ere an alien element of the population and from time to
time irritating edicts were issued for their control. In 1560 the Moriscos
were forbidden to employ African slaves, for fear that they might make
infidels of them. This was a severe annoyance, for the wealthy farmers
depended on the labor of these slaves. In 1563 they were forbidden to
possess arms except under license. In 1566 still more oppressive edicts
were passed. They were no longer to use the Arabic language or wear the
Moorish dress, and the women were required to go about with their faces
unveiled,--a scandalous thing among Mohammedans. Their weddings were to be
conducted in public, after the Christian forms, their national songs and
dances were interdicted, and they were even forbidden to indulge in warm
baths, bathing being a custom of which the Spaniard of that day appears to
have disapproved.

The result of these oppressive edicts was a violent and dangerous
insurrection, which involved nearly all the Moriscos of Spain, and
continued for more than two years, requiring all the power of Spain for
its suppression. Don John of Austria, the victor at Lepanto, led the
Spanish troops, but he had a difficult task, the Moriscos, sheltered in
their mountain fastnesses, making a desperate and protracted resistance,
and showing a warlike energy equal to that which had been displayed in the
defence of Granada.

The end of the war was followed by a decree from Philip II. that all the
Moors of Granada should be removed into the interior of the country, their
lands and houses being forfeited, and nothing left them but their personal
effects. This act of confiscation was followed by their reduction to a
state of serfdom in their new homes, no one being permitted to change his
abode without permission, under a very severe penalty. If found within ten
leagues of Granada they were condemned, if between the ages of ten and
seventeen, to the galleys for life; if older, to the punishment of death.

The dispersal of the Moriscos of Granada, while cruel to them, proved of
the greatest benefit to Spain. Wherever they went the effects of their
superior skill and industry were soon manifested. They were skilled not
only in husbandry, but in the mechanic arts, and their industry gave a new
aspect of prosperity to the provinces to which they were banished, while
the valleys and hill-sides of Granada, which had flourished under their
cultivation, sank into barrenness under the unsk