Da esule a civis anglus. Alberico Gentili e la difficile condizione dello straniero: tra vicende personali e riflessioni dottrinali

Alberico Gentili fled from Italy due to his adhesion to the Reformation and arrived in England in 1580. Autographed documents dating back to the early 1580s, and further sources, attest his condition as a foreign citizen, an exile religionis causa. Despite the adversity of the Puritan circles, in particular of the theologian John Rainolds, in 1587 Gentili became regius professor of civil law. However, the conflicts with those circles did not end: in the mid-1590s he continued to experience hostility for being a foreigner. For this reason, between 1594 and 1604, Gentili claimed not only the right of asylum but also the acquisition of English citizenship. The Justinian Roman law and the interpretations of the most authoritative legal scholars (Bartolus of Sassoferrato, Martinus Garati of Lodi, Alexander Tartagni, Andrea Alciato) supported his claims: the necessary and sufficient requirements to be considered civis anglus were represented by his stay in the Kingdom for over ten years and by his tenure at the university.