Abstract:
The right of asylum coincides with the birth of the first churches. It guaranteed that refugees in sacred places could not be forcibly expelled, sentenced to death, or subjected to other corporal punishment. The use of churches as places of refuge could be exploited, especially by bandits, but the secular authorities particularly resented that the Roma were accustomed to this practice. An analysis of the case of the Gitanos in Habsburg Spain raises several questions. The secular authorities tried to refuse the restitution of the Roma on the grounds of legitimate capture, because they were officially thieves (publici latrones) by public reputation (public vox y fama); therefore, there was no reason for them to enjoy the privilege. The episcopal vicars, however, showed an incredible tenacity in reaffirming the right to asylum, and especially for the gitanos, they demanded and often obtained their release. This paper wants to reflect on the evolution of the Romani identity, but also on the growth of the Church's interest in this privilege, which takes on the appearance of a battle between institutions to defend a right at all costs. This power struggle was undoubtedly exploited by criminals, while the Roma who lived legally found themselves caught up in a planned extermination right after the abolition of the Romani privilege, as demonstrated by the Great Roma Massacre of 1749.

Maria Gloria Tumminelli graduated cum laude in Economic and Social History of the Modern Era at the University of Milan in 2015. In 2019 she obtained the title of Doctor of Research in Modern History at the University of Pavia with the thesis "Gypsies in the Spanish Empire: Soldiers, bandits and vagabonds between Milan, Naples and Castile (XVI-XVII centuries)". She was awarded the Savoldelli Scholarship of the Archivio Bergamasco in 2019. A recent publication: "Desiderando di lasciar detta professione e non andar vagando: Gli zingari nel Ducato di Milano tra emarginazione e convivenza (secc. XV-XVII)" (2019).

Massimo Aresu, PhD, specializes in the history of the Roma presence in the Mediterranean in the early modern period. He is currently a visiting researcher at the University of Leeds, where he is carrying out the Marie Skłodowska-Curie project Mediterranean G*psies: A forgotten history beyond diaspora, nomadism, marginality in three western Mediterranean territories of the Spanish Crown (Andalusia, Sicily, Sardinia, 16th-early 18th centuries), 2018-2021. Recent publications include the co-edited book Questo genere di uomini: Testi su egiziani cingari zingari zingani nell'Italia moderna (1422-1812), with Leonardo Piasere et al. (2020), and the article "Representing Spanish G*psies during the Second Half of the 18th Century: A Dissenting Voice" (2019).