Antonio Quentini - Relationi di quello che trattavano i moreschi di Spagna, contra la Maestà del Rè - 1611

A rare account of the expulsion of Spain's Muslims, or "Moriscos": Among the justifications given are rumors that the Moriscos kept a giant toad in a secret cave and fed it to Christians.
Quintini uses the testimony of a Moorish woman from Valencia, whose story, as improbable as it is surreal, serves to define the Moorish topos in the eyes of the unaware Italian public. A witch, impertinent and obstinate, the woman from Valencia is caught and punished by justice.
According to the letters intercepted by the witch, the king of Algiers promises to leave to the Moriscos everything they manage to steal from the Christians.
Invasion and pillage are permitted, as long as women are not killed, not so much for reasons of honor, but because they constitute the reward: five women are an adequate prize for each fighter.


CONDITION REPORT
Typographic engraving on the title, contemporary inscription in ink on the title page, light foxing and staining, contemporary inscription in ink at the foot of the final sheet, subsequent binding in full smooth leather. Pp. 16.
TITLE PAGE + 2 to 16 numbered pages
Printer’s device on title page

CONTENTS
This is a pamphlet of popular literature, published for the first time in 1611 in Genoa by
printer Giuseppe Pavoni and republished in the following ten years by various printing houses in northern Italy. It can be assumed that, with the publication of the Relatione o Congiura, Quintini intended to gain the favor and sympathy of the Genoese government, which just a short time before had denied the Moriscos access to the territories
of the Republic.
The text begins by praising the King of Spain, an example to be followed throughout the world for having obtained such a "glorious victory against the enemies of the Holy Faith and of his Crown." The author continues by sketching a rather rough profile of the Moriscos, recalling another "glorious victory," this time of King Ramiro, obtained 765 years earlier.
Without further ado, Quintini focuses on the Granada revolt. After having mistakenly placed it in 1572, the author exposes many of the limitations imposed on the Moriscos. Now, despite such antecedents, the Moriscos had the audacity to mock the Monarchy and Catholicism to the point of appointing their own king and pope, thus de facto plotting a conspiracy. He thus predisposes the reader to mentally accept the legitimacy of the expulsion of 1609.

To uncover the betrayal and the plots of alliances between the Moors and the King of Algiers, Quintini uses the testimony of a Moorish woman from Valencia, whose story, as unlikely as it is surreal, serves to define the Moorish topos in the eyes of the unaware Italian public. A witch, impertinent and obstinate, the Valencian is caught and punished by justice.

As if that were not enough, she is "shamed" during a public procession with "a paper mitre on her head" (the coroza), punished with beatings and exiled from Valencia. In the end, the witch is condemned to the stake
for having lived according to the Mohammedan law and for having killed three men by means of some spells. At the point of death, the Moorish woman begs for the granting of clemency with the promise of revealing to the viceroy of Valencia extraordinary secrets, of public interest and security.

Although this circumstance of the revelation benefits the Res publica, the woman shows herself for what she is: a traitor, faithful representative of her people, capable of turning her back on her own community. She confides in the viceroy Caracena the correspondence between Algiers and the Moors of Valencia; she reports the undergrounds where the weapons of the revolt are hidden. For all this, the minister rewards her with freedom, in exchange for the commitment to serve in the hospitals of the poor. The wickedness and disloyalty of the Moors is therefore answered with the mercy and goodness of the Christian leaders.

According to the letters intercepted by the witch, the king of Algiers promises to leave to the Moriscos everything they manage to steal from the Christians.
Invasion and pillage are permitted, as long as women are not killed, not so much for reasons of honor, but because they constitute the reward: five women are an adequate prize for each fighter.