History of the Reign of Philip the Second King of Spain, Vol. 3: And Biographical & Critical MiscellaniesPrescott, William Hickling
History
History of the Reign of Philip the Second King of Spain, Vol. 3: And Biographical & Critical Miscellanies
Prescott, William Hickling
Philip II, King of Spain, 1527-1598; Spain -- History -- Philip II, 1556-1598
Thus the gulf which separated the two races grew wider and wider every
day. The Moriscoes hated the Spaniards for the wrongs which they had
received from them. The Spaniards hated the Moriscoes the more, that
they had themselves inflicted these wrongs. Their hatred was further
embittered by the feeling of jealousy caused by the successful
competition of their rivals in the various pursuits of gain,--a
circumstance which forms a fruitful theme of complaint in the petition
of the Cortes above noticed.[288] The feeling of hate became in time
mingled with that of fear, as the Moriscoes increased in opulence and
numbers; and men are not apt to be over scrupulous in their policy
towards those whom they both hate and fear.
With these evil passions rankling in their bosoms, the Spaniards were
gradually prepared for the consummation of their long train of
persecutions by that last act, reserved for the reign of the imbecile
Philip the Third,--the expulsion of the Moriscoes from the
Peninsula,--an act which deprived Spain of the most industrious and
ingenious portion of her population, and which must be regarded as one
of the principal causes of the subsequent decline of the monarchy.
[Sidenote: MARMOL--CIRCOURT.]
An historian less renowned than Mendoza, but of more importance to
one who would acquaint himself with the story of the Morisco
rebellion, is Luis del Marmol Carbajal. Little is known of him but
what is to be gathered from brief notices of himself in his works.
He was a native of Granada, but we are not informed of the date of
his birth. He was of a good family, and followed the profession of
arms. When a mere youth, as he tells us, he was present at the
famous siege of Tunis, in 1535. He continued in the imperial
service two-and-twenty years. Seven years he was a captive, and
followed the victorious banner of Mohammed, Scherif of Morocco, in
his campaigns in the west of Africa. His various fortunes and his
long residence in different parts of the African continent,
especially in Barbary and Egypt, supplied him with abundant
information in respect to the subjects of his historical inquiries;
and, as he knew the Arabic, he made himself acquainted with such
facts as were to be gleaned from books in that language. The fruits
of his study and observation he gave to the world in his
"_Descripcion General de Africa_," a work in three volumes folio,
the first part of which appeared at Granada in 1573. The remainder
was not published till the close of the century.
The book obtained a high reputation for its author, who was much
commended for the fidelity and diligence with which he had pushed
his researches in a field of letters into which the European
scholar had as yet rarely ventured to penetrate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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