Converting Enslaved Muslims in Early Modern Naples: Charity, Identity, and Solidarity in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

Analysing six-plus printed Jesuit narratives describing the conversion of Muslim (‘Turkish’ and ‘Moorish’) slaves in early modern Naples, this article considers the Jesuit use of publicity and diverse forms of accommodation, including the use of dreams, attention to the sick and dying, spectacularity, featuring Christianity as a surrogate family, and distributing religious tokens, toward the ends of conversion. Jesuits also developed methods to recall converts who threatened to return to their home country and original faith, including drafting a rather unorthodox document which, testifying to a Christian status, was meant to protect converts from the incursions of the Inquisition when they returned from the Dar-al-Islam to Christian lands.