Interview to a Morisco

Journalist:

Hello. My name is Fernando. We are speaking from the BBC in London. Today we have travelled to the 17^th Century and we are interviewing a man who has recently suffered the expulsion of the Moriscos. Tell me something about you.

Morisco:

Hello, my name is Abdula Al Abukar and I hope to solve all your doubts.

Journalist:

How did the government tell you the bad new?

Morisco:

In 1570 we received a letter signed by the King that told that we had to leave Spain. It was quite a shocking situation and my family and I thought it was a prank. We got some information from the government and finally they told us it was true.

Journalist:

When did they take you and your family?

Morisco:

Well, It´s a long story.

First of all we live in Valencia, and because as it´s one of the cities with more Moriscos,  they took us the first ones. We had many problems because my family and I were taken in different boats, they told us to calm down that our destination was the same. I arrived first, and a week later my family and my sons arrived.

Journalist:

Where did you arrive?

Morisco:

The first week I didn´t recognized the place and anyone told me where we were. But one day I saw a sign with the name “Rabat” written and then I realized where I was. I was in the capital of Morocco.

Journalist:

Wow! That should have been a very uncomfortable situation.

What was your job in Spain and in Morocco?

Morisco:

I worked for a noble in a land where I was the chief, he gave me that charge because I had been with him my entire live, and we were near friends. He gave me a house near the land where I lived with my family. Notwithstanding, in Morocco I work in a land that doesn´t product a lot of harvest, I have to work more than ten or eleven hours a day, and my salary isn´t as high as in Spain and I can´t maintain my family.

Journalist:

I´m sorry you haven´t found any other place to work.

Why do you think the king wanted you to leave Spain?

Morisco:

Well, I don´t actually know why he decided to expel my family and me out of the peninsula.

I converted myself to Christianity, I obeyed every single law, and I loved Spain; and if I had to die for Spain I would. Three generations ago, my whole family converted to Christianity. Since then we have all been Christians, and my wife and I got married in the church. I felt quite bothered. Do you know the reasons why they expelled us?

Journalist:

Oh, I thought you knew them! Well the main reason was because you weren´t Christians…

Morisco:

But I had converted to Christianity, and I loved Spain. I think the decision Philip has taken isn´t the correct one. I think he isn´t an example of a loyal king. Charles V, in my opinion, he was faithful to his country because he respected having another religion.

Journalist:

Moving to another topic, let´s talk about your social situation there in Morocco.

Morisco:

OK. To be honest, it´s totally different. I have no friends, the food is different… I think I´d have to get used to live in this place. Every one looks at me as if I was an immigrant. It´s quite annoying.

Journalist:

Yes, I can imagine it. Do your wife or children work?

Morisco:

My wife is a homemaker. She works in house and takes care of our sons. Otherwise, my sons do not work. They start to work when they are 12. They are know: 11, 9 and 5.

Journalist:

Do you support this behavior?

Morisco:

Of course not, I think what children should do is go to school and learn, because I haven´t learnt and I feel like if I were nothing; and I don´t want that for my children. I try to teach them the things I know. Has it changed in the future?

Journalist:

Yes. Now it is obligatory to go to school. I´m so sorry you haven’t gone to school. But it has been a slow process. Nowadays, there are still countries that don´t have schools.

Just the last question: do you spend time with your family?

Morisco:

Well, not a lot. I wake up early and they are still sleeping. At lunch time, I have a sandwich at the land, and of course I cannot see them. But when I arrive home and can give them lessons and have fun with them

Journalist:

Thank you very much. I hope you find a better place to live, and that you spend more time with your family. It has been a pleasure.

Morisco:

Your welcome.

Spanish Armada

TASK 1. This is an extract from a letter to the English government which gives details about the progress of the Armada.

·         How useful do you think this information would be to the English government?

In my opinion this letter had a lot of useful information that was used to prepare the defense of the United Kingdom and also to have the details of the ships, leaders, sailors and soldiers of the Spanish Armada.

·         Why were there more soldiers than sailors?

There were around 11000 soldiers, because the intention of Phillip II was to conquer England to expel Isabel I of England because she was not catholic and was supporting protestant rebels from Flanders.

Phillip II was a catholic king and wanted that the whole Europe was catholic too.

TASK 2. This is a report from Lord Howard of Effingham, the Admiral of the English fleet.

·         How do you think the news that the Spanish Armada had been sighted was able to reach Lord Howard so quickly when he was at Plymouth, over a hundred miles away?

The letter was able to reach on time to the English Government because the ship called Golden Hind saw the Spanish ships in a daily review of the sea near the UK cost. The watchers in the coast fired a light that was repeated until Plymouth, where the English army was. As a consequence of that, this message reached the UK government.

·         Why do you think Howard complained to Walsingham about the wind?

This meteorological fact was very important in order to favor the landing of the Spanish troops.

·         Howard says that the Spanish fleet was ‘soe strong’. What made it strong?

The Spanish Armada was so strong because it was composed by 120 ships, with 4 galleasses and many big ships.

TASK 4. An extract from a Spanish captain’s account of the events. He had survived after being shipwrecked on the Irish coast and was then interrogated by the English, but eventually returned home to Spain.

·         The Spanish Armada fought the English fleet for two days without losing any ships. What happened next that changed this?

This day 25 English ships came to Callis to support the ones that were there, and in the night, they sent 6 fired ships into the Spanish army anchored in Callis making a great ship burned and more ships go away.

·         Why was it a good thing that the Spanish plans were stopped?

Because the Spanish had planned to see the prince of Parma that was giving the army 7000 men to join them and invade England.

Also, was a good thing because the ships that went into the sea suffered a terrible weather the next days, changing the wind direction and making the English have advantage so they were fired by the English army.

·         If you could change one thing to give the Spanish a better chance of winning what would it be and why?

In my opinion the worst fact the election of the Duke of Medina Sidonia as the leader of the Spanish fleet. He was the general captain of the Spanish army but he was a man with no experience in maritime fighting. His decisions went from bad to worse.

·         The English celebrated their victory with a medal saying ‘God Blew and they were Scattered’ – how would the Spanish have explained their defeat?

The Spanish troops justified their defeat in the bad military organization, their bad leader and also due to the meteorological conditions they suffered.

TASK 6. Explain in a short paragraph why many people thought that God had helped the English defeat the Spanish Armada.

They thought that God had helped them because the wind pushed the Spanish fleet first against the Dutch coast and afterwards to the North, and looked as if God didn´t wanted them to fight, he didn´t let the Spanish conquer England. And that´s why England won.