Blood and Faith

The Purging of Muslim Spain

Nonfiction, History, Spain & Portugal
Cover of the book Blood and Faith by Matthew Carr, The New Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Matthew Carr ISBN: 9781595585240
Publisher: The New Press Publication: August 11, 2009
Imprint: The New Press Language: English
Author: Matthew Carr
ISBN: 9781595585240
Publisher: The New Press
Publication: August 11, 2009
Imprint: The New Press
Language: English

In April 1609, King Philip III of Spain signed an edict denouncing the Muslim inhabitants of Spain as heretics, traitors, and apostates. Later that year, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory, on threat of death.

In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families and communities were obliged to abandon homes and villages where they had lived for generations, leaving their property in the hands of their Christian neighbors. In Aragon and Catalonia, Muslims were escorted by government commissioners who forced them to pay whenever they drank water from a river or took refuge in the shade.

For five years the expulsion continued to grind on, until an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory, nearly 5 percent of the total population. By 1614 Spain had successfully implemented what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history, and Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist.

Blood and Faith is celebrated journalist Matthew Carr’s riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of the history of Muslim Spain. Here is a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe—a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In April 1609, King Philip III of Spain signed an edict denouncing the Muslim inhabitants of Spain as heretics, traitors, and apostates. Later that year, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory, on threat of death.

In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families and communities were obliged to abandon homes and villages where they had lived for generations, leaving their property in the hands of their Christian neighbors. In Aragon and Catalonia, Muslims were escorted by government commissioners who forced them to pay whenever they drank water from a river or took refuge in the shade.

For five years the expulsion continued to grind on, until an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory, nearly 5 percent of the total population. By 1614 Spain had successfully implemented what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history, and Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist.

Blood and Faith is celebrated journalist Matthew Carr’s riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of the history of Muslim Spain. Here is a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe—a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.

More books from The New Press

Cover of the book A War Like No Other by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book A School of Our Own by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book The Condor Years by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Labor Rising by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Not a Crime to Be Poor by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Lessons from the Heartland by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Bombing Civilians by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book October by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Before the Frost by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book The Road to Tahrir Square by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book The Eye of the Leopard by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Moyers on America by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Minutes of Glory by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book Birth of a Dream Weaver by Matthew Carr
Cover of the book On Language by Matthew Carr
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy