The de Reys (1220–1501): The Evolution of a “Middle-Class” Muslim Family in Christian Aragón

The Muslim minority of Christian Spain is often imagined as consisting of a marginalized, rural population, a large number of slaves, and a rather narrow economic and political elite—an image which arises in part as a consequence of the narrow range of sources which are typically consulted. Through chancery registers, letters, notarial registers, and court transcripts, this article traces the history of the de Reys, a Muslim family based in the Aragonese town of Huesca, from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries. The de Reys were a prosperous, but not wealthy, family that maintained its prosperity over the course of three centuries by a variety of strategies. Notable among these was the family’s tenacious struggle to maintain their exemption from communal taxes, a struggle that turned them against their own community and drove them into alliances with local Christian parties.