THE Roma — or Gypsy — diaspora began with movements south into Persia and north-westerly into Eastern Europe around the year 1300, after a fleeing of sectarian violence in India. By the year 1400, Roma were present in many fringe nations to the west of Europe.
Of note is a significant number of Roma present at a place called Modon (located in southern Greece). Modon was a key stopping-place; for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was part of the Byzantine Empire. The Roma’s time in Modon would prove to be significant to their identity (both self-conceptualisation and in how others perceived them) and to how they were accepted and travelled across Europe.
Being a major passageway for Christian pilgrims, the harbour city of Modon attracted numerous people from a plethora of nationalities. At some stage, cultural stands crossed, and the Roma began to absorb Christianity and use it as a blanket form of identity and as a mode of operation. This enabled the Roma, to some degree, to “hide in plain sight”.
Meanwhile, the swallowing of the “red pill” of Christianity enabled a spirit of revelation (Ephesians 1.17) to work its way through the Roma’s camp — both tangibly and metaphorically. Persecution of the Roma grew, primarily taking two forms.
First came localised hostility from residents of Modon and certain groups in the area (mostly European/Germanic armed forces who had an established presence in the area). It was during this period that the dark-skinned Roma, dressed in their flamboyant brightly coloured clothing, were likened to that of the traders who regularly travelled across from Egypt. From then on, many referred to the Roma settlement as “little Egypt”, and the Roma people as “Egyptians”.
Translated into the Greek mother tongue, Egyptian would read as gyptiós. Gyptiós would then later encounter Anglo-Saxon and become “gypsy”. The Roma had first become refugees; then they became victims of racism — racism that would continue to the present day.
After continued persecution and the advance of Byzantine Empire, the Gypsies prepared to enter Central and Eastern Europe — a journey that would culminate in their arrival in England and Scotland. The long and perilous journey would cement Christianity as the primary religion of Gypsies and Travellers.
Representatives from the various Gypsy clans were allegedly granted an audience with Pope Martin V in 1422, where they obtained papal letters. These granted them safe passage wherever they went, but ordered them to undertake seven years of nomadic penance for their supposed adoption of pagan (Islamic) practices; “for seven years they should go to and fro about the world without ever sleeping in a bed”.
In Gypsy culture, one’s word is as valid as any contract. There is, however, power within the tongue that goes beyond what is heard; in Gypsy communities, verbal utterances hold spiritual power and can be used to bless and curse.
This belief operates both ways. In the instance of Pope Martin V, the decision to “curse” Gypsies into a perpetual state of nomadism would be one that would last ad infinitum.
AS THE Gypsies made their way across the continent, they entered Bavaria in 1424, where their entrance was documented in a diary by a priest, Andreas of Ratisbon.
“They were near to Ratisbon, and were succeeding each other, sometimes to the number of 30, men, women and children, sometimes less. They pitched their tents in the fields, because they were not allowed to stay in towns; for they cunningly took what did not belong to them. These people were from Hungary, and they said that they had been exiled as a sign or remembrance of the flight of Our Lord into Egypt when he was fleeing from Herod, who sought to slay him.”
Many of the reports emerging at the same time as Andreas of Ratisbon’s account spoke of crimes committed by Gypsies — particularly of theft. Consequently, the protection that the papal letters had afforded began to wane during the 15th century as varying nations became hostile towards the Travellers.
By 1497, the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire intervened, accusing the Gypsies of espionage and ordering them to be expelled from all German territories. With the expulsion came the general permission to enforce violent actions upon them if they returned. Gypsies were entering a process of becoming outlawed from multiple states.
THE year 1505 saw the first reports of “Egyptians’” arriving and settling in Scotland, followed by reports in England. By the late 1520s, the influx of Gypsies was increasing rapidly, and, by the end of the decade, public opinion (from the settled population) had become hostile.
King Henry VIII was in the process of reconstructing England’s Church as he saw fit, and removing any traces of “superstition” and “abuses” from the pulpit to the parishioners. Henry would take exception to the influx of nomadic people arriving on British shores who were reportedly operating as “palm readers, fortune-tellers and sorcerers”, activities that the Church strongly opposed.
Henry’s solution emerged in the construct of the Egyptian Act 1530, which would officially deem it illegal to be a Gypsy in both identity and practice. The Egyptian Act specifically targeted those who practised the “crafty sciences” and those who were “feigning knowledge in palmistry”.
Furthermore, it presented “solutions” to deal with the Gypsies and gave limited options to those affected by the Act; they were either to leave the country voluntarily within 16 days or face deportation. Failure to abide by the ruling would result in the Gypsies’ goods being confiscated and distributed to the local authorities, and the imprisonment of the Gypsy.
The rapid demonisation of the Gypsy community increased as the Reformation was gathering pace. Henry’s well-documented and problematic relationship with the Roman Catholic Church and the subsequent split from Rome meant that the papal letters of protection used by the Gypsies became worthless.
By 1554, the penalty in England for being a Gypsy who refused to leave the country had escalated to capital punishment. The move to execute “Egyptians” had been an additional edit to an Act bought in during 1547 which enforced brandings and enslavement of “master-less men” to prevent the “Sojourners” from settling in one place for too long.
Mary Tudor, who now held the throne, and her husband, Philip, defended their continued drive against the Gypsy population by employing Christianity as a measure against Gypsy practice: the Gypsies use “their old accustomed devilish and naughty Practices and Devices, with such abominable living as is not in any Christian Realm to be permitted . . .”.
IN 1452, Pope Nicholas V had issued a decree, Dum Diversas, which actively encouraged and enabled slavery: “We grant you by these present documents, with our Apostolic Authority, full and free permission to invade, seek out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens, pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be, as well as their kingdoms, duchies, counties, principalities, and other property and to reduce their persons into perpetual slavery.”
The initial stage of slavery in the 16th century adopted the form of forced labour for Gypsies, with the inclusion of an attachment to a “master”; by the turn of the 17th century, it had developed into the traditionally understood “chattel” slavery.
A change in legislation in the early 1700s stopped the deportation of native-born Gypsies, preventing another full-scale diaspora. The legislative alteration was inadequately enforced, and there remained for some time a percentage of Gypsies sold into slavery and shipped back across Europe, as well as to the Caribbean and the Americas, where they would be sent to plantations in exactly the same manner as their legally and socially recognised African counterparts.
The religious, political, and social spheres of the Reformation period within the UK enabled an environment of hostility towards and segregation of the Gypsies, who were compelled to conform to the expected state “identity”, denying themselves (as a Gypsy) and refusing association with anybody identifying as Gypsy.
Both the Catholic and Protestant Churches were (perhaps unknowingly) causing a redaction of Gypsy culture. The development of the “Protestant work ethic” helped to change traditional approaches to the poor, as secularisation and the questionable spiritual value of almsgiving came into effect.
The developing humanist Renaissance championed the tenets of success and activity; poverty and laziness were subsequently seen as having an inseparable association with each other and provided grounds for rejection and condemnation.
AS THE Reformation continued, Europe witnessed the rise and division of nation states, and a strengthening of the authority of national monarchies vis-á-vis Rome.
Nations needed to define loyalty and belonging — to the State and to the Church (Catholic or Protestant). This concept of national identity caused further issues for the Gypsies, who were now subject to enhanced political suspicion as a result of their nomadic practice and lack of definable national identity.
Gypsies became a scapegoat for the political elite, who used their war of denominational affiliations to oust those who could not be defined so readily. Becky Taylor highlights a particular incident in which the Tudor state passed blame on the Gypsies for plots against Elizabeth I and the harbouring of spies.
The accusation that Gypsies were spies soon developed and spread through Europe. A law was passed in Germany that severely limited their potential movement. Its text reads: “When credible proof exists that they are scouts, traitors, spies and explore Christian countries for the benefit of the Turks and of other enemies of Christendom, [it is] strictly forbidden to allow them to travel in or through their states to traffick, to give them safe conducts, escorts or passports.”
The emergence of a politicised Christianity offered little in the way of tolerance for Gypsy culture and identity. In spite of this, Gypsies continued to practise Christianity and to develop a particular religious fervour through worship and ritual.
Gypsies continued to travel throughout the British Isles, practising Christianity relatively freely. Records evidence the baptisms of Traveller children as widely spread as Suffolk and Devon.
Barring the actions of a few parishes and chapels, there was an overall consensus of hostility towards Gypsies. This failed to deter many Gypsies, who continued to practise a conglomeration of spiritual(ist) practices and Christian traditions.
This is an edited extract from Gypsies and Jesus: A Traveller theology by Steven Horne, published by Darton, Longman & Todd at £19.99 (Church Times Bookshop £17.99); 978-1-913657-94-9.