Gypsies in Counter-Reformation Rome

Historical studies on Gypsies in early modern Europe have emphasized either ethnic identity or socio-economic strategies. Some recent studies have suggested focusing on the fundamental role played by the authorities in identifying and stigmatizing Gypsies, underlining for example that the term Gypsies was sometimes applied to other itinerant groups. Shifting responses to Gypsies in Rome shows how tension over the assimilation and integration of ‘foreigners’ can be seen within the framework of a broader project of spiritual conquest or reconquest. While other European countries saw Gypsies purely as a public order problem, Rome also regarded them as a group of souls to conquer or “lost sheep” to be led back to the fold. Gypsies did not belong to any distinct religious confession and therefore had no religion to abjure or past to forswear. This spiritual reconquest project tended to make the Roman authorities’ policy of forcibly assimilating Gypsies less violent.