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Between 1609 and 1615 approximately 300,000 Moriscos were expelled from Spain. The Moriscos made up 5% of the Spanish population and in certain regions like Valencia they made up as much as 30% of the population (Vincent, "The Geography"). The expulsions meant a terrible loss for the labor and economic potential of the country. The measure shocked Cardinal Richelieu and Pope Paul V because the expelled Moriscos were baptized Catholics. Given the magnitude of the expulsions, one may expect Spanish authors to have recounted the event in the poems, prose, and plays written during and immediately following its occurrence. After all, it was the golden age of Spanish literary production. However, discussion of the topic is notably absent-excluding the apologist texts-from most literary works produced within Spain in the years after the expulsions.1 When we take this literary lacuna into account, it is remarkable that Miguel de Cervantes published works that addressed the Morisco expulsions twice in their immediate aftermath (1615 and 1617).
In both instances-Don Quixote (1615) and The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda (1617)-Cervantes constructs Morisco characters that differ from other Morisco characters depicted in literary texts at the time. Francisco Marquez Villanueva was one of the first to point out that Cervantes's Morisco characters are exceptional because they are individuals, not a stereotypical generalization of the whole Morisco nation. There are many other defining characteristics of Cervantes's Morisco characters. For example, Cervantes is one of very few authors who represents Moriscos that are well assimilated into Old Christian society. His Morisco characters are unusual because they directly address the topic of the expulsions. And finally, Cervantes's characters answer the question "who are you?" and are thusly given occasion to explain the complexities of their Morisco identities to an audience of Old Christians. This rhetorical situation, the act of explaining ones Morisco identity to Old Christians authorities, was uncommon in works of literature, however, it was commonplace in early modern Spain.
There was ample historical precedent for Moriscos being forced to explain the intricacies of their religious and genealogical identities to Old Christians. Moriscos were often put in situations where it was necessary for them to assuage skepticism about the sincerity of their beliefs. One way of doing this was by telling their...