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BEFORE giving an account of
the Gipsies in Scotland, I shall, by way of introduction, briefly notice the
periods of time at which they were observed in the different states on the
continent of Europe, and point out the different periods at which their
governments found it necessary to expel them from their respective
territories. I shall also add a few facts illustrative of the manners of the
continental tribes, for the purpose of showing that those in Scotland,
England, and Ireland, are all branches of the same stock. I shall, likewise,
add a few facts illustrative of the tribe who found their way into England.
I am indebted for my information on the early history of the continental
Gipsies, chiefly to the works of Grellmann, Hoyland and Bright.
It appears that none of these
wanderers had been seen in Christendom before the year 1400. [Sir Thomas
Brown's vulgar errors.] But, in the beginning of the fifteenth, century,
this people first attracted notice, and, within a few years after their
arrival, had spread themselves over the whole continent. The earliest
mention which is made of them, was in the years 1414 and 1417, when they
were observed in Germany. In 1418, they were found in Switzerland; in 1422,
in Italy; in 1427, they are mentioned as being in the neighbourhood of
Paris; and about the same time, in Spain. [Bright's travels in Hungary.]
They seem to have received
various appellations. In France, they were called Bohemians; in Holland,
Heydens —heathens; in some parts of Germany, and in Sweden and Denmark, they
were thought to be Tartars; but over Germany, in general, they were called
Zigeuners, a word which means wanderers up and down. In Portugal, they
received the name of Siganos; in Spain, Gitanos; and in Italy, Cinyari. They
were also called in Italy, Hungary, and Germany, Tziganjs; and in
Transylvania, Cyganis. Among the Turks, and other eastern nations, they were
denominated Tschingenes; but the Moors and Arabians applied to them,
perhaps, the most just appellation of any—Charami, robbers. [Royland's
historical survey of the Gipsies.]
When they arrived at Paris,
17th August, 1427, nearly all of them had their ears bored, with one or two
silver rings in each, which, they said, were esteemed ornaments in their
country. The men were black, their hair curled ; the women remarkably black,
and all their faces scarred." [Ibid.] Dr. Hurd, in his account of the
different religions of the world, says, that the hair of these men was "
frizzled," and that some of the women were witches, and "had hair like a
horse's tail." It is, I think, to be inferred from this passage, that the
men had designedly curled their hair, and that the hair of the females was
long and coarse—not the short, woolly hair of the African. I have, myself,
seen English female Gipsies with hair as long, coarse, and thick as a black
horse's tail.
"At the time of the first
appearance of the Gipsies, no certain information seems to have been
obtained as to the country from which they came. It is, however, supposed
that they entered Europe in the south-east, probably through Transylvania.
At first, they represented themselves as Egyptian pilgrims, and, under that
character, obtained considerable respect during half a century; being
favoured by different potentates with passports, and letters of security.
Gradually, however, they really -became, or were fancied, troublesome, and
Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, successively attempted their expulsion,
in the sixteenth century." [Bright.]
With the exception of Hungary
and Transylvania, it is believed that every state in Europe attempted either
their expulsion or extermination; but, notwithstanding the dreadful severity
of the numerous laws and edicts promulgated against them, they remained in
every part of Europe, in defiance of every effort made by their respective
governments to get rid of their unwelcome guests.
"German writers say that King
Ferdinand of Spain, who esteemed it a good work to expatriate useful and
profitable subjects—Jews, and even Moorish families—could much less be
guilty of an impropriety, in laying hands on the mischievous progeny of
Gipsies. The edict for their extermination was published in the year 1492.
But, instead of passing the boundaries, they only slunk into hiding places,
and shortly after appeared in as great numbers as before. The Emperor,
Charles V, persecuted them afresh; as did Philip II. Since that time, they
nestled in again, and were threatened with another storm, but it blew over
without taking effect,
"In France, Francis I passed
an edict for their expulsion, and at the assembly of the states of Orleans,
in 1561, all governors of cities received orders to drive them out with fire
and sword. Nevertheless, in process of time, they collected again, and
increased to such a degree that, in 1612, a new order came out for their
extermination. In the year 1572, they were compelled to retire from the
territories of Milan and Parma; and, at a period somewhat earlier, they were
chased beyond the Venetian jurisdiction.
They were not allowed the
privilege of remaining in Denmark, as the code of Danish Iaw specifies: `The
Tartar Gipsies, who wander about everywhere, doing great damage to the
people, by their lies, thefts and witchcraft, shall be taken into custody by
every magistrate.' Sweden was not more favourable, haying attacked them at
three different times. A -very sharp order for their expulsion came out in
1662. The diet of 1723 published a second ; and that of 1727 repeated the
foregoing, 'with. additional severity.
"They were excluded from the Netherlands, under the pain of death, by
Charles V, and afterwards, by time United States, in 1582. But the greatest
number of sentences of exile have been pronounced against them in Germany.
The beginning was made under Maximilian I, at the Augsburg Diet, in 1500;
and the same business occupied the attention of the Diet in 1530, 1544,
1548, and 1551; and was also again enforced, in the improved police
regulations of Frankfort, in 1577. []Hoyland] The Germany entertained the
notion that the Gipsies were spies for the Turks. They were not allowed to
pass through, remain, or trade within the Empire. They were ordered to quit
entirely the German dominions, by a certain day, and whoever injured them,
after that period, was considered to have committed no crime.
"But a general extermination
never did happen, for the law banishing them passed in one state before it
was thought of in the next, or when a like order had long become obsolete,
and sunk into oblivion. These undesirable guests were, therefore, merely
compelled to shift their quarters to an adjoining state, where they remained
till the government began to clear them away, upon which the fugitives
either retired whence they came, or went on progressively to a third
place—thus making a continual circle. [Grellmann.]
That almost the whole of
Christendom had been so provoked by the conduct of the Gipsies as to have
attempted their expulsion, or rather their extermination, merely because
they were jugglers, fortune-tellers, astrologers, warlocks, witches and
impostors, is a thing not for a moment to be supposed. I am inclined to
believe that the true cause of the promulgation of the excessively
sanguinary laws and edicts, for the extermination of the whole Gipsy nation
in Europe, must be looked for in much more serious crimes than those
mentioned; and that these greater offences can be no other than theft and
robbery, and living upon the inhabitants of the countries through which they
travelled, at free quarters, or what we, in Scotland, call sorning.
[Dr. Hurd says, at page 785,
"Our over credulous ancestors vainly imagined that those Gipsies or
Bohemians were so many spies for the Turks; and that, in order to expiate
the crimes which they had committed in their own country, they were
condemned to steal from and rob the Christians."
(Living at free quarters by
force, or masterful begging, or "sorning," is surely a trifling, though
troublesome, offence for the original condition of a wandering tribe, which
has so progressed as, at the present day, to fill some of the first
positions in Scotland,-Ed)]
But, on the other hand, I am
convinced that the Gipsies have committed few murders on individuals out of
their own tribe. As far as our authorities go, the general character of
these people seems to have been the same, wherever they have made their
appearance on the face of the earth; and the chief and leading feature of
that extraordinary character appears to me to have been, in general, an
hereditary propensity to theft and robbery, in men, women and children.
In whatever country we find
the Gipsies, their manners, habits, and cast of features are uniformly the
same. Their occupations are in every respect the same. They were, on the
continent, horse-dealers, innkeepers, workers in iron, musicians,
astrologers, jugglers, and fortune-tellers by palmistry. They are also
accused of cheating, lying, and witchcraft, and, in general, charged with
being thieves and robbers. They roam up and down the country, without any
fixed habitations, living in tents, and hawking small trifles of merchandise
for the use of the people among whom they travel. The whole race were great
frequenters of fairs. They seldom formed matrimonial alliances out of their
own tribe. [Hoyland] It will be seen, in another part of this work, that
time language of the continental Gipsies is the same as that of those in
Scotland, England and Ireland. As to the religious opinions of the
continental Gipsies, they appear to have had none at all. It is said they
were "worse than heathens." "It is, in reality," says Twist, "almost absurd
to talk of the religion of this set of people, whose moral characters are so
depraved as to make it evident they believe in nothing; capable of being a
cheek to their passions." "Indeed," adds Hoyland, "it is asserted that no
Gipsy has any idea of submission to any fixed profession of faith." It
appears to me that, to secure to themselves protection from the different
governments, they only conformed outwardly to the customs and religion of
the country in which they happened to reside at the time.
Cantemir, according to
Grellmann, says that the Gipsies are dispersed all over Moldavia, where
every baron has several families subject to him. In Wallachia and the
Sclavonian countries they are quite as numerous. In Wallachia and Moldavia
they are divided into two classes—the princely and boyardish. The former,
according to Sulzer, amount to many thousands; but that is triflng in
comparison with the latter, as there is not a single Boyard in Wallachia who
has not at least three or four of them for slaves; the rich have often some
hundreds under their command.
[In the narrative of the
Scottish Church Mission of Enquiry to the Jews, in 1839, are to be found the
following remarks relative to the Gipsies of Wallachia:
"They are almost all slaves,
bought and sold at pleasure. One was lately sold for 200 piastres, but the
general price is 500. Perhaps £3 is the average price, and the female
Gipsies are sold much cheaper. The sale is generally carried on by private
bargain. The men are the best mechanics in the country; so that smiths and
masons are taken from this class. The women are considered the best cooks,
and therefore almost every wealthy family has a Gipsy cook. Their appearance
is similar to that of the Gipsies in other countries; being all dark, with
fine black eyes, and long black hair. They have a language peculiar to
themselves, and though they seem to have no system of religion, yet are very
superstitious in observing lucky and unlucky days. They are all fond of
music, both vocal and instrumental, and excel in it. There is a class of
them called the Turkish Gipsies, who have purchased their freedom from
government; but these are few in number, and all from Turkey. Of these
latter, there are twelve families in Galatz. The men are employed as
horse-dealers, and the women in making bags, sacks, and such articles. In
winter, they live in town, almost under ground; but in summer, they pitch
their tents in the open air, for, though still within the bounds of the
town, they would not live in their winter houses during summer."
That these Gipsies should be
in a state of slavery is, perhaps, a more marked exception to their race
than the Indians in Spanish America were to those found in the territories
colonized by the Anglo-Saxons. The Ism-press Maria Theresa could make
nothing of the Gipsies in Hungary, where they are said to be almost as
little looked after as the wolves of the forest; so that the slavery of the
Gipsies in Wallachia must be of a very nominal or mild nature, or the
subjects of it must be far in excess of the demand, if £3 is the average
price of a good smith or mason, and less for a good female cook. These
Wallachian Gipsies evidently prefer a master whose property they will
consider as their own, and whose protection v ill relieve them from the
interference and oppression of others. A slavery that is not absolute or
oppressive must gratify the vanity of the owner, and ho easily borne by a
race that is semi-civilized and despised by others around it.
Since the conclusion of the
Russian war, the manumission of the Gipsies of the Principalities was
debated and carried by a majority of something like thirteen against eleven;
but I am not aware of its having been put in force. They are said to have
been greatly attached to the late Sultan—calling him the "good father," for
the interest he took in them. As spies, they rendered his generals efficient
services, while contending with the Russians on the Hanube.—Ed.]
Grellmann divides those in
Transylvania into four classes: 1st, city Gipsies, who are the most
civilized of all, and maintain themselves by music, smith-work, selling old
clothes, horse-dealing, &;c.; 2d. gold-washers; 3d. tent Gipsies ; and 4th.
Egyptian Gipsies. These last are more filthy, and more addicted to stealing
than any of the others. Those who are gold-washers, in Transylvania and the
Banat, have no intercourse with others of their nation; nor do they like to
be called Gipsies. They sift gold sand in summer, and in winter make trays
and troughs, which they sell in an honest way. They seldom beg, and more
rarely steal. Dr. Clarke says of the Wallachian Gipsies, that they are not
an idle race; they ought rather to be described as a laborious race; and the
majority honestly endeavour to earn a livelihood.
"Bessarabia, all Turley,
Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania swarm with Gipsies ; even in Constantinople
they are innunierable. In Romania, a large tract of Mount IIvemus, which
they inhabit, has acquired from them the name of Tschenyhe Valleen—Gipsy
Mountain. This district extends from the city of Aydos quite to
Phillippopolis, and contains more Gipsies than any other province in the
Turkish empire.
"'They were universally to be
found in Italy, insomuch that even Sicily and Sardinia were not free. But
they were most numerous in the dominions of the Church; probably because
there was the worst police, with much superstition. By the former, they were
left undisturbed ; and the latter enticed them to deceive the ignorant, as
it afforded them an opportunity of obtaining a plentiful contribution by
their fortune-telling and enchanted amulets. There was a general law
throughout Italy, that no Gipsy should remain more than two nights in any
one place. By this regulation, it is true, no place retained its guests
long; but no sooner was one gone than another came in his room: it was a
continual circle, and quite as convenient to them as a perfect toleration
would have been. Italy rather suffered than benefited by this law; as, by
keeping these people in constant motion, they would do more mischief there,
than in places where they were permitted to remain stationary.
"In Poland and Lithuania, as
well as in Courland, there are an amazing number of Gipsies. A person may
live many years in Upper Saxony, or in the districts of Hanover and
Brunswick, without seeing a single Gipsy. When one happens to stray into a
village or town, lie occasions as much disturbance as if the black gentleman
with his cloven foot appeared ; he frightens children from their play, and
draws the attention of the older people, till the police get hold of him,
and make hint again invisible. In some of the provinces of the Rhine, a
Gipsy is a very common sight. Some years ago, there were such numbers of
them in the Duchy of Wurtemberg, that they were seen lying about everywhere;
but the government ordered departments of soldiers to drive them from their
holes and lurking-places throughout the country, and then transported the
congregated swarm, in the same manner as they were treated by the Duke of
Deuxponts. In France, before the Revolution, there were but few Gipsies, for
the obvious reason that every Gipsy who could be apprehended feIl a
sacrifice to the police." [Grellmann.—I would suppose that these severe
edicts of the French world drive the Gipsics to adopt the costume and
manners of the other inhabitants. In this way they would disappear from the
public eye. The officers of justice would of course direct their attention
to what would be understood to be Gipsies—that is tented Gipsies, or those
who professed the ways of Gipsies, such as fortune telling. 1 have met with
a French Gipsy in the streets of New York, engaged as a dealer in candy—ED.]
As regards the Gipsies of
Spain, Dr. Bright remarks: That the disposition of the Gitano is more
inclined to a fixed residence than that of the Gipsy of other countries, is
beyond doubt. The generality are the settled inhabitants of considerable
towns, and, although the occupations of some necessarily lead them to a more
vagrant Iife, the proportion is small who do not consider some hovel in a
suburb as a home. 'Money is in the city—not in the country,' is a saying
frequently in their months. In the vilest quarters of every large town of
the southern provinces, there are Gitanos Iiving together, sometimes
occupying whole barriers. But Seville is, perhaps, the spot in which the
largest proportion is found. Their principal occupation is the manufacture
and sale of articles of iron. Their quarters may always be traced by the
ring of the hammer and anvil, and many amass considerable wealth. An
inferior class have the exclusive trade in second-hand articles, which they
sell at the doors of their dwellings, or at benches at the entrance of
towns, or by the sides of frequented walks. A still inferior order wander
abort, mending pots, and selling tong and other trifling articles. In Cadiz,
they monopolize the trade of butchering, and frequently amass wealth.
Others, again, exclusively fill the office of Matador of the Bull Plaza,
while the Tereros are fir the most part of the same race. Others are
employed as dressers of mules and asses; some as figure-dancers, and many as
performers in the theatre. Some gain a livelihood by their musical talents.
Dancing, singing, music and fortune-telling are the only objects of general
pursuit for the females. Sometimes they dance in the inferior theatres, and
sing and dance in the streets. Palmistry is one of their most productive
avocations. In Seville, a few make and sell an inferior kind of mat. Besides
these, there is a class of Gipsies in Spain who lead a vagrant life
throughout—residing chiefly in the woods and mountains, and known as
mountaineers. These rarely visit towns, and live by fraud and pillage. There
are also others who wander about the country—such as tinkers, dancers,
singers, and jobbers in asses and mules.
Bishop Pocoke, prior to 1745,
mentions having met with Gipsies in the northern part of Syria, where he
found them in great numbers, passing for Mahommedans, living in tents or
caravans, dealing in milch cows, when near towns, manufacturing coarse
carpets, and having a much better character than their relations in Hungary
or England. By the census of the Crimea, in 1793, the population was set
down at 157,125, of which 3,225 were Gipsies. Bishop Heber states that the
Persian Gipsies are of much better caste, and much richer than those of
India, Russia or England. In India, he says, the Gipsies are the same tall,
fine-limbed, bony, slender people, with the same large, black, brilliant
eyes, lowering forehead, and long hair, curled at the extremities, which are
to be met with on a common in England. lie mentions, in his journal of
travels through Bengal, having met with a Gipsy camp on the Ganges. The
women and children followed him, begging, and had no clothes on them, except
a coarse kind of veil, thrown back from the shoulders, and a ragged cloth,
wrapped round their waists, like a petticoat. One of the women was very
pretty, and the forms of all the three were such as a sculptor would have
been glad to take as his models.
Besides those in Europe, it
is stated by Grellmann that time Gipsies are also scattered over Asia, and
are to be found in the centre of Africa. In Europe alone, lie supposes (in
1782), their number will amount to between seven and eight hundred thousand.
So numerous did they become in France, that the king, in 1545, sixteen years
before they were expelled from that kingdom, entertained an idea of
embodying four thousand of them, to act as pioneers in taking Boulogne, then
in possession of England. It is impossible to ascertain, at time present
clay, how many Gipsies might be even in a parish ; but, taking in the whole
world, there must be an immense number in existence.
About the time the Gipsies
first appeared in Europe, their chiefs, under the titles of dukes, earls,
lords, counts, and knights of Little Egypt, rode up and down the country on
horseback, dressed in gay apparel, and ' attended by a train of ragged and
miserable inferiors, having, also, hawks and hounds in their retinue. It
appears to nic, that the excessive vanity of these chiefs had induced them,
in imitation of the customs of civilized society, to assume these
high-sounding European titles of honour. I have not observed, on record, any
form of government, laws of customs, by which the internal affairs of the
tribe, on the Continent, were regulated. On these important points, if' I
ain not mistaken, all the authors, with the exception of' Grellmann, Who
have written on the Gipsies, are silent. GrelImnaun says of the Hungarian
Gipsies: They still continue the custom among themselves of dignifying
certain persons, whom they make heads over them, and call by the exalted
Sclavonian title of Waywode. To choose their Waywode, the Gipsies take the
opportunity, when a great number of them are assembled in one place,
commonly in the open field. The elected person is lifted up three times,
amidst the loudest acclamation, and confirmed in his dignity by presents.
his wife undergoes the same ceremony. When this solemnity is performed, they
separate with great conceit, imagining themselves people of more consequence
than electors returning from the choice of an emperor. Every one who is of a
family descended from a former Waywode is eligible ; but those who are best
clothed, not very poor, of large stature, and about the middle age, have
generally the preference. The particuIar distinguishing mark of dignity is a
large whip, hanging over the shoulder. His outward deportment, his walk and
air, also plainly show his head to be filled with notions of authority."
According to the same authority, the Waywode of the Gipsies in Courland is
distinguished from the principals of the hordes in other countries, being
not only much respected by his own people, but even by the ConrIand
nobility. Ile is esteemed a man of high rank, and is frequently to be met
with at entertainments, and card parties, in the first families, where he is
always a welcome guest. his dress is uncommonly rich, in comparison with
others of his tribe ; generally silk in summer, and constantly velvet in
winter.
As a specimen of the manners
and ferocious disposition of the German Gipsies, so late as the year 1720, I
shall here transcribe a few extracts front an article published in
Black-wood's Magazine, for January, 1818. This interesting article is partly
an abridged translation, or rather the substance, of a German work on the
Gipsies, entitled "A. Circumstantial Account of the Famous Egyptian Band of
Thieves, and Robbers, and Murderers, whose Leaders were executed at Giessen,
by Cord, and Sword, and Wheel, on the 14th and 15th November, 1726, &c." It
is edited by Dr. John Benjamin Wiessenburch, an assessor of the criminal
tribunal by which these malefactors were condemned, and published at
Frankfort and l..eipsic, in the year 1727. The translator of this work is
Sir Walter Scott, who obligingly offered me the use of his " scraps" on this
subject. The following are the details in his own words
"A curious preliminary
dissertation records some facts respecting the German Gipsies, which are not
uninteresting.
"From the authorities
collected by Wiessenburch, it appears that these wanderers first appeared in
Germany during the reign of Sigismund. The exact year has been disputed; but
it is generally placed betwixt 1416 and 1420. They appeared in various
bands, under chiefs, to whom they acknowledged obedience, and who assumed
the titles of dukes and earls. 'These leaders originally affected a certain
degree of consequence, travelling well equipped, and on horseback, and
bringing hawks and hounds in their retinue. Like John Faw, `Lord of Little
Egypt,' they sometimes succeeded in imposing upon the Germans the belief in
their very apocryphal dignity, which they assumed during their lives, and
recorded upon their tombs, as appears from three epitaphs, quoted by Dr.
Wiessenburch. One is in a convent at Steinbach, and records that on St.
Sebastians' ere, 1445, `died the Lord Paunel, Duke of Little Egypt, and
Baron of Hirschhorn, in the same land.' A. monumental inscription at Ban
Liner, records the death of the 'Noble Earl Peter, of Lesser Egypt, in
1453;' and a third, at Pferz, as late as 1498, announces the death of the
'high-born, Lord John, Earl of Little Egypt, to whose soul God be gracious
and merciful.'
"In describing the state of
the German Gipsies, in 1726, the author whom we are quoting gives the
leading features proper to those in other countries. Their disposition to
wandering, to idleness, to theft, to polygamy, or rather promiscuous
licence, are all commemorated; nor are the women's pretentious to
fortune-telling, and their practice of stealing children, omitted. Instead
of travelling in very large bands, as at their first arrival, they are
described as forming small parties, in which the females are far more
numerous than the men, and which are each under command of a leader, chosen
rather from reputation than by right of birth. The men, unless when engaged
in robbery or theft, lead a life of absolute idleness, and are supported by
what the women can procure by begging, stealing or telling fortunes. 'These
resources are so scanty that they often suffer the most severe extremities
of hunger and cold. Some of the Gipsies executed at Giessen pretended that
they had not eaten a morsel of bread for four days before they were
apprehended ; yet are they so much attached to freedom, and licence of this
wandering life, that, notwithstanding its miseries, it has not only been
found impossible to reclaim the native Gipsies, who claim it by inheritance,
but even those who, not born in that state, have associated themselves with
their bands, and become so wedded to it, as to prefer it to all others. [The
natives here alluded to were evidently Germans, married to Gipsy women, or
Germans brought up from infancy with the Gipsies, or mixed Gipsies, taking
after Germans in point of appearance --ED.]
"As an exception,
Wiessenburch mentions some gangs, where the men, as in Scotland, exercise
the profession of travelling smiths, or tinkers, or deal in pottery, or
practise as musicians. Finally, he notices that in Hungary the gangs assumed
their names from the countries which they chiefly traversed, as the band of
Upper Saxony, of Brandenburg, and so forth. They resented, to extremity, any
attempt on the part of other Gipsies to intrude on their province ; and such
interference often led to battles, in which they shot each other with as
little remorse as they would have done to dogs. [This is the only
continental writer, that I am aware of, who mentions the circumstance of the
Gipsies having districts to themselves, from which others of their race were
excluded. This author also speaks of the German Gipsies stealing children.
John Bunyan admits the same practice in England, when lie compares his
feelings, as a sinner, to those of a child carried off by Gipsies. He gives
the Gipsy women credit for this practice —Ed.] By these acts of cruelty to
each other, they became gradually familiarized with blood, as well as with
arias, to which another cause contributed, in the beginning of the 18th
century.
"In former times, these
outcasts were not permitted to hear arms in the service of any Christian
power, but the long wars of Louis XIV had abolished this point of delicacy;
and both in the French army, and those of the confederates, the stoutest and
boldest of the Gipsies were occasionally enlisted, by choice or compulsion.
These men generally tired soon of the rigour of military discipline, and
escaping from their regiments, on the first opportunity, went back to their
forests, with some knowledge of arms, and habits bolder and more ferocious
than those of their predecessors. Such deserters soon become leaders among
the tribes, whose enterprises became, in proportion, more audacious and
desperate.
"In Germany, as in most other
kingdoms of Europe, severe laws had been directed against this vagabond
people, and the Landnraves of Hesse had not been behind-hand in such
denunciations. They were, on their arrest, branded as vagabonds, punished
with stripes, and banished from the circle; and, in case of their return,
were put to death without mercy. These measures only served to make them
desperate. Their bands became more strong and more open in their
depredations. They often marched as strong as fifty or a hundred armed men;
bade defiance to the ordinary police, and plundered the villages in open
day; Wounded and slew the peasants, who endeavoured to protect their
property ; and skirmished, in some instances successfully, with parties of
soldiers and militia, dispatched against them. Their chiefs, on these
occasions, were John La Fortune, a determined villain, otherwise named
Hemperla; another called the Great Gallant; his brother, Antony AIexander,
called the Little Gallant; and others, entitled Lorries, Lampert, Gabriel,
&c. Their ferocity may be judged of from the following instances:
"On the 10th October, 1724, a
land-lieutenant, or officer of police, named Emerander, set off with two
assistants to disperse a band of Gipsies who had appeared near Hirzenliayn,
in the territory of StoIberg. He seized on two or three stragglers whom lie
found in the village, and whom, females as well as males, he seems to have
treated with much severity. Some, however, escaped to a large band which lay
in an °adjacent forest, who, under command of the Great Gallant, Hemperla,
Antony Alexander, and others, immediately put themselves in motion to rescue
their comrades, and avenge themselves of Emerander. The land-lieutenant had
the courage to ride out to meet them, with his two attendants, at the
passage of a bridge, where lie fired his pistol at the advancing gang, and
called out ' charge,' as if he had been at the Bead of a party of cavalry.
The Gipsies, however, aware, from the report of the fugitives, how weakly
the officer was accompanied, continued to advance to the end of the bridge,
and ten or twelve, dropping each on one knee, gave fire on, Emerander, who
was then obliged to turn his horse and ride off, leaving his two assistants
to the mercy of the banditti. One of these men, called Hempel, was instantly
beaten down, and suffered, especially at the hands of the Gipsy women, much
cruel and abominable outrage. After stripping him of every rag of his
clothes, they were about to murder the wretch outright; but at the earnest
instance of the landlord of the inn, they contented themselves with beating
him dreadfully, and imposing on him an oath that he never more would
persecute any Gipsy, or save any fleshman, (dealer in human flesh,) for so
they called the officers of justice or police. [Great allowance ought to be
made for the conduct of these Gipsies. Even at the present day, a Gipsy, in
many parts of Germany, is not allowed to enter a town; nor will the
inhabitants permit him to live in the street in which they dwell, lie has
therefore to go somewhere, and live in some way or other. In speaking of the
Gipsies, people never take these circumstances into account. The Gipsies
alluded to in the text seem to have been very cruelly treated, in the first
place, by the authorities.—Ed.]
"The other assistant of
Emerander made his escape. But the principal was not so fortunate. When the
Gipsies had -wrought their wicked pleasure on Hempel, they compelled the
landlord of the little inn to bring them a flagon of brandy, in which they
mingled a charge of gunpowder and three pinches of salt; and each, partaking
of this singular beverage, took a solemn oath that they would stand by each
other until they had cut thongs, as they expressed it, out of the fleshman's
hide. The Great Gallant at the same time distributed to them, out of a
little box, billets, which each was directed to swallow, and which were
supposed to render them invulnerable.
"Thus inflamed and
encouraged, the whole route, amounting to fifty well armed men, besides
women armed with clubs and axes, set off with horrid screams to a
neighbouring hamlet, called Glazhutte, in which the object of their
resentment sought refuge. They took military possession of the streets,
posting sentinels to prevent interruption or attack from the alarmed
inhabitants. Their leaders then presented themselves before the inn, and
demanded that Emerander should be delivered up to them. When the innkeeper
endeavoured to elude their demand, they forced their way into the house, and
finding the unhappy object of pursuit concealed in a garret, Hemperla and
others fired their muskets at him, then tore his clothes from his body, and
precipitated him down the staircase, where he was dispatched with many
wounds.
"Meanwhile, the inhabitants
of the village began to take to arms ; and one of them attempted to ring the
alarm-bell, but was prevented by an armed Gipsy, stationed for that purpose.
At length their bloody work being ended, the Gipsies assembled and retreated
out of the town, with shouts of triumph, exclaiming that the fleshman was
slain, displaying their spoils and hands stained with blood, and headed hr
the Great Gallant, riding on the horse of the murdered officer.
"I shall select from the
volume another instance of this people's cruelty still more detestable,
since even vengeance or hostility could not be alleged for its stimulating
cause, as in the foregoing narrative. A country clergyman, named Heinsius,
the pastor of a village called Dorsdorff, who had the misfortune to be
accounted a man of some wealth, was the subject of this tragedy.
"Hemperla, already mentioned,
with a band of ten Gipsies, and a, villain named Essper George, who had
joined himself with them, though not of their nation by birth, beset the
house of the unfortunate minister, with a resolution to break in and possess
themselves of his money ; and if interrupted by the peasants, to fire upon
them, and repel force by force. With this desperate intention, they
surrounded the parsonage-house at midnight; and their Ieader, Hemperla,
having cut a hole through the cover of the sink or gutter, endeavoured to
creep into the house through that passage, holding in his hand a lighted
torch made of straw. The daughter of the parson chanced, however, to be up,
and in the kitchen, at this late hour, by which fortunate circumstance she
escaped the fate of her father and mother. When the Gipsy saw there was a
person in the kitchen, he drew himself back out of the gutter, and ordered
his gang to force the door, regarding the noise which accompanied this
violence as little as if the place had been situated in a wilderness,
instead of a populous hamlet. Others of the gang were posted at the windows
of the house, to prevent the escape of the inmates. Nevertheless, the young
woman, already mentioned, let herself down from a window which had escaped
their notice, and ran to seek assistance for her parents.
"In the meanwhile the Gipsies
had burst open the outward door of the house, with a beam of wood which
chanced to be lying in the court-yard. They next forced the door of the
sitting apartment, and were met by the poor clergyman, who prayed them at
least to spare his life and that of his wife. But he spoke to men who knew
no mercy; Hemperla struck him on the breast with a torch ; and receiving the
blow as a signal for death, the poor man staggered back to the table, and
sinking in a chair, leaned his head on his hand, and expected the mortal
blow. In this posture Hemperla shot him dead with a pistol. The wife of the
clergyman endeavoured to fly, on witnessing the murder of her husband, but
was dragged back, and slain by a pistol shot, fired either by Essper George,
or by a Gipsy called Christian. By a crime so dreadful those murderers only
gained four silver cups, fourteen silver spoons, some trilling articles of
apparel, and about twenty-two florins in money. They might have made more
important booty, but the sentinel, whom they left on the outside, now
intimated to them that the hamlet was alarmed, and that it was time to
retire, which they did accordingly, undisturbed and in safety.
The Gipsies committed many
enormities similar to those above detailed, and arrived at such a pitch of
audacity as even to threaten the person of the Landgrave himself; an
enormity at which Dr. Wiessenburch, who never introduces the name or titles
of that prince without printing them in letters of at least an inch long,
expresses becoming horror. This was too much to be endured. Strong
detachments of troops and militia scoured the country in different
directions, and searched the woods and caverns which served the banditti for
places of retreat. These measures were for some time attended with little
effect. The Gipsies had the advantages of a perfect knowledge of the,
country, and excellent intelligence. They baffled the efforts of the
officers detached against then, and on one or two occasions, even engaged
them with advantage. And when some females, unable to follow the retreat of
the men, were made prisoners on such an occasion, the leaders caused it to
be intimated to the authorities at Giessen that if their women were not set
at liberty, they would murder and rob on the high roads, and plunder and
burn the country. This state of warfare lasted from 1718 until 1726, during
which period the subjects of the Landgrave suffered the utmost hardships, as
no man was secure against nocturnal surprise of his property and person.
At length, in the end of
1725, a heavy and continued storm of snow compelled the Gipsy hordes to
abandon the woods which had long served them as a refuge, and to approach
more near to the dwellings of men. As their move-merits could be traced and
observed, the land-lieutenant, Krocker, who had been an assistant to the
murdered Emerander, received intelligence of a band of Gipsies having
appeared in the district of Sohnsassenheim, at a village called Fauerbach.
Being aided by a party of soldiers and volunteers, he had the luck to secure
the whole gang, being twelve men and women. Among these was the notorious
Hemperla, who was dragged by the heels from an oven in which he was
attempting to conceal himself. Others were taken in the same manner, and
imprisoned at Giessen, with a view to their trial.
"Numerous acts of theft, and
robbery, and murder were laid to the charge of these unfortunate wretches;
and, according to the existing laws of the empire, they were interrogated
under torture. They were first tormented by means of thumb-screws, which
they did not seem greatly to regard the Spanish boots, or `leg-vices,' were
next applied, and seldom failed to extort confession. Hemperla alone set
both gleans at defiance, which induced the judges to believe lie was
possessed of some spell against these agonies. Having in vain searched his
body for the supposed charm, they caused his Bair to be cut off; on which
lie himself observed that, had they not done so, he could have stood the
torture for some time longer. As it was, his resolution gave way, and he
made, under the second application of the Spanish boots, a full confession,
not only of the murders of which he was accused, but of various other
crimes. While he was in this agony, the judges had the cruelty to introduce
his mother, a noted Gipsy woman, called the crone, into the torture-chamber;
who shrieked fearfully, and tore her face with her nails, on perceiving the
condition of her son, and still more on hearing him acknowledge his guilt.
"Evidence of the guilt of the
other prisoners was also obtained from their confessions, with or without
torture, and from the testimony of witnesses examined by the fiscal.
Sentence was finally passed on them, condemning four Gipsies, among whom
were Hemperla and the Little Gallant, to be broken on the wheel, nine others
to be hanged, and thirteen, of whom the greater part were women, to be
beheaded. They underwent their doom with great firmness, upon the 14th and
15th November, 1726.
"The volume contains ......
some rude prints, representing the murders committed by the Gipsies, and the
manner of their execution. There are also two prints representing the
portraits of the principal criminals, in which, though the execution be
indifferent, the Gipsy features may be clearly traced."
Leaving this view of the
character of the continental Gipsies, we may take the following as
illustrative of one of its brighter aspects. So late as the time of the
celebrated Baron Trenck, it would appear that Germany was still infested
with prodigiously large bands of Gipsies. In a forest near Ginnen, to which
he had fled, to conceal himself from the pursuit of his persecutors, the
Baron says: "Here we fell in with a gang of Gipsies, (or rather banditti,)
amounting to four hundred men, who dragged me to 'their camp. They were
mostly French and Prussian deserters, and, thinking me their equal, would
force me to become one of their band. But venturing to tell my story to
their leader, he presented me with a crown, gave us a small portion of bread
and meat, and suffered us to depart in peace, after having been
four-and-twenty Hours in their company. [Life of Baron Trenck, translated by
Thomas Holcroft, Vol. I., page 138.]
I shall conclude the notices
of the continental Gipsies by some extracts from an article published in a
French periodical work, for September, 1802, on the Gipsies of the Pyrenees;
who resemble, in many points, the inferior class of our Scottish Tinklers,
about the beginning of the French war, more, perhaps, than those of any
other country in Europe.
"There exists, in the
department of the Eastern Pyrenees, a people distinct from the rest of the
inhabitants, of a foreign origin, and without any settled habits. It seems
to have fixed its residence there for a considerable time. It changes its
situation, multiplies there, and never connects itself by marriage with the
other inhabitants. This people are called Gitanos, a Spanish word which
signifies Egyptians. There are many Gitanos in Catalonia, who have similar
habits to the above-mentioned, but who are very strictly watched. They have
all the vices of those Egyptians, or Bohemians, who formerly used to wander
over the world, telling fortunes, and living at the expense of superstition
and credulity. These Gitanos, less idle and less wanderers than their
predecessors, are afraid of publicly professing the art of fortune tellers;
but their manner of life is scarcely different.
'They scatter themselves
among villages, and lonesome farms, where they steal fruit, poultry, and
often even cattle; in short, everything that is portable. They are almost
always abroad, incessantly watching an opportunity to practise their
thievery ; they hide themselves with much dexterity from the search of the
police. Their women, in particular, have an uncommon dexterity in pilfering.
When they enter a shop, they are watched with the utmost care ; but with
every precaution they are not free from their rapines. They excel, above
all, in hiding the pieces of silver which are given in exchange for gold,
which they never fail to offer in payment, and they are so well bidden that
they are often obliged to be undressed before restitution can be obtained.
"The Gitanos affect,
externally, a great attachment to the Catholic religion ; and if one was to
judge from the number of reliques they carry about with therm, one would
believe them exceedingly devout; but all who have well observed them assure
us they areas ignorant as hypocritical, and that they practise secretly a
religion of their own. It is not rare to see their women, who have been
Iately brought to bed, have their children baptized several times, in
different places, in order to obtain money from persons at their ease, whom
they choose for godfathers. Everything announces among them that moral
degradation which must necessarily attach to a miserable, insulated caste,
as strangers to society, which only suffers it through an excess of
contempt.
"The Gitanos are disgustingly
filthy, and almost all covered with rags. They have neither tables, chairs,
nor beds, but sit and eat on the ground. They are crowded in huts,
pell-mell, in straw ; and their neglect of the decorum of society, so
dangerous to morals, must have the most melancholy consequences on wretched
vagabonds, abandoned to themselves. They consequently are accused of giving
themselves up to every disorder of the most infamous debauchery, and to
respect neither the ties of blood nor the protecting laws of the virtues of
families.
"They feed on rotten poultry
and fish, dogs and stinking cats, which they seek for with avidity ; and
when this resource fails them, they live on the entrails of animals, or
other aliments of the lowest price. They leave their meat but a very few
minutes on the fire, and the place where they cook it exhales an infectious
smell.
"They speak the Catalonian
dialect, but they have, besides, a language to themselves, unintelligible to
the natives of the country, from whom they are very careful to hide the
knowledge of it.
"The Gitanos are tanned like
the mulattoes, of a size above mediocrity, well formed, active, robust,
supporting all the changes of seasons, and sleeping in the open fields,
whenever their interest requires it. Their features are irregular, and show
them to belong to a transplanted race. They have the mouth very wide, thick
lips, and high cheek-bones.
"As the distrust, they
inspire causes them to be carefully watched, it is not always possible for
them to live by stealing: they then have recourse to .industry, and a
trifling trade, which seems to have been abandoned to them; they show
animals, and attend the fairs and markets, to sell or exchange mules and
asses, which they know how to procure at a cheap rate. They are commonly
cast-off animals, which they have the art to dress up, and they are
satisfied, in appearance, with a moderate profit, which, however, is always
more than is supposed, because they feed these animals at the expense of the
farmers. They ramble all night, in order to steal fodder ; and whatever
precautions may have been taken against them, it is not possible to be
always guarded against their address.
"Happily the Gitanos are not
murderers. It would, without doubt, be important to examine if it is to the
natural goodness of their disposition, to their frugality, and the few wants
they feel in their state of half savage, that is to be attributed the
sentiment that repels them from great crimes, or if this disposition arises
from their habitual state of alarm, or from that want of courage which must
be a necessary consequence of the infamy in which they are plunged. [Annals
de Statistique, .No. III, page 31-37.—What the writer of this article says
of the aversion which the Gipsies have to the shedding of human blood, not
of their own fraternity, appears to have been universal among the tribe;
but, on the other hand, they seem to have had little or no hesitation in
putting to death those of their own tribe. This writer also says, that the
Gipsies of the Pyrenees have a religion of their own, which they practise
secretly, without mentioning what this secret religion is. It is probable
that his remark is applicable to the sacrifice of horses, as described in
chapter viii.] |
