[64] The morería, or Muslim quarter, was a distinct geographical and political entity. Generally outside the walls of the city in the early years of Christian rule, it had become in most cases a part of the city enclosure by the mid-fourteenth century, and was usually set apart by walls from the Christian and Jewish quarters. Many morerías did not have dividing walls, and there was apparently no requirement that there be any, since in a letter of 1360 the king himself assumed that there was no clear division between the Muslim and Christian houses of Ariza, and his subordinates had to inform him that the Muslim section was indeed geographically distinct.⁽¹⁾ It is clear, nonetheless, that it was thought desirable to have the quarters divided by a wall, as is evidenced by an order of June 3, 1361, establishing a new judería and morería for the city of Tarazona within (n.b.) the city walls but segregated by a walled enclosure:

....we direct you to go personally to the city of Tarazona and to establish there in our name and on our authority a judería, within the walled portion of the city if possible, or in the quarter of St Michael, or in any other part there, i.e., wherever seems most suitable. Within this judería all Jews dwelling in the city, presently or in the future, will and must dwell, and it is to be separated from the Christian section by walled enclosure. You will establish a morería in the same way.... ⁽²⁾

As private citizens Christians had free access to the morerías. The documents of the Real Patrimonio are filled with cases of Christians being arrested for misconduct inside the morería of Valencia, and there is no reason to suspect that the Christians that city enjoyed any peculiar privilege in this regard.⁽⁵⁾ Chiristian officials, on the other hand, had no authority within the morería unless it was specifically delegated them by the king, and could not even enter it unless accompanied by the amin and [66] adelantati of the aljama.⁽⁶⁾ Though this privilege was occasionally violated, the sanctity of the morería was much prized by the Muslims, and this right was one of the least often abused of all those enjoyed by the Mudéjares.⁽⁷⁾

It is commonly assumed that Christians could not actually live in the morería, or Muslims in the Christian quarters, and it would seem, indeed, that to permit such mingling would have frustrated the whole point of the enclosure. Many treaties of capitulation specifically prohibited such intermingling of dwelling places.⁽⁸⁾ But the evidence indicates that such prohibitions were not respected in practice. In Teruel, for instance, numerous Muslims were renting their homes from Christians, and therefore presumably living in the Christian sections of the city, since it is unlikely that so many Christians would own property in the morería (see below on this point).⁽⁹⁾ It is even possible that this document refers to [67] Muslims' occupying rooms in Christian homes, though this was generally prohibited (note 13, below). In 1365, when Játiva as threatened by the war, all Muslims who lived "among the Christians of the city" were specifically ordered. to move into the morería,⁽¹⁰⁾ but they must not all have obeyed, since in the followirig year the Crown felt constrained to declare that Muslims living outside the morería were affected by decrees relating to its internal affairs just as much as those dwelling inside it.⁽¹¹⁾

The opposite occurred as well: in 1359, during the reconstruction of the walls of Calatayud, Christians whose homes had been destroyed during the reparations moved into the homes of Muslims and established residence in them. The king ordered them to move out, since they had occupied the Muslim dwellings by force, and were seriously discomfiting the still-resident owners, but no mention is made of any general principle's being violated.⁽¹²⁾ It was, moreover, [68] common for Christians to stay at inns operated by Muslims within the morería,⁽¹³⁾ and in Borja Christians and Saracens jointly operated an inn located in the judería of the city.⁽¹⁴⁾

That the Muslim and Christian populations were not kept separate, and that this was a matter of concern to the former as well as the latter, are both well attested by the demand of the returning moros of Castro and Alfandequiella that "no Christian or Jew be allowed to settle among them."⁽¹⁵⁾ On the other hand, the financial advantages of convivencia in such a literal sense were many, and as in many aspects of social interaction, they seem to have triumphed in the end. Sales of property by Muslims to Christians were frequent, especially when war or other disasters had reduced the number of Muslim buyers, and the records even show instances of the sale of factories in the morería to Christians.⁽¹⁶⁾ Christian buyers were not wanting, and the turnover in real estate held by Christians within the morería seems to have been quite brisk: see document 904:73 (and :85) in the Appendix, where property in the morería of Zaragoza worth 800s changes hands from Muslim [69] to Christian, Christian to Christian, and Christian to Muslim within the space of a few years. In fact, the trade in morería property was so extensive that the monarchy, whose interests suffered when Muslim lands passed into Christian hands, took steps to discourage it in September of 1363 by penalizing such sales.⁽¹⁷⁾

Curiously, the integrity of the judería seems to have been more assiduously maintained than that of the morería. Both buyer and seller lost their interest in Jewish property if it was sold a Christian or a Saracen,⁽¹⁸⁾ and in at least one case the king agreed to force Muslims off land they had owned for many years and grant them property of equal value elsewhere, apparently to prevent Muslims and Jews from living in close proximity.⁽¹⁹⁾ On the other hand, both Christians and Muslims were allowed to own property the judería of Borja,⁽²⁰⁾ and the king himself granted property formerly held by Jews to loyal Saracens during the war.⁽²¹⁾

Within the confines of the morería were all the necessities fourteenth-century life: markets, workshops,⁽²²⁾ mosques, homes [70] and public facilities. The morería of Zaragoza had iron-works and tanneries and its own water supply to operate both.⁽²³⁾ All aljamas of any size had baths, supported at public expense, charging nominal admission fees, and liable to taxes collected by the Crown.⁽²⁴⁾Most morerías maintained. their own cemeteries.⁽²⁵⁾ The markets of the morerías of Aragon, especially the meat markets, drew not only Muslims from the surrounding countryside, but also Christians from the city, who seem not to have minded paying the higher rates charged for meat slaughtered by specially licensed Muslim butchers.

The morerías' main attraction for the Christian populace seems to have been as centers of low life. Prostitution, which was perfectly legal (see under Chapter VII, below) flourished there, and Christian and Saracen women plied their trade side by side. Between January of 1354 and January, 1355, no fewer than seventy-one prostitutes of the city of Valencia were fined for rendering services after hours (the crida, or curfew, was the cutoff hour), and paid an aggregate fine of 1,186s to the Crown. Considering that these were only the prostitutes prosecuted for a [71] particular crime, the number involved in the trade must have been enormous. Most of the names recorded were Christian ones, but all the women involved conducted their operations within the morería.⁽²⁶⁾

Even more important was the game called tafureries.⁽²⁷⁾ Every large morería had a place where this game was played, legally by Muslims, illegally by Christians. There is a certain irony to this, since games of chance were specifically forbidden to Muslims by the Prophet,⁽²⁸⁾ while there is no specific injunction against them among the words of Jesus. Neither divine nor secular laws, however, had much effect on the popularity of the game. In Huesca the fine for Christians was l00s, and an official was appointed whose sole duty was to collect this fine (the tafurarius).⁽²⁹⁾ In 1358, when the office fell vacant, a bitter struggle over it ensued, and again in 1363 a dispute arose: Christians had held the office for at least ten years, but in March of 1363 the Saracen çalmedina of the city had seized the post for himself. The income must have been considerable.⁽³⁰⁾ Indeed, if Valencia was typical [72] in this regard, tafureries were second only to prostitution as money-makers for the Crown. During the year 1354-55 the fines collected from those Christians and Jews illegally joining the Muslims at their game amounted to well over l,500s. This is especially remarkable in view of the fact that in Valencia the fine averaged only about 3s3d per person, which would indicate that over 500 people paid the fine within one year. The problem of detection was made simple by granting the informer one-third of the fine collected. The Crown and the city divided the remaining two thirds. Those found guilty in the year mentioned ranged. from the chief butcher of the city's major Christian meat market to one of the "public women" (who were in the neighborhood anyway).⁽³¹⁾

The internal affairs of the aljama were -- theoretically -- in the hands of the adelantati, elected officials roughly corresponding to the Christian jurados. Originally these were to be four: "...we wish you to have four Saracen adelantati, whomever among you you may choose to elect; these shall have care and maintenance of you and your affairs and finances [jura]."⁽³²⁾ In practice, their number seems to have varied from one to four, according to the needs and desires of the aljamas.⁽³³⁾ Methods of election also varied widely; in some places they were elected by the heads of families, in others by the outgoing [73] adelantati.⁽³⁴⁾ The position was honorary and carried no salary. In the early fourteenth century the Crown prohibited the practice of adelantati hiring others to perform their duties under fine of 100s;⁽³⁵⁾ by the fifteenth century this fine had to be raised to 200s, and the term of office reduced from one year to two months -- apparently the position was extremely undesirable.⁽³⁶⁾ This is not hard to understand: in reality the adelantati had no power, and did little more than bear official responsibility for fiscal arrangements imposed on the aljama by the Crown and its officials. Even officially they could decide nothing without the consent of the Christian mayor of the city.⁽³⁷⁾ Their real importance lay in their function as mouthpiece for the king: it was to them he gave orders to be carried out within the aljamas, and in their name that fiscal arrangements were made. They were, in effect, the king's unwilling official agents in the Muslim communities: hence the unpopularity of the position.⁽³⁸⁾

The adelantati did, however, appoint a host of minor officials, [74] the civil service of the aljama. These included the sagio, carnifex,⁽³⁹⁾ magister cantorum, torcimana, scribanius,⁽⁴⁰⁾cavalquinus, mostaçafus, andator, acompanyat,⁽⁴¹⁾ and the official tutor appointed by the community to guard orphans.⁽⁴²⁾ It was not uncommon for Christian officials [75] to try to intervene in or override the appointment of such officials by the Muslims, but the monarchy usually upheld the right of the aljama to appoint its own officials.⁽⁴³⁾

It is, however, impossible to agree with Roca Traver that "the intervention of the seigneurial representative was limited to private interests of the lord, in regard to aspects which affected him directly...,"⁽⁴⁴⁾ or that the aljamas enjoyed "an absolute freedom and autonomy in their officials, in their internal government, in the creation and election of the former, and, finally, in their own administration and government."⁽⁴⁵⁾ In fact, the aljama was not really independent at all in those matters of most pressing concern, either financial or juridical. During a period of crisis, the Crown did not hesitate to pre-empt all the functions of the aljama's government by appointing a Christian official with absolute power over every aspect of life in the morería. This official was variously [76] designated as commissarius, administrator, or rector. The aljama of Zaragoza was continuously ruled by such an official from 1358 throughout the war years, and though the holder of the position changed, its absolute powers did not; the commission granted to Dominicus Luppus Sarnes in December of 1362 was identical to that awarded Sanctius Martes in May, 1358:

    ....we therefore commit and commend to your care the governance and administration of the said aljama of Saracens, as well as the allotment of its royal taxes, tributes, subsidies, and other exactions, for as long as shall suit our intention. You are thus to be rector, or administrator, of the aljama, and to rule and administer it lawfully and wisely, and to apportion prudently among them [the Saracens] their shares of the royal taxes, tributes, subsidies, and other exactions or duties of any type in whatever way seems best, so that each one is taxed (for whatever purpose) according to the means he possesses, and so that through the diligence of your supervision this aljama, now in great want, may be able to improve its state. You may impose whatever penalties or means seem appropriate to compel the said Saracens to observe and comply with your directives and assignments concerning these things, and you may either collect and receive the taxes and [?] on behalf of our Curia yourself, or cause them to be levied and collected by someone else of your choosing.... Furthermore, in all civil cases and litigations in any way concerning this aljama and its members, you shall be judge, and you will bring them to a just conclusion in accordance with the dictates of. law and reason. And you will oversee and arrange every single detail which seems to you necessary or desirable for the welfare and recovery of the said aljama....⁽⁴⁶⁾

It is significant that the grant of power to the rector did not hinge on the authority of the qadi in criminal cases. A Koranic institution, the office of qadi was the most enduring of all Muslim institutions under Christian rule. The qadi was, in fact , the central figure in Mudéjar 1ife.⁽⁴⁹⁾ More than any other on or force he represented for the Muslim minority of Aragon [78] a connection with the Muslim world from which they were cut off. Unlike Christianity, Islam made no effort to separate the secular from the spiritual. From the earliest days all power had been lodged in one person, whether Muhammad or his successor, and every question -- legal, financial, moral, military, juridical, spiritual, theological -- was referred to him. The local qadi was this all-in-one power at its lowest and most indestructible level. While struggles over the caliphate sundered the Muslim world, and Christians separated Muslims from the temporal organization established in central cities, while theological warfare splintered the already fragmented Islamic state, the qadi continued in each little town to administer justice, decide moral issues, settle theological disputes, oversee good works, and do very nearly all those things the Prophet himself had done for his followers. Allah was the Judge of all things in all times, Muhammad had been the judge of all aspects of Muslim life while he lived, and the qadi was the judge of all that happened in the community.

In most areas of the Muslim world -- the Mamluk empire, for instance, or Ottoman Turkey -- the qadi was the only continuity between successive regimes, and therefore the only stability at the village or town level many Muslims ever knew. Under the Crown of Aragon, although the jurisdiction of the qadi was probably less impinged upon than that of any other Muslim official in the kingdom, [79] the continuity of qadi rule was severely threatened by the poltical uses to which it was put by the monarchy and its representatives. Nearly every conquered Muslim city had been promised the right to choose its own qadi,⁽⁵⁰⁾ yet by the mid-fourteenth century, few if any aljamas in the kingdom enjoyed this right. Alfonso IV had, in 1329, provided for the appointment by royal officials of qadis in Valencian aljamas under direct royal control;⁽⁵¹⁾ by the reign of Peter the Ceremonious royal control over the appointment of qadis was ubiquitous, exploitative, disruptive, and extremely inconsistent.

Peter had on his accession instituted a series of laudable and much-needed reforms among the qadis of Valencia. On January 13, 1337, in response to complaints by the aljama of Valencia that the Crown and General Bailiff of Valencia were appointing qadis ignorant of Islamic law, to the manifest detriment of the comnunity, he decreed that henceforth the elders of the aljamas must be consulted concerning the knowledge and suitability of any prospective appointee before any final decision was made, and even ordered the bailiff to consult Muslim jurists and wise men about those already holding office to make sure they were competent. There should be, he decreed, only one qadi for the morería[80] of Valencia, and he must actually reside within the confines of the morería, appointing a lieutenant only temporarily if he had to go outside on business.⁽⁵²⁾

These were important reforms, and if pursued would have put an end to several crying abuses in the governing of the aljamas, such as absentee rule and the appointment of favorites not qualified for the positions. But on the very same day the king had enacted these provisions he appointed more than one qadi for the morería,⁽⁵³⁾ and within twenty-five years completely altered his position, not only permitting all the abuses he had officially proscribed earlier, but actually encouraging -- in fact, demanding -- them by virtue of royal authority. In 1355, for instance, he ordered the Governor of Valencia to seek out and expel from office immediately any Muslim exercising the office of qadi who was not appointed to the position by the king himself.⁽⁵⁴⁾

Throughout the war years the qadi of Valencia was Faraig de Belvis (see preceding chapter), who exercised this and a great many other offices in absentia. Faraig held the office for life,⁽⁵⁵⁾ and hired substitutes to discharge his duties, since he did not reside [81] in Valencia. One of these substitutes was so incompetent that he was fined 900s in 1357 for abuses of office,⁽⁵⁶⁾ and the confusion occasioned by this arrangement was so great that in some instances two ruled on the same case.⁽⁵⁷⁾

Other aljamas were no better off. Numerous Valencian morerías even had Christian qadis at one time or another, e.g., Játiva, Santa Cruce, Elche and Crevillente. In the case of the latter two (which shared a qadi), the appointment of a Christian qadi and scribanus in 1361 followed more than a year of battling between the Court and the aljama and the appointment or re-appointment of no less than four different persons during an eighteen-month period.⁽⁵⁸⁾ It was not until five years later that a Muslim was appointed, following yet another Christian appointee of the same year. The Muslim was not a resident of either city.⁽⁵⁹⁾

Alcadias were granted like livestock to favorites: the queen rewarded Abraham Abenxoa with those of Seta, Granadell, Bartaxell, and Xirillen in one fell swoop, and only three years later granted [82] someone else the same ones.⁽⁶⁰⁾

Probably the most flagrant abuses of the office occurred in Játiva, the largest of all the Crown's aljamas. Petrus Dueso, a Christian, had held the office of qadi of the Saracens of Játiva (at an annual salary of 500s) from 1348 to 1356, when he was removed from the office for "incompetence."⁽⁶¹⁾ He continued, however, to collect his salary, and in February, 1357, was re-instated in the office "for life."⁽⁶²⁾ In August of 1362, Dueso was replaced by another Christian,⁽⁶³⁾ but this one was shortly deposed in favor of Çaat Alcafaç, who retained it until 1365. Faraig de Belvis requested the alcadia of Játiva in that year, and was granted it on June 14.⁽⁶⁴⁾ He exercised it in absentia, through Çaat Alcafaç -- even though he had been granted the post on grounds of his being "more competent" than Alcafaç -- until the latter was tried and deposed for abuses of office in the following May.⁽⁶⁵⁾

[83] It might seem to those schooled in a tradition of the evils of multiple benefices that Faraig de Belvis' holding the alcadias of both Valencia and Játiva at the same time was somewhat questionable. In fact, these were not his only titles: in addition to being qadi of the two largest morerías in the kingdom, he was the faqi, scribanus, and çabiçala of Borja, the qadi, cavalquinus, scribanus, and amin of Huesca, and the alcaydus totius regni Aragonie. He was also court-appointed tutor to orphans of several wealthy Mudéjares.⁽⁶⁶⁾ He held all of these offices concurrently and for life, and exercised them all in absentia. Nor was anyone scandalized by this; indeed, many grants of morería offices by the king specified that the office was to be held in absentia,⁽⁶⁷⁾ and there is some reason to believe the monarchy was consciously trying to put Saracens whom it knew to be loyal into positions of importance throughout the rea1m, even if they did not exercise their jurisdictions directly.⁽⁶⁸⁾ Both multiple office-holding and absentee rule were common in medieval Spain, and by no means limited to positions within the morerias;⁽⁶⁹⁾no one would have thought of objecting to them.

What the medieval Muslims did object to was royal interference, and it is significant that in the northern kingdoms, where Muslims generally enjoyed greater privileges, there was less of this type [84] of intervention and abuse, and the government of the aljamas was much stabler. There were Christian qadis in the North -- the important aljamas of Aranda and Oriola both had them during the decade 1355-65⁽⁷⁰⁾ -- and the Crown exercised strict control over royal morerías, but the over-all disruption of Muslim organization was much less. The royal aljama of Lérida is a good example of this. In 1356 the qadi of the aljama applied to the king for permission to resign. He had held the post since the time of King James II of Aragon, Peter's grandfather, and now, at 80 years old, he wished to retire from the post granted him for life.⁽⁷¹⁾ The king accepted his resignation in September, and appointed a Saracen of his own household to replace him temporarily.⁽⁷²⁾ Not long after, En Sulleyma Abenjumen became the qadi of Lérida.⁽⁷³⁾ Abenjumen had been an adelantatus of the city before he was elected qadi (C 691:232), and his accession demonstrates the existence of a class of Muslim civil servants which contributed to the relative stability of the Léridan aljama's government. Only four years later, however, he was replaced by Ali Minferre,⁽⁷⁴⁾ and the fact that after a rule of at least twenty nine years by a single qadi there were then three different occupants [85]of the position in the next seven years probably indicates a certain disintegration of stable government even in the North under the pressures of the decade.

Ironically, the stress of the war operated to the benefit of the southern Mudéjares: in 1365, undoubtedly worried about flagging Moorish loyalty in the war-torn city, Peter was induced to grant the Muslim community of Játiva the right to choose their own qadi -- a startling concession in a period of increasing royal control:

...Since we have learned from the aljama of Saracens of the city of Játiva that, according to their law and custom, ⁽⁷⁵⁾a qadi should not be chosen, either by us or anyone else, except on the recognition of the aljama itself, and that he should be someone knowledgeable and well-versed in their religious and secular law,⁽⁷⁶⁾ and noting that we have previously disposed of the said position without the knowledge of the aljama and in violation of their law and custom (of which we were not unmindful), and since because of this the said aljama has humbly asked that we deign to provide for them the remedy for these [ills] which is described below, we therefore hereby concede to the aljama and are pleased to dispose that it may elect and remove its qadi whenever and howsoever often it shall deem expedient.

This qadi shall be responsible for deciding and settling all litigation among the Saracens of the said aljama without pay. From the settlement of disputes, as was the former custom, he shall have 2d per pound and no more, and from certifications of indebtedness which he receives or makes between Saracens he shall earn 4d per certificate....⁽⁷⁷⁾

Nevertheless, since our intention regarding the provision [86] mentioned above neither was nor is to diminish any right of Faraig de Belvis, our steward, who some time ago obtained through our concession this very office of qadi, we therefore expressly direct and specifically command you to accord and force to be accorded to this Faraig (or his deputy in the office) all rights customarily given or paid for this office for as long as he lives, the letter given above notwithstanding in any way. After his decease, however, we wish the decree to be observed in both letter and spirit...⁽⁷⁸⁾

It is clear from the foregoing letter what the king considered to be the essential duties of the qadi. The qadi's legal jurisdiction was wide-ranging and unchallenged; even transient Muslims were subject to him.⁽⁷⁹⁾ His jurisdiction could be extended at will by the king.⁽⁸⁰⁾ In addition to legal affairs, he was responsible in many cases for such matters as the safety of the morería (in some places being required to supply the police force from among his own personal retainers);⁽⁸¹⁾ attending Court to counsel the king about internal affairs of the aljama, or merely to give legal advice;⁽⁸²⁾ leading troops into battle;⁽⁸³⁾ personally guaranteeing the aljama's [87] compliance with royal edicts; and sometimes actually accompanying those summoned. to Court to see that they showed up.⁽⁸⁴⁾ With all these obligations, nevertheless, the office remained attractive, both for its prestige and power and for its remunerative capabilities. There seems never to have been any want of applicants for the position.⁽⁸⁵⁾

The aljama of Játiva had a Saracen official titled fiscalis sarracenorum Xative, who was paid 100s annually (the money being drawn from the receipts of the office), but it is unclear precisely what his duties were,⁽⁸⁶⁾ or whether other aljamas may have had the same official without leaving records of it. All communities had a çalmedina, the Saracen equivalent of the merino, or mayor. In the thirteenth century the çalmedina had been an extremely important official (see Burns, Islam, pp.234-8), but since in the fourteenth the functions of the mayor were nearly all exercised by the qadi and amin -- indeed, the qadi frequently was the çalmedina -- the office was largely superfluous. In individual aljamas the çalmedina sometimes retained signs of his former power: see Chapter III, p.l40, below; and for Huesca, p.71, above. There is no sign of competition for the office, and no influential Mudéjares seem to have held it. The çalmedina's primary function seems to have been the supervision [88]of the market-place, but even here his jurisdiction was often superceded by higher authorities. The position was for two years, and beginning in 1356 was held only by Muslims.⁽⁸⁷⁾

Both Roca Traver and Macho y Ortega mistakenly considered the amin (Castilian alamín Latin alaminus), to have been the real power within the aljama, although the former admits that within his purview lay only "the exercise of judicial authority in small towns and in criminal matters of minimal significance," and the latter notes that Zaragoza, the most important aljama of the North, did not even have an amin.⁽⁸⁸⁾ (Nor did that of Valencia, the second largest of all the aljamas.⁽⁸⁹⁾) And even Macho y Ortega concedes that the amin only exercised juridical power in towns [89] too small to have a qadi: wherever there was a qadi, his authority superceded that of the amin.⁽⁹⁰⁾ In fact, the amin was the tax collector and the general financial officer of the morería, and no more.⁽⁹¹⁾ In the fourteenth century amins were generally appointed by the lord of the community, and received a set salary from the receipts of the office.⁽⁹²⁾ Many communities had two or more amins.⁽⁹³⁾ In addition to collecting the "revenues and other incomes" owed to the lord of aljama, the amin kept the accounts of the community and turned these books over to the bailiff of the city when he left office, along with any surplus funds he might have accumulated.⁽⁹⁴⁾ In the South, these accounts were kept in Arabic, and if the bailiff wished to read them he had to hire a translator.⁽⁹⁵⁾ The amin also represented [90] the aljama in any suit brought against it bearing on its finances or properties.⁽⁹⁶⁾ Because they were appointed by whoever had jurisdiction over the aljama, and were more directly responsible to him than any other Muslim official, the amins enjoyed the special confidence of Christian lords, and were frequently entrusted with negotiations or messages between Christians and Muslims.⁽⁹⁷⁾ During the war quite a few amins distinguished themselves by faithful service to the king, often personally effecting the return of whole communities to the royal service, and most were handsomely rewarded.⁽⁹⁸⁾ Often amins ended up becoming stewards for the personal affairs of the lords they were responsible to,⁽⁹⁹⁾ and it is the popularity they enjoyed with nobles and kings which explains the frequent references to them in royal documents, not any great authority within the morería.

It is important to remember that the Mudéjares of fourteenth-century Spain were cut off from the mainstream of Muslim culture, and subject to no central regulating authority other than the Crown of Aragon. It is scarcely surprising that the organization of the aljama should have become loose and confusing, and should appear somewhat impractical to modern observers accustomed to the precise [91] defintion of duties of office. It is virtually impossible, for instance, to delineate the nature of the office of faqi (Castilian alfaquí; Latin alfaquinus).⁽¹⁰⁰⁾ The Arabic word faqih (from faqiha, "to have legal knowledge") originally designated either a legal expert, a theologian, a lay-reader, or an elementary school teacher. During the period of this study, the office seems to have included a bit of all these, and to have been primarily a legal-aid position, overlapping but subordinate to both the qadi and amin. Along with the scribanus (see below), the faqi drew up instruments" (i.e., public documents) for the Muslims of his community,⁽¹⁰¹⁾ and the offices of faqi and scribanus were frequently the same person.⁽¹⁰²⁾ His juridical duties involved principally the arranging of trials (assigning scribes, etc.), but he could also impose fines for offenses, such as failure to stand guard or fortify one's home properly,⁽¹⁰³⁾ and had primary jurisdiction in civil cases involving only Muslims.⁽¹⁰⁴⁾ The faqi seems always [92] to have been appointed, often for 1ife,⁽¹⁰⁵⁾ and to have paid in many cases a certain annual sum for the privilege.⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ It was probably lucrative; the salary was drawn from the jura of the offica.⁽¹⁰⁷⁾

Two seemingly minor officials exercised enormous influence over the morería -- the notary and the butcher. The notary (scribanus or scriptor) very often held some other position in the aljama as well -- usually he was the faqi; sometimes even the qadi⁽¹⁰⁸⁾-- but it was not from this that he derived his power. It was simply that the drawing up and notarizing of documents was absolutely indispensable for the protection of one's rights, and prior to 1360 only court-appointed notaries could make documents for Muslims with legal authority: ". . .no one can or should dare to make public documents for or among Muslims except the faqi and notaries appointed for Muslims by us..."⁽¹⁰⁹⁾ (In spite of the apparent meaning of the Latin in this document, the Muslims' scriptor was generally not a Muslim before 1360, although this constituted a direct violation of the law in Aragon, which prescribed in great detail the religion of every notary who witnessed any document signed in [93] the realm.⁽¹¹⁰⁾) The appointment was generally for life, which made the granting of the crucial position to a Christian particularly odious, and there was no limit on the salary he could draw by setting prices for contracts and documents.⁽¹¹¹⁾ These abuses, plus the practice of granting the office to favorites who did not even reside in the city where the office was to be exercised,⁽¹¹²⁾ finally led to a series of protests and demands for reform in the 1350's [94]and 1360's.⁽¹¹³⁾ At the meeting of the Corts in Zaragoza in 1360 the aggrieved Muslims obtained a concession from the Crown that they be allowed to make their contracts with whomever they wished,⁽¹¹⁴⁾ and in 1364 the community of Daroca effected the actual removal of the Christian scribanus appointed for them ten years before.⁽¹¹⁵⁾ It is true that he was reinstated two years later,⁽¹¹⁶⁾ but in the long run the Mudéjares' objections prevailed. By the end of the century most aljamas could choose their own scriptor, and he was always a Muslim.⁽¹¹⁷⁾

[95] Forbidden unto you are carrion and blood and swine-flesh, that which hath been dedicated unto any other than Allah, and the strangled, and the dead through beating, and the dead through falling from a height, and that which hath been killed by horns, and the devoured of wild beasts, saving that which hath been immolated unto idols. Koran V ("The Table"):3; cf. II:172ss, V:96; VI:119ss, l46ss; XVI:1114ss; XXII:314, 36.

    As we are aware that in every city and town in the kingdom of Aragon where Saracens dwell, or there is an aljama of Saracens, the aljama or Saracens have their own meat market, separate and distinct, and a butcher who kills and prepares the meats they require according to their religion and custom..., but you, the aljama of Saracens of the town of Calatayud, do not have a separate butcher or market, and since you have asked us to provide you with a fitting solution to this problem, we therefore wish you to have and concede to you, the aljama of Saracens of the [97] said Calatayud and your successors forever, that you may construct and maintain your own separate meat market in the neighborhood which is called "de los Ferreros" (from St Mary's Hospital to the gate of the judería), in whatever one house or shop shall seem best to you. We also wish that outside this house or shop which you choose you shall not be allowed to keep weights, [ ?], or a table.... If you wish to move this table to your morería or to a place or neighborhood where you live, you may do so on the conditions previously given.
 
With the proviso that the butcher must be a Christian and a native of the town of Calatayud, you may choose whomever you wish as your butcher.... We concede, moreover, that this Christian butcher whom you are to choose may demand and obtain for all meat [he sells], of whatever type and at all times, one obolum per pound more than other Christian butchers of the town of Calatayud who sell their meat publicly or in the market of Calatayud.⁽¹²⁰⁾

....we order that no Jew or Saracen of either aljama may excommunicate or attempt to excommunicate in any way the said butcher, nor shall an aljama either impose any bond upon him or declare any sentence [against him], or lay any excommunication [on him].⁽¹²³⁾

From all indications, nevertheless, the holders of the office were conscientious about the responsibility. Bernard Arlouin, for instance, held the license for the Jewish and Muslim carnicerías of Borja (a Jew, Jafudenus Amilus, actually did the butchering and selling),⁽¹²⁶⁾ and personally supervised the rebuilding of them after the war, interceding with the king for assistance.⁽¹²⁷⁾ In fact, carnicerías were almost always the first things reconstructed when a town began to recover from war damage, and even though other buildings were left in ruins when walls near them were refortified, meat markets were immediately rebuilt.⁽¹²⁸⁾ New ones, moreover, continued to be erected throughout the fourteenth century: the king's remark in his letter to Calatayud that every other aljama had a meat market in 1354 was far from accurate. The aljama at Barbastro did not have one till November, 1361,⁽¹²⁹⁾ and the community of Valencia did not receive theirs till 1376,⁽¹³⁰⁾ though the actual license [100] to build one had been issued at least twice before.⁽¹³¹⁾

In fact, carnicerías were still being established in the fifteenth century.⁽¹³²⁾ Though this may seem a bit curious at first -- what had the Muslims been doing for meat before? -- it is actually readily understandable. Despite royal rhetoric to the contrary, the carnicerías were not established for the benefit of the Muslims: as far as they were concerned a carnicería was merely a further restriction on their freedom and a greater financial burden. In a city which had no Muslim butcher or meat market, capitalism would set the prices and the sale of meat would be relatively untrammelled, i.e., [101] it could be effected where and when the parties desired, and the profits accrued to the Muslim butchers, merchants, and farmers. Once the official butcher and market had been established, however the prices, places, and times all came under official control and since meat was a staple of Mudéjar diet, it provided a ready medium for head taxes. These could be used, in fact, to pay for the price of constructing the market, so that no royal expense was incurred.⁽¹³³⁾ Taxes were imposed on meat for other, special purposes as well. In Huesca, for example, a tax was levied on all meat -- whether Christian or Muslim -- to support the Studium Generale.⁽¹³⁴⁾

From the royal point of view, in fact, the only conceivable reason for not building a market for Saracens was the previous issuance of a license to do so to someone else. Valencia's not having its own Muslim market until 1376 -- though construction of one had been started at least twenty years earlier -- was the result the grant of an earlier license to sell meat to the Muslims to the convent of St Clare, which license the nuns tenaciously protected.⁽¹³⁵⁾

The taxes on meat, both royal and local, and fines for fraud and other market offenses were collected by a specially appointed official, the mustaçaf, but the market also lay under the jurisdictions [102] of the çalmedina, amin, and bailiff of the city.⁽¹³⁶⁾

There was considerable co-operation between the aljama's butchers and those of the Christian markets: the livestock were pastured jointly,⁽¹³⁷⁾ and the Christian butchers were frequently allowed to use the facilities of the Saracen market.⁽¹³⁸⁾ Christians often bought meat in the morería, not only to avoid special taxes imposed. on the Christiam markets, but apparently because the Muslim cuts were desirable in themselves.⁽¹³⁹⁾ In the case of the[103] former, the Crown sometimes intervened to force the Muslim butchers to collect a Christian tax from Christians,⁽¹⁴⁰⁾ and Christian officials -- local and royal -- generally showed no hesitation about intervening in any aspect of the Muslim market's operation which interested them.⁽¹⁴¹⁾

In conclusion, a few words about the aljama and the universitas seem inevitable. The Christian universitas, the corporate municipal body, was even more important under the Crown of Aragon than in most medieval states. A highly urban culture, coupled with Catalan jealousy of and resistance to royal power, caused Catalan cities to pride themselves on their autonomy and independence, and to invest the municipal power structure with almost regal prerogatives. Other areas under the same crown (Valencia, for instance) were quick to emulate the pretensions of Catalan cities, and a tradition of civic pride and municipal independence grew up in eastern Spain which in many ways paralleled. the rise of the Italian city-state. Contemporaries viewed the aljama of the Saracens as basically equivalent to the universitas of the Christians. Many royal documents juxtapose the two as if they were merely different names for the same institution, and sometimes the aljama is actually referred to as the universitas sarracenorum.⁽¹⁴²⁾ They regulated all the inner workings [104] of the community: commerce, trade, lands, construction and repair of public buildings. Both established municipal ordinances for the populations under their jurisdictions. Both oversaw the administration of justice. Both were the ultimate source of fiscal responsibility for the community: contracting debts, raising the taxes necessary to meet local needs and royal demands. Both were theoretically responsible to the king alone, in a manner which seemed to make his need for their cooperation almost as urgent as their need for his protection. Both owned communal lands and buildings, and. could borrow money as corporations for sudden needs. Even in their details they were remarkably similar: both were run by a council, generally plutocratic; both appointed a host of minor judicial arid fiscal officials to manage the quotidian affairs of their respective municipalities; the physical plants subject to them were similar, with like facilities for public bathing, similar meat markets, and even jointly held pasturage.

But it is crucial for a proper understanding of the place of Mudéjares in fourteenth-century Aragonese society to realize that the aljama was really in no way the equal of the universitas. The universitas was the basic, indestructible reality of urban Aragonese political existence. It existed in accord with the monarch or in defiance of him. It organized co-operation with his national policies or bore the brunt of his anger when the populace would not support him. Its authority was self-contained and supported, unjustified and unquestioned. It was the popular power of the Corts at its most real and exertable level. It was, moreover, the [105] only government the average urban dweller ever knew directly or was personally affected by. Citizens of Barcelona, Tortosa, Lérida, or Valencia obeyed royal edicts as they were relayed to them through the public officials of the cities. If the public officials declined to concern themselves with the king's projects, the projects languished. The king could threaten or cajole, even march on the cities and conquer them, but the authority of the universitas itself stood.

The position of the aljama was inordinately weaker. The Muslim communities existed by the sufferance of the monarchy. They were directly dependent on the king for the preservation of their most basic rights. Both his attitude and their daily lives made this pellucidly clear to them. The authority of the aljama existed only insofar as the king wished to protect and support it, or was able to do so. The ordinances of the aljama could be quashed, its organization dramatically altered or abolished altogether, its financial arrangements removed from its control or summarily canceled, its property confiscated or sold -- all at the whim of the suzerain. In fact, the very persons of the leaders of the aljama were by universal assent of the Christian populace subject to arbitrary seizure by the king or his officials, and, for any of hundreds of offenses against laws regularly invoked, to being sold as slaves. Even in its direct relationship to the universitas the aljama was in a position of inferiority. Various municipal bodies could regulate aspects of life in the morería -- e.g., the price of meat, the [106] export of grain or other goods, freedom to bear arms or travel at night, the construction or repair of walls or public buildings -- while the aljama had no pretense to any control over the Christian section of the city, even in heavily Muslim areas like Játiva.⁽¹⁴³⁾ Even the traditional sanctuary offered -- in practice if not in theory -- by cities to runaways was denied to aljamas: runaways could be and frequently were extracted from morerías.

In many ways the morerías of Aragon-Catalonia-Valencia (especially the last) were probably superior to the Christian portions of the cities they shared with their conquerors. Equipped with extremely sophisticated irrigation and water supply systems, large public baths, hospitals, beautiful mosques, and with artisans and craftsmen in great demand among the Christian populace, they glittered with the abandoned gems of a more elaborate and complex society. But politically they were children, allowed to regulate their own affairs as it suited the king, and controlled in minute detail when it did not. Ultimately, the aljama had no rights, only privileges, granted by the king and valid at his pleasure. Such privileges were about as effective in guaranteeing the autonomy of the aljama as the walls of the morería were in protecting its inhabitants from the pogroms of later years.

1. "...repererimus hereditates sarracenorum predictorum esse ab aliis hereditabus christianorum et judeorum separatas. .." C 700: 238 (Apr.28, 1360).

2. Addressed to the Justice of Aragon and his treasurer, Gueraldus de Spelunca, this letter is published in its entirety in the Appendix under C 905:205. The aljama of Alcira was not walled in till after 1426, when the Muslims requested a wall to separate them from the Christians (Piles Ros, Estudio, pp.185-6). The wall surrounding the aljama of Játiva was torn down by Christian officials the fifteenth century, but the king ordered it entirely rebuilt, since the aljama suffered "grave harm" without it (ibid., pp.248-9, #544). The synonym for morería, ravale, reflects the originally uburban nature of morerías, but came to be used indiscriminately of the Muslim quarter, regardless of its relation to the city walls. Cf. modein Castilian arrabal, "suburb."

3. Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p.152. Cf. the agreement between Alfonso el Batallador and the Muslims of Tudela in 1115: ".. .completo anno quod exeant ad illos barrios de foras cum lure mobile..." (Tomás Muñoz y Romero, Colección de fueros municipales y cartas pueblas de los reinos de Castilla, León, Corona de Aragón y Navarra [Madrid, 1847], p.415).

4. C 905:205, ut supra, n.2.

5. See, for example, the entries in RP 2911:1 and passim (1355), where Christians are accused of attacking a blacksmith within the morería, throwing stones at moros, attacking moras, etc., and ibid.,47-48, where two Christian women are fined for fighting in the morería Cf. the question of tafureries, below.

6. This privilege was often granted and confirmed by rulers, e.g., Alfonso I (1115): "Et non intret nullus christianus in casa de moro nec in horto per forza.. ." (Muñoz y Romero, Colección, p.415). Cf. C 1570:23 (1273). The Costums of Tortosa prohibit a Christian officials even entering a private Muslim home to retrieve a runaway slave without being accompanied by two Muslims of the qadi's choosing (VI.la.2). In this regard the Muslims were notably better off than the Jews of Tortosa, whose homes could be entered by the Veguer and other Christians under the same circumstances (ibid.).

7. It was therefore necessary for Muslim authorities to oversee the repair of city walls which lay within the morería this was sometimes held to fulfill the Muslims' feudal duties regarding the walls (C 693:9 [Aug.5, 1357], C 699:66 [Nov.26, 1359]), but there were frequent attempts by Christian officials to compel them to contribute more: C 699:66, ut supra.

8. E.g., that of Chivert.

9. "Cum pluries et diversi sarraceni civitatis nostre Turoli habitent in aliquibus domibus christianorum eiusdem civitatis, quas tenent certis loqueriis ad certa tempora ab eisdem.. ." (C 693:56 [Nov.26, 1357]). This letter was sent by the king to prevent the Christian landlords from evicting some Muslims before their leases expired in order to charge higher rents. On the right of Muslims to sell property to Christians, and vice versa, see Chapter VI.

10. C1206:15l (Oct.15, 1365).

11. C 910:120 (Sept.16, 1366).

12. ". . . aliqui christiani quorum domus de nostri mandato in dicta villa pro operibus murorum eiusdem diruuntur, non attento quod alie domus fuerunt christianorum ubi se possent collocare, per vim ac contra voluntatem sarracenorum predictorum non sunt vel fuerunt veriti intrare domos dictorum sarracenorum et inibi havitare, in ipsorum sarracenorum evidens periculum atque dampnum" (C 983:149 [Jan.22, 1359]).

13. G 711:1914 (Mar.4, 1363). This in spite of the fact that popes and secular legislators alike saw in this sort of convivencia a grave threat to the Catholic faith. Cf. the carta puebla of Vallibona: "No estiguen mesclats moro et christia en una casa, com no sia ocasio de molts mals e perill de mort et violentament de la fe catholica" (Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," p.8).

14. C 689:153 (Jan.31, 1358).

15. C 1204:63, in Appendix; cf. English version under "Problems." In the fifteenth century Christians were specifically forbidden to rent homes in the morería of Valencia: Piles Ros, Estudio, p.126.

16. See, for example, C 689:71 (Dec.20, 1356), where Juceff Çalem sold "quoddam repertorium sive fecceriam cum camera superiori" to Martinus de Cortes Asterius.

17. C 1571:159. For more detail on the subject of property sales between Muslims and. Christians, see Chapter VI.

18. C 904:21 and C 1071:93 (Nov.24, 1359).

19. C 721:135 (Jan.22, 1365). This curious document is printed in the Appendix in its entirety.

20. See above.

21. C 903:290 (May 7, 1360), in the Appendix.

22. The workshops along the interior wall of the morería of Huesca occupied a space of about one hundred feet (C 908:233 [Sept.l, 1363]).

23. C 702:195 (June 23, 1361).

24. Ibid.; cf. RP 994:140 (1363). The aljama of Azp paid about 400s annually for their baths, in return for which the king maintained them (RP 171l:3ss). The tax was not direct: the king rented the baths to one Muslim, who then charged admission himself. During the war years the lessee was allowed to deduct for days when the city was under seige and the baths could not be used. In Tortosa Christians, Jews and Muslims all used the same public baths (Costums, I.I.15); it is not clear whether this was the general practice in Aragon-Catalonia. In Valencia, separate bathing facilities seem to have been the rule.

25. C 1188:50 (Oct., 1363).

26. These statistics are in the RP Register 291l:35ss. A typical case is that of Mari Sanchez: "Item de Man Sanchez, mala fembra qui estaua en l'ostal d'En Palma, prop la carniceria dels moros...." She was fined 20s for her first offense and 30s for the second.

27. Backgammon? The evidence about its exact nature is scanty.

28. Surah II ("The Cow") :219, V ("The Table") :90.

29. C 965:232 (May 3, 1354).

30. C 966:80 (1358) and C 714:30 (Mar.25, 1363). On the income, see C 965:232, Utsupra.

31. This information is all derived from RP 29l1:llss. Of 1006s 10d reported as "collected," the Crown received 522s4d, which means the informer's third had already been deducted from the figure.

32. Archivo Real de Valencia, C 658:15, published in Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," p.18, n.29.

33. See Macho y Ortega, "Condición," pp.158ss, and Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," p.14.

34. Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p.158, describes an interesting method used in Zaragoza in the fifteenth century.

35. C 860:6 (1335).

36. On the plight of the adelantati in fifteenth-century Zaragoza, see Macho y Ortega, "Condición," passim.

37. C 899:179 (Jan.10, 1357). Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p.158, mentions this fact, but seems not to grasp its significance. They could not even appoint a substitute for themselves without the mayor's approval: C 860:6 (April, 1335).

38. Burns considers the adelantati unimportant for the thirteenth century as well: see Islam, pp.394-7. His discussions of the internal structure of thirteenth-century Valencian aljamas, while not directly relevant to the present study, provide invaluable background material, especially pp. 374ss.

39. See below.

40. See below.

41. Most of these were permittted to draw a maximum salary from the receipts of their office. On the sagio, a sort of police officer, see Burns, Islam, p.237, and cf. C 1207:145 (1365) and C 699:202 (Mar.25, 1360); for the carnifex, see below; the magister cantorum was the çabiçala (from sâhib as-salât, "prayer leader"), or heir to the position traditionally held by the imâm in Muslim communities, i.e., that of ceremonial religious head; torcimana is Romance for turjiman, from the Arabic tarjamana, "translate":see below, n.1l6; for the scribanus, a very important office, see below; for the cavalquinus, see C 968:50 (Apr.7, 1362); the Muslim mostaçaf corresponded to the Christian one (collector of market taxes): see C 699:202 (Mar.25, 1360); the andator and acompanyat were tax collectors: for the former see C 699:202, ut supra the latter's function appears to have been as a combination translator and scribe, since acompanyats were employed only in Muslim areas where Romance was not spoken, and always accompanied Christian collectors: see RP 1711:27ss. In the fifteenth century large aljamas had lawyers -- most often Christian -- appointed for them by the court for the term of one year. Their salary was quite low (50s a year). The aljamas of Zaragoza, Teruel, and Borja had consellers as well as adelantati, and those of Zaragoza, Borja, and Huesca had financial officials known as clavarii (Macho y Ortega, "Condición," pp.159ss). The same author posits the existence generally of an office of "messenger" between the aljama and the king, paid by the Crown (ibid., p.162). This was certainly not the case in the fourteenth century. Messages to the aljama from the king were carried by royal officials and read aloud to the qadi, amin, and adelantati, or to the population as a whole. Sometimes the aljama's crier was employed; occasionally the qadi was summoned to court. References to nuncii in documents are clearly using the word in its ordinary Latin sense, not as a designation for an office. Messages from the aljama to the king were taken personally by the qadi, or, more frequently, the adelantati, who were always sent with grievances of the aljama: see C 903:203 in the Appendix. Macho y Ortega himself publishes a document ("Documentos," pp.445-6) regarding an edict read aloud to the officials of the aljama of Zaragoza in 1432 with no mention of nuncii.

42. Hamet de Faraig, for instance, was appointed the tutor of Maoma de Peno, the orphan of wealthy parents (C 692:205 [Sept.16, 1357]). His duties included both the personal guardianship of the child and the management of his business interests. Cf. the case the orphans of Mahomat del Rey, whose tutor used his office to bring justice on the murderer of his wards' father (C 688:160 [1357]; printed in the Appendix). The guardianship of orphans is slated by the Koran: Surah IV ("Women"): passim.

43. E.g., in the case of Aranda in 1360, where the "justicia, jurati, et mostaçafus universitas christianorum" tried to wrest this right from the aljama, though the latter had enjoyed it "a tanto citra tempore quod memoria hominum in contrarium non existit." The king upheld the aljama: C 699:202 (Mar.25,1360).

44. "Un Siglo," p. 17.

45. Ibid., p.13. Cf. Burns' comments on Roca Traver and other early students of aljama government: Islam, pp.377ss.

46. C 968:56 (Dec.10, 1362); reproduced whole in the Appendix. The grant to Sarnes of May 23, 1358, occurs in C 966:82, and is identical in wording.

47. C 966:86 (June 27, 1358). This document states specifically that the rectorship of Tahusc was not a prerogative of the mayor of Zaragoza. During the fifteenth century the aljama of Zaragoza was rarely permitted to rule itself without a rector (usually the mayor):. see Macho y Ortega, "Condición," pp.157, 176.

48. In a letter to the aljama of Zaragoza dated Aug.18, 1362, the king points out to the Muslims that they must obey Sarnes in his capacity as commissarius ( rector) within the aljama, and in his role as mayor in regards to the defense of the city (C1075:17). For a case of a fifteenth-century: rector in Valencia, see Piles Ros, Estudio, p.247, #538.

49. Burns draws a clear distinction between qa'id and qadi for thirteenth-century Valencia. While interesting, this distinction is not intelligible in fourteenth-century documents, since the position of qa'id had effectively ceased to exist. Occasionally a dichotomy is apparent between alcadius as a Muslim qadi and alcaydus as a Christian judge (e.g., C 910:118 [Sept.16, 1366]), but far more often the two are used indiscriminately according to the loose orthography of the period with no semantic distinction.

50. "Et volumus quod vos, predicti sarraceni et successores vestri, possitis eligere et ponere alcadi inter vos, quem volueritis, qui judicet et determinet causas vestras et quod vos possitis ilium mutare, si bene et fideliter non se habuerit, in officio antedicto..." Roca Traver, p.18, n.29; cf. "E que puxquen fer alcadi et alami per si mateixos..." ibid., p.10, n.l5.

51. Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," pp.70-1, and note 210.

52. These provisions are contained in a series of documents in C 862:119ss. They also provide for the qadi's exemption from the peyta.

53. C 862:119ss (Jan.13, 1337). One of these is designated alcadi maior this could be the alcadi general de apelación referred to by Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p.178. Both Roca Traver and Gual Camarena complain of there being no evidence of such an official in Valencia, but see preceding chapter for a contrary opinion.

54. C 685:61 (Oct.16, 1355). This was done at the request of Faraig de Belvis.

55. C 966:138 (Dec.28, 1363).

56. RP 1704:23. This was Azmet Açaba. Other known substitutes were Fac Alvaremoni, 1362 (C 1183:119), and Açar Alcafaç (C 966:138). Cf C 711:161 (Feb.27, 1363), where Faraig claims that his rights as qadi are being usurped by others.

57. E.g., that of Abraham Abenxoa and Ali Alcabba: RP 1708:18 (1362).

58. The dispute began in January, 1360, with the appointment of Mahoma Alguafiqui (Aljafiqui in some documents), and ended in July, 1361, with the appointment of the Christian Berengar Togores. The material is in C 1569:40, 72, 79, 92, l00, 108. The qadi received 3,000s annually from Crevillente alone: it is scarcely surprising the office should have occasioned controversy.

59. Çaat Alcafaç of Valencia (or Játiva): C 1572:66 (Nov.30, 1366). The Christian he replaced was Vincent de Vall, also of Játiva: C 1572:51 (Sept.12, 1366).

60. C 1570:86 (Fev.l6, 1361); Axer Apartal was the second: C 1573:5 (Jan.30, 1364). Note that Abenxoa had continued to hold office while on trial: see note 57, above.

61. C 966:89 (Apr.16, 1356). This salary represents 300s from the actual proceeds of the office, plus a subsidy of 200s granted by the king "quod assuetum salarium alcaydie ipsius morarie dicitur esse modici emolumenti." It is an extremely low figure for the largest and wealthiest aljama in the kingdom.

62. C 966:96 (Feb.19, 1357). He also held the esmenda of Penacadell, at a salary of 1,000s annually.

63. Bernard Rocha, bailiff of the city: C 1571:40.

64. C 1209:106, 157.

65. C 1210:94.

66. E.g., to Mahomet el Baranco: C 1183:118 (Nov.18, 1362).

67. E.g., C 968:16 (Oct.10, 1359), which grants Bernard Arlouin three offices in Jewish and Muslim quarters to be held in absentia.

68. Even the qadi of Lérida, though he resided within the city, described as being "of the king's household."

69. See Hamilton, Money, p.66 but cf. above, p. 44.

70. Sanctius Sanctii of Torquemada in Aranda (C 7O2:l67[l36l]); Domenicus de Costa, the bailiff of Tortosa, held the alcadia of Oriola for life (C 1189:223 July 17, 1363 ).

71. C 685:100 (Mar.12, 1356).

72. C 967:166 (Sept.12, 1356).

73. HP 992:140 (1359). He paid (the Crown) 28s annually for the post. See below for his own legal troubles.

74. RP 994:40 (1363).

75. "Zuna et xara."

76. "Zuna et xara."

77. C 1206:138 (Oct.8, 1365); text in Appendix.

78. C 1206:138, ut supra.

79. C 715:50 (1363).

80. C 1205:45 (Mar.15, 1365).

81. C 1569:26 (Oct.17, 1359).

82. Ibid. :73 (Nov.12, 1360).

83. C 1211:31 (March, 1365).

84. C 1387:131 (Feb.3, 1465).

85. Alcadias were granted as rewards to Muslims who served faithfully during the war: C 1209:64 (1365); cf. below, last chapter. These grants were usually for life, but only in Valencia.

86. C 1203:63 (Dec.7, 1364); C 1209:125 (May 29, 1365).

87. "Cum regimen dicte çalmedine officii per sarracenum et non per christianum, ex quo ex ipsis aliqui idonei et capcis sit perpendimus in dicta aljama existunt regi et exerceri jubemus et velimus." C 966:89 (Apr.16, 1356). This letter was addressed to the aljama of Játiva, and a suitable Muslim was found and installed in the office made vacant by the deposition of the Christian who had previously occupied it. Four years later the Muslim was tried for abuses of the office: RP 1706:18 (1360).

88. Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," pp.13-14: "...el alamín tenía dos consideraciones: como presidente nato del consejo y como supremo árbitro en las cuestiones judiciales...; ...era de su incumbencia el velar por el cumplimiento de las leyes, la percepción de tributos e impuestos (parte de los cuales debía entregar al señor), el reparto de casas y haciendas, el llevar la discusión de los negocios públicos y, además, el gobernar personalmente la aljama en toda la acepción de la palabra." Macho y Ortega's statement ("Condición," p.197) is more moderate, and applies only to the fifteenth-century aljamas of señrío. It is questionable, all the same, even on its own terms: the aljama of Zaragoza was one of the señorío and did not even have an amin.

89. The office was abolished by royal edict on January 13, 1337 (C 862:120), and a tax-collector -- to be appointed by the General Bailiff of Valencia -- was designated to replace the functions of the amin which could not easily be assumed by the adelantati: "...statuimus et ordinamus quod decetero non sit alaminus in dicta aljama, quinimo cessantes et annullantes officiuin illud, volumus quod alaminus qui nunc erat in peytis et aliis contribucionibus aljame illius partem sam prout ceteri sarraceni aljame eiusdem ponere ac contribuere teneatur.. ."

90. "Condición," p.157.

91. This is made perfectly clear in C 862:120, and was also the case in Muslim communities outside of Spain in the Middle Ages: see Ira M. Lapidus, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), pp.l60, 285.

92. C 1567:124 (Sept.10, 1357); in 1400 Huesca and Fabara obtained the right to appoint their own amins (Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p. 155). The amin of Eslida was appointed by the general bailiff in the fifteenth century: see Piles Ros, Estudio, p.333.

93. E.g., Segorbe: C 720:77 (1365).

94. C 1208:78 (Sept.6, 1365); C 1570:87 (Mar.10, 1361).

95. C 1569:75 (published in the Appendix).

96. C 686:172 (Mar.30, 1356).

97. C 1197:129 (1364); C 1211:37 (1365).

98. C 720:77, ut supra, and C 1573:127, 128 (May 6, 1365). There were also occupational hazards: the amin of Benagar was captured and tortured by the Bishop of Tortosa in an effort to extort the money in his keeping: C 1208:78 (Sept.6, 1365).

99. E.g., in the case above: C 1208:78.

100. The spelling faqih is preferred by Burns (e.g., Islam, pp.382-384); it is certainly better Arabic, but less recognizable to those familiar with Romance forms without the "h." Since he provides no corroborating evidence, I am forced to conclude that Macho y Ortega is guessing when he states that the faqi was the head of the mosque in fifteenth-century Aragon ("Cóndición," p.197). In the fourteenth y the çabiçala discharged this function: see above, note 41.

101. "Et nullus sit ausus nec posset conficere instrumenta sarracenica inter sarracenos nisi solum alfaquini et scriptores [=scribani] sarraceni ad id deputati..." C 968:50 (Apr.7, 1362). Cf. note 108, below.

102. C 1518:6 (June 30, 1366); C 1566:103 (Jan.16, 1357).

103. C 1566:115 (Mar.3, 1357). On the arranging of trials, see C 1068:56 (Dec.14, 1355).

104. C 693:28 (Sept.16, 1357) implies that the faqi of Borja had primary jurisdiction in all cases involving Muslims.

105. C 966:12 (Apr.5, l356);C 1518:6, ut supra.

106. C 1566:103, ut supra: in this case, 200s for the scribania and alfaquinatus, which he held for a term of four years.

107. Ibid.

108. C 968:50 (1362); C 1209:106, 157 (1365); C 1518:6 (1366).

109. ". . . aliquis non sit vel esset ausus nec posse conficere instrumenta sarracenica inter sarracenos nisi solum alfaqui et scriptores sarraceni deputati per nos" (C 1073:95 [July 8, 1361]). Cf. note 101, above.

110. "En toda e dreita conueniença qu'el cristiano faga e sea tenudo de conplir a iudío o a moro e la fiziere con carta, deue la fer escriuano que sea cristiano, e si el judío fiziere carta con conueniença al cristiano o al moro, escrivano iudío deue fer aquesta carta, e si moro fore tenudo po complir conueniença con carta al cristiano o al iudío, escriuano moro deue fer la carta. E si entre las personas de sus ditas fore feito priéstamo de dineros o de otras cosas, el escriuano de aquella ley qui recibe el priéstamo deue fer la carta. En pero esto deue seer sabudo que, si sobre alguna cosa foren feitas cartas entre cristiano e moro e entre moro e iudío o entre cristiano e iudío, dos testimonias deuen seer puestas en aquellas cartas, una de la una ley et otro de la otra, segunt de qual ley foren aquellos qui fazen aquellas miercas, e si en aquellas miercas oujere mester fiança, deue seer recebida de entramas las partidas comunalment." Fueros de Aragón, II, 121. Cf. s.36 of the Fueros de Calatayud. (1131): "Et christiano firmet ad iudeo cum christiano et iudeo; et iudeos ad christiano similiter; et de mauros similiter fiet" (José Ma. Ramos y Loscertales, "Documentos para la historia del derecho español: Fuero concedido a Calatayud por Alfonso I Aragón en 1131," Anuario de historia del derecho español, I (1924), p. 412). I am inclined to disagree with Macho y Ortega, who contends at the scribano was an official who heard cases between "colectividades moras y judías o cristianas" ("Condición, p.177). I have seen instance where a scribano heard any case, though in their capacity as scribes they were required to be present at trials (C 1068:56 [1355]) to record oaths and decisions, as well as notarize the testimony of witnesses according to their respective religions (as above).

111. ". . .habeatis et recipiatis pro salario et labor[e] vestro a contrahentibus juxta quantitatem et qualitatem contractium..." C 966:22 (May 11, 1356).

112. A Christian from Jaca for instance, exercised the office in Calatayud in 1356: C 689:71 (Dec.20). The two cities are almost 200 kilometers apart. In Jaca itself, which did not have a Muslim aljama, the Jews had a Christian scriptor: C 966:514 (July 20, 1357).

113. After vehement objections from the Muslims of Teruel in 1354, the king's lieutenant revoked the appointment of Dominic Exi de Lidon to the scribania of the Jews and Saracens of the city, which he had received only six months before (C 686:220 [May 10, 1356]), but the king subsequently re-appointed him (C 684:224 [May 19, 1356]). The following year the king had to give very forceful instructions to the aljamas of Calatayud to honor his grant of the scribania to Ferdinand Díaz of Altarriba (C 966:58 [Sept.l0], yet he continued to make such appointments: Bernard Arlouin was awarded the offices of notary, rabbi, and butcher of the Jewish and Muslim communities of Borja in October, 1359, for life, all to be held in absentia (C 968:16). Holding the office for both Jewish and Muslim communities was common, perhaps the rule: cf. Jacob Castillion, scribanus of both aljamas of Daroca (C 966:22).

114. C 903:282, text in Appendix. Muslims did not attend and were not represented at the Curia, but their demands were seriously considered when war or some other crisis made their goodwill and co-operation particularly necessary.

115. C 1203:196.

116. C 725:75 (Apr.2).

117. C 1918:73 (Mar.18, 1387). In Valencia the office of scribanus was generally held conjointly with that of torcimana, or "translator." Unlike their northern brethren, Valencian Mudéjares spoke little if any Romance, and all documents had to be translated for them as well as notarized. It is likely that there were not enough bilingual Muslims even to fill these posts: see concluding chapter. In 1358 a Jew was appointed to the office in the town of Crevillente (he was also the notary and customs-master). For three years the aljama struggled to have him removed from office, alleging every sort of abuse of office against him, but the queen declined to alter her appointment. Finally the Saracens complained bluntly that it was not right for a Jew to hold the office among Muslims, and the queen agreed to reconsider. In 1361 she replaced the Jew with a Christian. The documents are in C 1547:18, C 1563:93, and C 1569:74, 80, l00, 121.

118. For such regulations see Francesh Carreras y Candi, "Ordinacions de bon govern a Catalunya (segles xiii a xviii)," BRABL, XI (1923), p.307 ("Ordinacions" of Barcelona, 1301), and passim. Note that at IV.24.2 of the Costums of Tortosa there is a strong implication a free market, regulated by neither Crown nor city: ". . .en lo qual mercat poden los homens de Tortosa e de sos termens vendre totes lurs coses e lurs mercaderies, e comprar atressi francament e sens tota exaction que aqui no son tenguts de donar, a pes ne a mesura ne a leuder; ne a nuyl hom leuda, ne a nuyl seruij, ne nulla cosa que nols deu esser demanat ne pres. . . ans en totes coses son francs e liures e quitis...." But the market of Tortosa was actually regulated as thoroughly as all other markets of the day, as is clear from the complex and detailed provisions of IX.16.l-8, which even set prices for specific meats. Cf. for fifteenth-century practice, Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p. 198.

119. In Valls the municipal code of 1299-1325 rather curiously demanded lower prices for meat sold to Jews and Saracens: "Item, etc., que tota carn de qualque bestia, que degolada sia per jueu, o per sarray, ques uena la liura, meala menys que aquela daquela natura que sia degolada per crestiá, e encara, que estía a la taula hon se uendrá la dita carn degolada per jueu o per sarray, la taula, o la post quey es acustumada de posar, per tal que sia manifest a tuyt, que, aquela earn es juygua, o rebuyada per juens, o per sarrayns. E si per auentura algun carnicer no ueu carn juygya, o rebuyada per jueus, o per sarrayns, ne aquela, o menys que laltra carn daqueyla natura o menys daquela post damunt dita, que pach per cascuna vegada v. sous, sens tota mercé." Carreras y Candi, "Ordinacions," p.291. For thirteenth-century rates charged in the carnicería of Tarazona, see de Bofarull y de Sartorio, Rentas, p. 224.

120. Paraphrase of C 907:56 (Apr. 9, 1362). The original grant contained in a later amendment (1362), which allowed the meat to be prepared outside the market itself.

121. C 910:22 (July 1, 1366): ". . .damus et concedimus tibi unum carnificem seu talliatorem carnium quemcumque ad hec constituere volueris.... Qui carnifex teneatur tibi ex iure solito repondere." Cf. C 689:79 (Jan.14, 1357), where Çalema Biallarus sublets the meat concession for the Muslims and. Jews of Borja from Dominicus Egidius de Cascellus.

122. D. Bienvenido Oliver wrongly asserts (Historia del derecho en Cataluña, Mallorca, y Valencia [Madrid, 1878], II, p.62) that the Costums of Tortosa prohibit a Jew from selling meat. He has clearly misread IX.16.4, which merely prohibits Jews' slaughtering or dressing it: "Negun jueu carn que en les taules se deja vendre, no deu degoylar ni la ma dintre les besties metre." Possibly the ordinance is merely intended to prevent the same Jew from slaughtering and selling meat.

123. ". . .mandantes quod nullus iudeus vel sarracenus seu eorum aljama excommunicent vel excommunicare audeant ullo modo dictum carnificem neque etiam aliama vel ligamentuin in eum imponere vel iactare nec sententiam vel excommunicationem aliquam proferre" C 910:22.

124. Ibid. Note that in the case described in Chapter IV, p.176, the king personally overruled. the judgement of the faqi against a Muslim butcher for not fulfilling his military duty as part of the aljama.

125. Note the enormous fine levied in the case of Mahoma Muferig Mançor (C1566:115 [Mar.3, 1357]).

126. C 704:50 (July 7, 1360).

127. C 703:62 (July 2, 1360).

128. Ibid.; cf. C 1571:89 (Feb.4, 1363).

129. C 906:83 (Nov.14, 1361).

130. Compare the details of this grant with those of the grant above: ".. .possitis ac vobis liceat construere, facere et tenere infra limites morerie prefate, cui magis elegeritis, carniceriam, et in ea scindere et vendere carnes quascumque et quibuscumque volueritis, et in et super carnibus nedum inter vos sed etiam quoscumque alios ementes de dictis carnibus imposicionem quam volueritis, dum nobis placuerit, ponere et ordinare eamque exhigere et levare...." ARV, Real, 613:158-9, quoted. in Roca Traver, "Un Siglo," p.94, n.30.

131. C 1189:192 (July 5, 1363) (n.b. the postscript: non fuit perfecta) C 1l89:212 (July 13, 1363). Játiva had a separate Muslim meat market during the reign of Peter, but the arrangements regarding it were not settled: the Muslims protested a municipal tax levied on non-resident Muslim butchers and meat vendors, and the king duly revoked the tax in April, 1356. Then the city itself complained that it was providing, free of charge, the market and butcher employed by the Saracen aljama, and was entitled to collect as much from the Saracens thus serviced as it did from the Christians who paid meat taxes to the University (". . .ut cum ipsa universitas teneatur et peracta sit tenere sarracenis prelibatis carnificem et tabulam separatam pro parando et excoriando carnes ad eorum proprios usus, . . . dicti sarraceni exsolvant partem eos exsolvere contingentem in impositionibus carnium predictarum..."). The king was impressed by this argument, and ordered Garsia de Loriz to investigate to see if the claim of the city was accurate, and if so, to compel the aljama to pay the tax. Why it should be levied only on non-resident Muslims is not quite clear: cf. Chapter VI. Possibly the city was concerned about the exploitation of municipal resources and services by the apparently very large number of transient Muslims who came to the city either because it was, in many ways, the most Muslim of the conquered cities, or because it was a center of trade for the whole kingdom of Valencia.

132. Macho y Ortega, "Condición," p.172.

133. C 703:62, ut supra C 1571:89, ut supra.

134. C 1151:79 (Feb.19, 1357); this despite a royal edict prohibiting such practice: C 684:231 (June 7, 1356).

135. C 1189:212 (July 13, 1363).

136. C 966:76 (Apr.5, 1358); C 1567:173 (Feb.10, 1360). In Valencia the Crown received l00s per annum from the market: C 1189:192, ut supra. In Huesca the bailiff alone had jurisdiction over the market: C 704:42 (June 20, 1360); the fines all went to the king. On the election of Catalan mustaçafs, see the privilege of March 27, 1386, conserved. in the cathedral archives of Lérida (Rafael Gras de Esteva, Catálogo de los privilegios y documentos originales que se conservan en el archivo reservado de la Ciudad de Lérida [Lérida, 1897], pp.24-5). An excellent study of the mustaçaf of Valencia has been published by F. Sevillano Colóm: Valencia urbana a través del oficio de mustaçaf (Valencia, 1957).

137. C 907:56 (1356).

138. Ibid.; C 899:133 (Nov.29, 1356); but not always: see C 683:241 (Aug.5, 1356), where Christian butchers are specifically forbidden to sell in the Muslim market of Huesca.

139. Macho y Ortega, "Documentos," pp.451-2. Butchers for the aljama could not, by law, be constrained to sell meat intended for the morería to Christians at the lower price charged in Christian markets (C 907:56, ut supra), except in Barcelona, where an ordinance of 1301 required. butchers to sell meat to Christians at Christian prices, whether specially slaughtered or not (Carreras y Candi, "Ordinacions," XI, p.307). Up until 1359 Christians under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Tortosa were prohibited from eating meat prepared for Muslims or Jews, but the Synod of Tortosa in that year revoked the proscription: "Revocatio constitutionis, quae incipit, Quamvis in concilio Agatensi.' Item dominus episcopus cum concilio et assensu dicti capituli absolvit, et revocavit ex causa sententiam excomimmunicationis promulgatam in constitutione synodali contra comedentes carnes et cibaria judaeorum et sarracenorum, prout in ea continetur, quae incipit, Quoniam in consilio Agatensi..." (Joaquin L. Villanueva, Viage literario a las iglesias de España [Madrid, 1806], V, p.358).

140. C 899:133, ut supra. In this case, when the latter measure failed, the Crown prohibited Christian butchers from selling in the Muslim market, which does not seem exactly to the point (C 683:241, ut supra). Cf. note 130, above.

141. C 683:181 (1356), discussed at some length in Chapter VI.

142. C 904:59 (Apr.23, 1360).

143. For an interesting fifteenth-century demonstration of this, see Piles Ros, Estudio, p.197, #313 bis.