Such were the regulations wisely adopted by the emperor Joseph, for the purpose of civilising, and rendering good and profitable citizens, upwards of eighty thousand miserable wretches, ignorant of God and virtue. It must be regretted that similar measures have not been used in the other countries of Europe, where these people still remain wandering in error, and scarcely deserving to be considered as human beings.
SECTION II.
ON THE ORIGIN OF THE GIPSEYS.
CHAPTER I.
The first Appearance of Gipseys in Europe.
No record is to be found, stating in what year, or in what part of Europe, Gipseys made their first appearance. But it is to be premised, what will afterwards be investigated, that they did not originate in our quarter of the globe; on the contrary, that they strayed hither, as oriental strangers, either from Egypt, Asia Minor, or some other part: we shall then examine, whether it be not possible, by means of what is related in old writings concerning the first observance of them in different countries, to follow the track so as to ascertain where and when they first set foot on European ground.
Mention is made of them in Germany so early as the year 1417, when they appeared in the vicinity of the North Sea. A year afterwards we find them also in Switzerland and the country of the Grisons. In 1422 they likewise appeared in Italy. It is unknown what was the earliest period at which they were observed in France and Spain: but their appearance in these countries must have been of later date than in Germany, as is proved in respect to France, by the name Bohemians, which they bear there. In regard to Spain, Cordova, in order to contradict some surmises about the Gipseys’ mother country, uses the argument, that they were known in Germany prior to either Spain or Italy. The French make the first mention of them in 1427, when they straggled about Paris, having arrived there on the 17th day of August in that year.
From what country did they come into Germany?—Muratori thinks, from Italy: but how unfounded this opinion is, appears clearly from their coming to that country after they had been in Germany. The Bologna Chronicle ascertains the time when Italy became acquainted with these people. The horde therein mentioned, which arrived in that city on the 18th of July, 1422, consisted of about a hundred men; whose leader’s, or (as they called him) duke’s, name, was Andreas. They travelled from Bologna to Forli, intending to proceed to pay the Pope a visit at Rome. Muratori founds his judgment on this chronicle, not knowing that Gipseys are spoken of in the German prints five years earlier.
Still less true is what Majolus asserts, that they came from Spain, and first entered the German territories in the year 1492, when they were driven out of Spain by Ferdinand the Catholic. Hungary is certainly the country whence they came into Germany. Not only the time confirms this conjecture, as we find them in Hungary in 1417, the very same year in which they were first observed in Germany, but Aventin expressly mentions Hungary among the countries from which he supposes them to come.
In this state our examination rests, in regard to whether they came immediately into Germany, or first appeared stationary in some other place.
That Poland should be the country which harboured the first Gipseys, and that they spread thence into Wallachia, Transylvania, and other countries, is a mere arbitrary surmise. The writer (J. G. Eccard) who advances this opinion, appeals to Münster’s intelligence, but that does not contain a syllable in confirmation of it. Others, with the greatest confidence, maintain that Wallachia and Moldavia, where they also wandered about in 1417, are the places in which they made their first appearance in Europe. Cantemir, on the contrary, is very undecided, saying, “Whence, or at what time, this nation arrived in Moldavia, neither do they know themselves nor is there any mention made in our annual publications.” However, the second opinion seems to approach very near the truth, but does not point out the particular province in which the Gipseys were first observed;—Of what use would that be? But one information, compared with other circumstances, is of so much assistance here, that we may, without hesitation, pronounce Turkey to be the country whence these eastern guests found their way to us. This is probable—First, because Aventin expressly makes Turkey their original place of rendezvous: secondly, as this explains why the south-east parts of Europe are most crowded with Gipseys, as before stated (vide p. 7). It happened in Turkey, as in every other place through which they passed, that many of these wanderers remained behind; now, as all that came to Europe passed by this route, whether at once or in different divisions, it was possible, indeed a necessary consequence, that a greater number should continue here, than in the different countries where their hordes were much divided and diminished.