Conversion to Catholicism in Early Modern Italy (Religious Cultures in the Early Modern World) by Peter A. Mazur

Author:Peter A. Mazur [Mazur, Peter A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781848936188
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016-01-21T23:00:00+00:00

4 The Strange Tale of the Alpine Turncoat

Johann Heinrich Ruegg and the Roman Inquisition

The three major routes into the Italian peninsula from the Alps—the Cenis, St Gotthard, and Brenner passes—were among the most heavily trafficked passageways in Western Europe during the early modern period, thoroughfares for the transfer of large numbers of goods and people into and out of Italy, for merchants and travellers, criminals and vagabonds, and soldiers. As more than one observer in Italy recognized, the vast number of men and women crossing the Alps into the peninsula every year contained a disturbing number of Protestants, often travelling with Catholic companions, whose very presence risked ‘infecting’ the cities of Italy. Officials like the inquisitor of Milan recognized that they were positioned at a strategic crossroads:

the greatness and opulence of this city, noble emporium of all of the surrounding areas, and the vicinity of this state to Germany … together with the desire that the foreign nations have to see the beauties of Italy, lead me to believe unfortunately that many heretics set foot here, which is the first gateway into Italy, and this obliges me and all of the other inquisitors to be very vigilant.1

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