Richest Moriscos tried to escape communal taxation by disputing the mandate

Evidence

In 1573, twenty-two of the better-off of the Moriscos in ´Avila instituted legal proceedings aimed at having their names struck off the list of those contributing towards the situado (Tapia 1991, 261). They argued that they had never empowered anybody to make the agreement in the first place. Most had their pleas thrown out, but in 1577 one Isidro de Chaves el Mozo, a tinker by trade, managed to have his name removed, as did Hernando de Cu´ellar, a merchant, in 1584. He no doubt was to regret calling attention to himself in this way. From 1605 to 1607 (by which time he can no longer have been young) he was in an Inquisition prison for failure to pay and in danger of having all his property seized. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1124

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader theme of communal tax collection and ‘fragile peace’ — the situado as a bought tolerance that unravels. Echoes the logic of tributary minority communities subject to a majority that holds the whip.