Royal officials actively investigated the status of enslaved Morisco minors in 1570s Andalusia.

Evidence

It does seem that it was not unknown for the authorities themselves to take the initiative of looking into the status of such minors. The Licentiate Guill´en del Castillo, corregidor of the city of C´ordoba (and so a royal of- ficial, of course), turned up thirty-six cases of children, girls and boys, in 1579. They were not freed, but when they were returned to the custody of their “owners,” it was explicitly stated that this was “in order that they keep them in their service, bring them up, give them religious instruction (dotrinen), see that they are fed, clothed and shod.” — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1142