Litigating for Liberty: Enslaved Morisco Children in Sixteenth-Century Valladolid

Abstract

Morisco children captured during the Granadan war of 1568–70, known as the Second War of the Alpujarras, could attain legal but limited freedom in accordance with Philip II’s 1572 law against the enslavement of Morisco minors. Those manumitted were meant to remain servants in Old Christian households until the age of majority. The Spanish monarchy recognized the political value of controlling children. Aiming to turn the children of Morisco rebels into proper Christian subjects, the king authorized and facilitated their liberation as part of a larger project of Morisco conversion. Granadan Moriscos worked within the law in pursuit of liberation, yet took action to reunite families separated by slavery and deportation when possible.