge.	Blood	and	Faith	makes	clear	that	bigoted,	short-sighted,	self-seeking	grandiose	gestures	arenot	the	solution.	Just	a	few	weeks	after	the	Barcelona	attack,	Donald	Trump	announced	the	end	of	the	DeferredAction	for	Childhood	Arrivals	(DACA),	which	protected	close	to	800,000	undocumented	immigrants,	once	broughtto	the	US	as	children,	from	deportation.	The	narrative	surrounding	the	decision	relied	on	the	dehumanisation	ofMexican	immigrants,	illegal	or	otherwise,	a	narrative	that	may	have	been	familiar	to	a	seventeenth-centurySpaniard.Can	books	like	Carr’s	spur	the	public	conversation	into	a	historically-minded	approach	to	the	future?	It	was	theSpanish-born	philosopher	Jorge	Santayana	who	stated	the	famous	dictum	about	the	perils	of	repeating	history,and	in	doing	so,	displayed	some	of	the	prejudices	that	still	haunt	political	discourse	in	our	times:	‘progress,	farfrom	consisting	in	change,	depends	on	retentiveness	[…]	and	when	experience	is	not	retained,	as	amongsavages,	infancy	is	perpetual.	Those	who	cannot	remember	the	past	are	condemned	to	repeat	it.’	We	mustremember	to	face	our	devils,	imaginary	or	otherwise,	through	the	better	angels	in	our	nature.Ed	Jones	is	a	graduate	of	the	LSE	and	a	PhD	Candidate	in	History	at	the	University	of	Cambridge,	with	a	focuson	early	modern	Spain.	Read	more	by	Ed	Jones.Note:	This	review	gives	the	views	of	the	author,	and	not	the	position	of	the	LSE	Review	of	Books	blog,	or	of	theLondon	School	of	Economics.	LSE Review of Books: Book Review: Blood and Faith: The Purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 by Matthew Carr Page 3 of 3		Date originally posted: 2017-09-13Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/13/book-review-blood-and-faith-the-purging-of-muslim-spain-1492-1614-by-matthew-carr/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/

Book review: blood and faith: the purging of Muslim Spain, 1492-1614 by Matthew Carr

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