The Origin of the Romani people, known as Gypsies, is an often confusing one, between the inconsistencies of the documentation of the Gaje (non-gypsy) or the legends that have been passed down from the Romani themselves, you can find a different story of their beginnings at every turn. What I will try to do in this class is try to sort out the myths and the facts, and pull together a cognizant history of the Romani people in period.
No one source can definitively say why they left India at all. One theory is that the gypsies were in the Indus River Valley before the rise of Hinduism. As the caste system was set up, the Romani, who could not assimilate to their new “masters”, and could not seemingly be killed off, they set up the Sudra caste, the servants of the other three castes in Hinduism. Another theory states that the Romani were thrown out of India by their own people because of a disagreement that lead to a long and bloody war. This theory is supported by the legend of Tchen and Gan, a legend that Romanies still tell today. Still another theory believes that Alexander led the first Romani from India, sending them to Macedonia to work metal for him. Up until World War II, the Macedonian Gypsies spoke the purest form of Romany, the closest version to the Sanskrit on which it is based.
Regardless of which theory is correct, during the Arab invasions into Persia, there are many records stating that the conquering Arabs interred many groups of people known as Zotts to Antioch. When the Zotts went to Antioch, they took their music, and their cattle. They were a settled people there, until c. 820 A.D., when they were forcibly moved from the area to Baghdad, then separated into smaller groups so as not to cause any more trouble for the Arabs over their cattle’s grazing rights. The name Zott is still used today in many Middle Eastern countries as a descriptive for Gypsies, along with Nawar and Dom.
Due to new interpretations of source material from contemporary Byzantine scholars, the dating of when the Romanies appeared in the Byzantine Empire at a much earlier date of ca. 800 A.D. During the 9th century, there is also a mention in Saint Atanasia’s “Life” that she gave food to “foreigners called the Atsingani” during a time of famine near Thrace. In 803 Theophanes the Confessor writes that Emperor Nikephoros I Genik had the help of the Atsingani (derived from the Greek “Atsinganoi” which is the root word for various names that the gypsies are called now, such as Tzigane, Zincali, etc.) and the Pavlikiani to put down a riot with their “knowledge of magic”. The Emperor allowed them to move freely throughout the empire, some choosing to settle near and in Thrace. According to Theophanes the Confessor, emperors seemed to have inconsistent views in dealing with them. Emperor Michael I Rangrave (811-813) for a short period of time imposed the death penalty on heretical groups as he saw them, including the Atsingani. But, Emperor Michael II (820-830) saw them in a better light, some say because he grew up in Amorion in Phrygia, where there were “many Jews … and Atsingani”. One rumor that Theophanes suggests as to why he was so forgiving of the Atsingani was because one of them told his fortune that one day he would become emperor.
By 1050 A.D., they were called on by Emperor Monomachus and asked to rid his forests of the wild animals which were killing off his stock in his hunting preserve, as told by a Georgian hagiographical text, the Life of St. George the Anchorite. When the Emperor asked them to show him how they succeeded in getting rid of the wild beasts, they set poison in his hunting dog’s food. St. George rescued the dog, and the Atsingani wondered what they had done wrong. These people were well known for their ability with animals, along with their proficiency at metalwork and music, which are all of the traditional occupations even today of the Romani people.
As the Ottoman Empire spread, so did Romanies. They are recorded in Serbia in 1348, Bulgaria in 1378 and can be documented in Hungary in 1383. The Ottomans were actually the first to refer to Romanies as “Egyptians” in 1396 in what is now Bulgaria. These were a useful and well-received people in the Middle East and Eastern Europe during this time on the whole. The only place that this could not be said was true was in Romania. In 1385 there is the first record of gypsy slaves. But even then, they were coveted all over for their abilities in metalwork, music and animal handling. They also became well known as proficient mercenaries for hire, their prowess on the field legendary in Hungary and Romania, both fighting for the Turks and against them.
In 1407, everything changed for the gypsies. Historians are as opinionated as to how they came up with the idea to go to Western Europe as penitent pilgrims. To the gypsies, this “pilgrimage” is known as the Hakko Baro, or the Great Game/Scam. They appeared outside of the gates of Hildesheim, Germany, with letters from King Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor, granting them safe passage through all lands under his domain. From there, they traveled to Italy, telling their story to the Pope, who in turn gave them letters of safe passage and a letter stating that all dioceses that these people come across would give them money and food. When they showed up with these letters outside the gates of Paris in 1427, they caused quite a commotion. An alderman wrote in his journal of their approach to the gates, with the “barely clad women” telling peoples’ fortunes, and their men dressed in scarlet, daring you to ignore them. All in their travelling group stayed outside the gates but for their leaders, who presented the letters to the authorities in the city.
Once they appeared in Western Europe, opinions began to change on how useful and alike to others the Gypsies were. In Eastern Europe and Germany, you see legislation begin to be passed forbidding gypsies into certain towns. The reasoning behind these laws was to quell the idea that they gypsies were Turkish spies and traitors to whatever country they were in at the time. Unfortunately, all this seemed to do was incite more and more suspicion, which eventually made the Gypsies second-class citizens in most Europeans’ eyes.
By the mid-16th century, the gypsies were not even safe in Turkish-controlled lands. What was different here was the fact that the settled Gypsies were the ones being persecuted here, instead of the nomadic Gypsies. They were taxed heavily, and “persuaded” to convert to Islam, sometimes being imprisoned and/or killed for not converting.
From this time period on, Gypsies become more outcast, with the peak of dehumanization and torture appearing during World War II with the Final Solution encompassing Gypsies along with Jews. Along with the human loss from that time, we also lost many of the people who actually may have been able to answer some of the questions that historians still pose today as to the origins of this people.
Rakli Zada Orlenda
MKA Amber Hansford
hawthorn62@hotmail.com
Gypsies: from India to the Mediterranean - Donald Kenrick, 1993. University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN: 2865650820
Gypsies: Peoples of Europe - Angus Fraser, 1994. Blackwell Publishers. ISBN: 0631196056
Pariah Syndrome - Ian Hancock, 1987. Karoma Publishers, Inc. ISBN: 0897200799
A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia - David M. Crowe, 1996. St. Martin's Press. ISBN: 0312129467
Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanes) - Donald Kenrick and Gillian Taylor, 1998. Scarecrow Press. ISBN: 0810834448
Handbook of the Vlax Romani - Ian Hancock, 1995. Slavica Publishers. ISBN: 0893572586
The Rom: Walking the Paths of the Gypsies - Roger Moreau, 1997. Key Porter Books. ISBN: 1550138685
Gypsies Their Life, Lore, and Legends - Konrad Bercovici, 1983. Random House Publishers. ISBN: 051741290x
Gypsies: An Illustrated History - Jean-Pierre Liegeois, 1987. Zed Books. ISBN: 0863560253
Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Culture - Walter O. Weyrauch, Editor. 2001. University of California Press. ISBN: 0520221869
Roma, Gypsies: Texts issued by International Institutions - University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN: 1902806158
English Gypsies and State Policies - David Mayall. University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN: 0090045864X
We Are the Romani People - Dr. Ian Hancock. University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN: 1902806190
http://www.patrin.com/ - The Patrin Web Journal: Romani Culture and History
http://www.gypsyloresociety.org/ - The Gypsy Lore Society
http://www.romani.org/ - Romani.org homepage
http://www.domresearchcenter.com/ - Dom Research Center - Middle East and North African Gypsy Studies
http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/goudenhoorn/72karin.html - Golden Horn - A Journal of Byzantium
http://sca.lib.liv.ac.uk/collections/gypsy/intro.htm - Gypsy Collections at the University of Liverpool
http://www.herts.ac.uk/UHPress/Gypsies.html - University of Hertfordshire Press - Romani Publications
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Bridge/5847/english.htm - O Vurdon
http://website.lineone.net/~rtfhs/ - Romany & Traveller Family History Society
http://www.romove.cz/roma/ - Roma in the Czech Republic
http://www2.arnes.si/~eusmith/Romany/ - Romany Language
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-69051/romapeople.html - The Roma People
http://www.interlog.com/~leerom/roma/articles.html - Kopachi Roma Articles
http://www.globetek-networks.com/roma/history.htm - The Rromani People's Origins
http://www.geocities.com/domarisociety - The Domari Society - Gypsies in Israel
http://www.eurrenet.com/ - Centre de Recherches Tsiganes - Centre for Gypsy Research at the Université René Descartes, Paris (English mirror site available from index)
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