The Besant Tax

Each Muslim household paid a tax known as the besant , a tribute symbolic of their subject and inferior status in a Christian society. In this way it was similar to the jizyah , or poll tax, paid by the dhimmi s^[*] in Islamic societies, though the jizyah differed in that it fell on every male beyond the age of puberty. While the besant continued to be collected from the Mudejars of the kingdom of Valencia in the fifteenth century, its collection seems to have fallen into abeyance in Aragon and Catalonia.^[5]

The besant was not an especially burdensome levy; each household paid 3s 4d annually. The Muslims of Castellón de la Plana paid a higher besant of 4s, the explanation for this probably lying in that aljama's later foundation.^[6] The aljama of Valencia, still suffering from the effects of the sack of 1455, was exempted from payment of the besant . Temporary exemption was also offered as an inducement to new vassals in the morería of Játiva.^[7] Impoverished Mudejars were perforce excused from payment. In the large aljamas of Játiva and Alcira (table 3) the number of Muslims not paying ranged from 5 to 15 percent of the total population in any given year.^[8] Although the Crown might be lenient with individual Muslims, the remission was only temporary. Once he had sufficient funds, the Muslim in arrears had to satisfy all outstanding besants (table 4). It followed that the Muslim dissolving his bonds of vassalage to the king had to discharge his besants before departure to seigneurial lands.^[9]

The varied patterns of vassalage, land tenure, and residence complicated the collection of the besant (see tables 5–10). A number of Muslims, while royal vassals in specific aljamas, continued to live in or later changed their residence to seigneurial lands. Fortunately for the aljamas' finances, the besant was assessed only on individual households, so that the aljama was not made to compensate for the unpaid besants of absentee vassals. The responsibility of collecting from these vassals thus fell to the local bailiffs, who seem to have carried out this task efficiently. Muslims dwelling in the lordships of Alcocer, Alberique, Catadau, and Valldigna are recorded as having paid the besant to the bailiff of Alcira. Likewise, the bailiff of Murviedro collected from royal vassals resident in Algimia.^[10]

Also linked to the Mudejars' status of a conquered and dissident minority was the requirement that they have a royal license to bear arms, beg for alms, and practice prostitution. The fees charged by the Crown for these licenses figured as only a minor source of royal revenue, and, although not especially high, must have proved burdensome to mendicants. It is probable that such licenses, as well as those granted to Mudejars. for travel and emigration, were more important as a means of controlling the movement and activities of the Muslim population. Chapter 2 discussed how suspicions about a Mudejar fifth column prompted the king to recommend stricter control of Mudejar arms-bearing and to curtail the granting of travel licenses. Because most mendicants and many prostitutes were itinerant, the demand that they bear licenses allowed for some surveillance of transient Muslims.^[11] It is not surprising that the bailiff general expressed the most concern about unlicensed Muslim beggars and prostitutes during the years 1499–1503, when revolts in Granada and the resultant Mudejar fears and attempted

flight created a potentially explosive state of affairs.^[12] Like the besant , these licenses were more important for what they signified—in this case, a restriction of the Muslims' freedom of movement and a basic royal mistrust of Mudejar intentions—than for the revenue they brought to the king.