Persians and the Spanish Monarchy. Adaptation, conversion and
otherness in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain.
José Cutillas (University of Alicante).
This project was inspired by my research into a number of fundamental themes
in the history of the early modern period - the Moriscos (the Muslim minority in Spain
in 16th and 17th centuries), the Spanish Monarchy, the Safavid Persian Empire and its
relations in North Africa, specifically in the context of a Shia text (a maqtal) written in
Spanish which I studied (José Cutillas, 2012, 1998). This is the Corónica y relación de la
esclarecida descendencia xarifa. This text alerted me to the importance of the Safavid
Persian Empire and the broader international relations that bound the Spanish
Monarchy and the Safavids of Persia in the 17th century. Consequently, I started to
analyze the links and relationship between the Persians and the Habsburgs of Spain.
A number of recent works by historians such as Enrique García Hernán, José Javier
Ruiz Ibáñez and Óscar Recio Morales have demonstrated the interest in forging links
with foreign peoples, states and dynasties during the Habsburg period. Most recent
academic studies have focussed attention on the social status of immigrants to Spain,
looking in depth at their integration, employment, intellectual life and their legacy.
These works have also shed important light on how these immigrant figures
established a network of relations that bound Spain and its monarquía and their
countries of origin. Researchers are now demonstrating that these exile communities
included numbers of prominent individuals who went on to play a major role in the
court of the Habsburgs of Spain. Among these groups, the Persians constituted an
extremely interesting faction who served as the Shah´s ambassadors in Madrid,
following direct and precise instructions from Tehran.
The Persian community in Spain was established under a diplomatic strategy
set out by the Spanish Monarchy and the Safavids. The foundations of this relationship
were set down during the reign of Shah Abbas I. This diplomatic relationship was of
considerable strategic importance, being conceived of as part of a coherent military and
economic strategy directed against the common enemy of both regimes – the
Ottomans. The first contacts occurred in 16th century when the hostilities had begun
between Ottomans and Safavids. And this process culminated in the embassy of
Husayn Ali Beg (1601); Quli Beg (1608); Dengiz Beg (1611), and the embassy of García
de Silva y Figueroa who was sent by Philip III to Shah Abbas I´s court. The first
embassy saw the arrival of Uruch Beg in Spain: this fascinating statesman would come
to be known as Don Juan of Persia. Philip III himself stood as his godfather at his
baptism. Don Juan de Persia wrote Relaciones de Don Juan de Persia (Enrique García,
2011; José Cutillas, 2002).
We know of an important group of Persians traders and ambassadors that
carryied letters from the Shahs to European monarchs and to the Pope (Willem Floor &
Farhad Hakimzadeh, 2007). We know that many of representatives of the Shahs also
travelled to the East and India (Sushil Chaudhury & Kéram Kévonian, 2007), while
many others ventured across Europe, Russia, England, France, Poland, etc., (Rudi
Matthee, 2013; Willem Floor & Edmund Herzig, 2012). However, these studies, while
extremely innovative and valuable, have not allowed us to reconstruct the presence
and activities of Persians in the Spanish court in any great detail. However the
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existence of letters and documentation bequeathed by Persian statesmen in the Spanish
archives allows us to pose a challenge to our understanding of this community. An
outstanding Persian personage in the Spanish court was Kwaja Safar Azaria, who came
to be known as ´el Conde´, the Count. The Armenian trader Khwaja Safar Azaria (the
´Conde Sefer´ of the Spanish chronicles), is mentioned as the ambassador of Shah
Abbas I in Venice and Rome (17th century). About the Armenian community in Safavid
Persia and their network of commercial and diplomatic relations there are outstanding
studies (Khanbaghi, 2006; Babaie, 2004; Ina Baghdiantz, 1999). Moreover, it is now clear
that much more can be written about the Spanish presence in Persia. Not only were
the Spanish represented by priests and ambassadors, but also by a community of
´adventurers´. Pedro Teixeira is an outstanding figure who wrote about his travels and
was fascinated by the Persian language and Safavid culture. He translated into Spanish
language the only version of the Shahnameh or History of the Kings of Hormuz, from
Mir Khwand. This translation is extremely valuable because the Persian version was
lost (Eduardo Barajas, 1994). It therefore represents a historical document of unique
value and importance.
Although previous studies have addressed these historical documents, none of
them has sought to take a holistic approach to the study of the religious, political,
social, economic, and cultural impact of this community in Spain. Recently a number of
important works have addressed the global role of the Safavids, (Willem Floor &
Edmund Herzig, 2012; Rudi Matthee & Jorge Flores, 2011; specifically for Spain Luis
Gil, 2009, 2006; and Carlos Alonso). As Professor García Hernán has argued, the impact
of this community, and of the international links that it forged, needs to be re-assessed
as new documentation comes to light and is studied by professional historians. One
way of doing this is to analyse the archives of baptismal records, marriages and
conversions to the Catholic faith: the micro history of this community tells us a great
deal about its character and evolution.
The purpose of this study is to assess the value of previous historical studies
and to underline the importance of studying the 16th -17th Persian community in Spain.
We need to research, describe, and analyse the role played by this group, its social
interactions, its status as ´aliens´, foreigners or outsiders, and the integration of the
Persian community into the fabric of the Spanish Monarchy. To this end, a number of
hypotheses are presented in the hope that they will help us to understand this presence
and to approach it in a more ´scientific´ and rigorous manner. First, this paper will set
out some questions that concern the presence of the Persians in Spain, addressing
certain themes (confessional subculture; religious changes; conversions; marriages etc).
Then we will identify the documents in archives that allow us to reconstruct their lives,
mechanisms of change and their interactions with the Spanish community. Lastly, we
will present some hypothetical ideas that put this community in a broader
international context in the 17th century – although the emphasis will fall on the need to
do so from a Spanish perspective.
The Persians who settled in Madrid and elsewhere were an exceptional
community which enjoyed a unique social and doctrinal status, although there were
always serious problems about their underlying condition as foreigners and Muslims.
It is possible that they were granted more flexible terms of adaptation as a Shi‘a
community (taqiyya): this idea might help to explain their eventual conversion to
Catholicism. Unlike the Moriscos, they were not coerced into converting and so their
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path to Catholicism and ´Spanishness´ was more gradual and much less traumatic. But
at present these are only hypotheses which require further research.
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