Houses Draped in the Morisco Veil: Realities and Myths of the 15th Century

Abstract

It is said that when things are not named, it is as if they do not exist. Evidently, they may exist, but by naming them we give them presence and visibility. The fact that, during the fifteenth century, objects were referred to with the term “Morisco” undoubtedly responds to a need to recognize them and distinguish them from others. In this sense, language is forceful: words are born and make sense because a society needs them, and they die when they are no longer useful. For this reason, in this text I focus on houses and the elements that shaped them—from wall coverings to household furnishings—that at the time were described as “Morisco” or “cosa de moros” and which contributed to giving many homes a distinctive character of the era, one that was not strange but named and acknowledged. For this aspect, my use of notarial documentation and the regulation of ordinances is key, contrasted when necessary with literary sources, essentially some chronicles. This everyday reality of the period, with the use of the term “Morisco” for certain aspects of the home, calls into question some elements that may have contributed to an excessive historiographical mythification of a supposed “Maurophilia” or “exoticism” in palaces and houses. The relevance here lies in recovering objects classified as Morisco in the fifteenth century, based on documentation in which the term is less varied and abundant than in the sixteenth century. The fifteenth century presents a socio-political situation very different from what would occur with forced conversion, and it provides fundamental clues for understanding the multifaceted nature of the term “Morisco” while also revealing the diversity of homes at the turn of the century.