Description
This thesis traces the Morisco experience and resulting Crypto-Islamic identity during the late medieval through early modern period in the Iberian Peninsula using language, law, popular culture, and the results of DNA research. The Crypto-Islamic Identity took root before their official status as Moriscos during the twelfth through fifteenth centuries as Spanish Muslims lost power and began the process of becoming internally displaced. During the following two centuries, Moriscos grappled with the results of internal displacement, further defining their identity by the alterations to their religious and cultural expressions which were necessary for survival. At the end of the seventeenth century, the Moriscos were expelled from the Peninsula, where the implications of the Crypto-Islamic identity resulted in one that was neither that of the Spanish Christians or the North African Muslims.
