Forced schooling of Morisco children was enforced through parental fines.

Evidence

Firstly, that their children from the age of six to thirteen should be instructed and taught to read and write, and that their parents should bring them on Sundays and holy days to Mass, so that they may learn the doctrine of spiritual things. The better to put this into effect, I command the governor by me appointed to draw up a register of those who ought to learn to read and write, which is to be handed over to the schoolmaster or schoolmasters appointed to teach them. The schoolmaster may in this way know who is absent, and he is to notify my governor, who is to inflict the following penalty: the father (or mother where there is no father) of a child sent to learn to read and write will be fined one real for every occasion when it is the fault of the parent that the child fails to attend (half the fine to be paid to the duke’s office, half to the person acting as informant). — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 284

Categorization

• SHARE: The fine split between the duke’s office and a paid informant is a nice detail for anyone into enforcement incentive design.