Hominum genus in peregrinatione natum. Gypsies in Renaissance

Abstract

Hominum genus in peregrinatione natum. Gypsies in Renaissance, in Vukadinović, S. & Boškov, S. & Radulović, I. eds. (2020). Migrations from Antiquity to the Present Days. Thematic volume. 1, Novi Sad: Center for Historical Research, University of Novi Sad: 201-210.

The appearance of Gypsies in Western Europe prompted chroniclers and other writers of the Renaissance to represent them and thus construct the stereotypes associated with this ethnic group. After a brief examination of some Renaissance sources concerning Gypsies, three texts, are examined: a play by the Portuguese author, Gil Vicente, Auto de hũas Ciganas; an excerpt from Disquisitiones Magicae, a doctrinal treatise of the Flemish-Spanish Jesuit, Martin Delrio; and an excerpt from Miscelanea, a dialogue of the Portuguese Leitão de Andrada (sixteenth/seventeenth cents.). The texts were chosen on the basis of their differences: they span across almost one century (1521–1617), from Renaissance (Vicente) to Counter-Reformation (Delrio and Andrada) and, moreover, they are quite different as to their literary genre. Analysis shall concentrate not only on the identification of stereotypes about Gypsies but also on the uses of those stereotypes as well as ascertain the evolution from attitudes towards Gypsies from Renaissance to Counter-Reformation.