Sancho IV of Castile and the Imposition of the Mudéjar Tithe in Murcia ; Sancho IV de Castilla y la imposición del diezmo mudéjar en Murcia

Abstract

During the last two decades of the thirteenth century, the kingdom of Castile was exposed to a double threat. On the one hand, a new expedition of a Northern African empire, under the Banu Marin, was launched against the Peninsula and threatened the Christian conquests in southern Andalusia. On the other, a civil war broke out, instigated by prince Sancho, which unleashed a period of political and economic upheaval, adversely affecting the Mudejar community of Murcia. The king's protection of the Church of Cartagena, his main ally in the area, together with the need to collect financial resources to fund the military expenses triggered by what is known as the «Battle for the Strait» against the Banu Marin, changed the original intent of the ecclesiastical tithe. This tithe was transformed from a religious tax linked exclusively to the Christian community into one applied to all religious minorities in Murcia at the time, as was the case with the Mudejars. ; Durante las últimas dos décadas del siglo XIII, el reino de Castilla estuvo sujeto una doble amenaza: de un lado un nuevo embate peninsular por parte de un imperio musulmán norteafricano, los benimerines, pone en serio peligro las conquistas cristianas meridionales de Andalucía; por otro la guerra civil a que da lugar el golpe de Estado protagonizado por el infante D. Sancho, abre un periodo de inestabilidad política y económica, que actuará en detrimento de la comunidad mudéjar murciana. La protección del monarca hacia la Iglesia de Cartagena, su principal apoyo local, junto a la necesidad de obtener recursos financieros destinados a sufragar los gastos militares derivados de la llamada «Cruzada del Estrecho» contra los benimerines, transformó el carácter inicial del diezmo eclesiástico, pasando de ser un impuesto de adscripción eminentemente cristiana a gravar al resto de minorías confesionales que componía la sociedad murciana del momento, caso de la mudéjar. During the last two decades of the thirteenth century, the kingdom of Castile was exposed to a double threat. On the one hand, a new expedition of a Northern African empire, under the Banu Marin, was launched against the Peninsula and threatened the Christian conquests in southern Andalusia. On the other, a civil war broke out, instigated by prince Sancho, which unleashed a period of political and economic upheaval, adversely affecting the Mudejar community of Murcia. The king's protection of the Church of Cartagena, his main ally in the area, together with the need to collect financial resources to fund the military expenses triggered by what is known as the «Battle for the Strait» against the Banu Marin, changed the original intent of the ecclesiastical tithe. This tithe was transformed from a religious tax linked exclusively to the Christian community into one applied to all religious minorities in Murcia at the time, as was the case with the Mudejars.