Europeans fell into the hands of fat until the end of the 19th century. Some of them were assimilated, others were sold in the slave markets. At the same time, everyone was forced to change their faith and accept Islam. Some eventually managed to escape to Malta, where there was a representation of the Holy Inquisition and the Order of the Hospitallers ruled. Historian Frans Chiappara tried to figure out why the inquisitors returned those who converted to Islam to the bosom of the church without much question.
Until recently, it was believed among scholars that those Christians who converted to Islam rarely returned to their faith. But the French historians Bartolomé and Lucille Benassard in their book talk about one and a half thousand Christian apostates who are mentioned in the archives of the Maltese Inquisition for 1550-1700, who returned to their native faith. According to the historian Anna Brogini, the number of people who expressed a desire to voluntarily appear before the Maltese inquisitors, having renounced the new faith, reached more than 920 people.
But these are not all people. Since some renounced Islam when they lost all hope of being redeemed, others renounced their new faith before the death penalty. Muslim masters forbade many slaves to cross the threshold of the sacred office.
In addition, Pope Urban VIII in 1637 granted the missionaries in the Levant the right to re-baptize apostates on the spot, in other words, they no longer needed to personally appear before the Inquisition. Most often they were French, Greeks, Maltese, Russians, Spaniards, Italians and Turks, a little less often - Poles, Hungarians, British and Dutch.
As noted by historians, the number of women among the apostates did not exceed 7.1 percent. They were bought much less often. In addition, it was also much more difficult for them to escape. In addition, many women were married off and had children.
As a rule, Europeans were captured in battles on land, in particular, in border areas, as well as in sea battles. Most often, the captives were brought to Constantinople to the slave market. In addition, the Janissaries very often abducted children.
Among Christians, there were those who voluntarily renounced their native faith and culture. They were convinced that the Christian society was unfair to them, that they were forced to drag out a miserable existence, and that thanks to Islam, the way to a new society would open for them.
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Among the converts were also former pirates, usually from poor families. They attacked Christians, considering it an opportunity to avenge all the humiliations and thus to resist injustice.
Sometimes there was a complete change of mentality when people accepted Islam for real. Such apostates were sure that Muslims would get into the Kingdom of Heaven, because they carefully adhere to all religious codes, unlike Europeans-Christians, who constantly adjust religion to their own framework and needs.
The attitude of the Maltese Inquisition towards apostates at the end of the 17th century was rather mild. If you believe the documents that have survived to this day, only about 22 percent of those who transgressed the faith were formally declared heretics.
According to one Guero from Castelnuovo, his parents died while he was still in infancy. He was brought up by a Muslim woman who circumcised the boy when he was six years old. As Guero notes, he cannot say whether Islam is good or bad, he just did everything that the Turks told him. Many had similar fates at the time.
Such people were first explained the basics of the Christian faith, after which they were baptized. If these people were baptized at birth, then the repeated rite of baptism was performed immediately after the conversation with the inquisitor.
Christian apostates who were really suspected of heresy were not burned alive, as the Turks said. As a rule, after public repentance they were simply released. The Church more willingly accepted into its fold those Christians who converted to Islam than Muslims who decided to convert to Christianity.
It is quite logical to assume that apostate Christians did not tell the whole truth and thought up a lot to justify their actions. In most cases, they tried to present the conversion to Islam as a kind of way to survive in a hostile environment. Especially people who changed their faith tried to emphasize how badly Muslims treated them: they did not give them food and were kept in chains, they were thrown into prison. And in 1658, a Greek from Zara named Vito told the inquisitor that the Muslim owner tied him to a tree in the yard for 18 days, and he suffered from rain and wind until the end of December.
The apostates gave many reasons for their defense. For example, they were threatened with death for having an affair with a Muslim woman, they avenged a Muslim for something, seduced a different faith. Some of these people argued that they were simply forced to convert to Islam, because otherwise they were threatened with death - they were threatened to be thrown into the sea with a stone around their necks. In 1669, one of these apostates, named Nicolo, told the inquisitor that he had killed a slave who was a Christian, and the pasha suggested that he either be buried alive in the same grave with the slave he had killed, or convert to Islam.
In the same year 1669, Antonio Proto, a native of Naples, appeared before the Inquisition, who accused the Muslims that while he was in a deranged state, they performed a circumcision on him. Ostensibly Muslims gave him wine and waited until he fell asleep. And the Hungarian Paolo said that the owner forced his servant to hold him and also performed the circumcision rite.
All these stories raise certain questions. The inquisitors surely could not help but understand that the apostates do not say a lot and come up with a lot. And in the same way, they could not believe that the pirates expected to be caught and returned to the bosom of the Christian faith. Also, if Christians are to strictly maintain their faith until death, why, then, were the inquisitorial sentences not severe?
The answer to all these questions is very simple: the church was much more interested in bringing back the apostates than in executing them. Each such return to Christendom meant the acquisition of new sailors, soldiers and specialists of a wide variety of profiles, who were trained by Muslims. Moreover, all converts possessed truly invaluable information about the military strength of the enemy.
Ultimately, the apostates who decided to return to their faith made their way to Christian lands: they stole boats, started riots on ships, trying to get to Malta.
According to historians, there were other reasons for the loyalty and leniency of the Maltese Inquisition. Inquisitors were also human and could not help but be moved by the stories of apostate Christians, often full of drama. So, for example, the Maltese Ambrose, who was in slavery on the island of Rhodes, wrote to his confessor in November 1652 that he was forced to renounce his faith, and he would never voluntarily convert to Islam. In addition, he wrote that he really hoped to see his relatives and was in good health, and also asked to pray for him.
Two months earlier, Matteo Abela wrote a letter to his mother stating that he was accused of murdering a Muslim and forced to convert to Islam on pain of death. But, according to him, he will never betray his faith and will try to escape at the first opportunity.
In addition, the inquisitors were very well aware that they had to deal with those people who were not very well versed in matters of faith.
In their actions, the inquisitors were guided by the fact that true faith is known in the will and thoughts of a person, and not in his actions and words. So, in particular, Cardinal Deodato Scalia wrote that those Christians who abandoned their own faith under the threat of death or violence, apostates only in words, but not in deeds. Therefore, after an instructive conversation, they can be received back into the bosom of the Christian church.
A native of Venice, Antonio, who contracted scabies in 1684, decided that this was his punishment for apostasy. However, the apostates for the most part were convinced that the most important thing was to keep their native faith in their hearts, and not in words, so they were not burdened by rejection of Christianity.
So, for example, Giorgio from Zagreb was forced by the owner to marry a married woman, but the man did not perceive this marriage as real. If children were born to the apostates, they baptized them and gave them Christian names, except Muslim ones, but they did it secretly.
These people kept their thoughts and religious views to themselves. They tried to support each other, not letting them fall into despondency. They prayed together and were baptized at least once a day, reminding each other of their native religion.
Most of the apostates kept their original faith. They knew well how to tell the inquisitor about their difficult fate so that he would allow them to return to the fold of the church. These people outwardly lived according to Muslim laws, while their souls remained Christians.
