Víctimas moriscas del corso turco-berberisco. Noticias y testimonios en los procesos criminales valencianos

Abstract

The existing and constant threat of cooperation between the Moriscos and the Turkish and North African corsairs does not authorize, however, classification of this whole community as an Ottoman «Fifth Column» always ready to conspire against the Crown and to help their foreign enemies. The criminal proceedings conducted by the Real Audiencia («Royal Court») of Valencia against corsairs and alleged covert agents provide us with evidence of a broad range of New Converts’ attitudes and responses towards massive emmigration schemes, attacks on coastal populations and abductions of Old Christians. Moreover, they reveal that Moriscos themselves were exposed to the impact of Muslim privateering: some of them because they had no hesitation in standing up to the corsairs and defending their Christian neighbours, many more as they were violently forced to leave to Africa although they wished to stay in their home country.