The music is Morisco music, found on Iberian Garden, Vol. 1 by
Altramar. The piece is Muwashshah: Mā li-l-muwallah, 1113-1198.
This music takes place at the beautiful gardens along the Guadalquiver, near Cordoba.
This is during the "convivencia" under Alfonso X (El Sabio - The Wise), the time
before Granda fell: when Christians, Moslems and Jews lived at peace with each
other. Muwashshah are songs in poetic form, with instrumental interludes in the
form of Ibn Bājja (Avempace): 1470-1520. This is Morisco art.
The "Three Republics" refers to Old Salé, the Casbah (bordering
on the Bou Regreg river, and New Salé, near the Ribat (military
garrison or fortress). Obviously the "Ribat" is the origin of
the name "Rabat" (the capitol of Morocco). The western area was
less fertile and is referred to as the "Al-Gharb". Cotton was
grown here, then used by the weaving establishments. Salé was
the port (trade) for the empire centered at Fez.
Old Salé was the more religious area, more strongly Islamic.
The Casbah became the focus of the Hornachero Republic. The Hornacheros
were fervent Moslems, spoke Arabic, and were wealthy, but were used to
bribing Catholic officials to be allowed to carry arms. The arms were
used in brigandage and counterfeiting.
The Mudéjares and Moriscos expelled from spain were referred to as the
Andalusian Republic, and were focused in New Salé. These people
appeared to be very Spanish to the Moslems in Salé, wore Spanish
dress, spoke a version of Spanish (not Arabic), seemed to have a lack
of shame and dignity, and had names like "Vargas", "Pelafres",
"Blanco", "Rodriquez", "Carasco", "Santiago",
"Galan", "Guzman".
Trade existed between England and Salé.
A "pirate" engages in sea-going criminal acts. A "privateer"
has "letters of marque" meaning that the privateer is a private
representative naval force commissioned by a government to disrupt the
shipping of another government (privateers are not criminals as they are
committing legitimate acts of war, not private criminal acts). Privateers
acting between two Christian governments, are less complicated than when
the two governments represent different religions such as Christians vs
Ottoman Moslems. In such cases, sometimes the word "corsair" is
used for such a privateer. Today we use the word "mercenary", or
"NGO" (Non-Governmental-Organization).
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