‘SIRE,
‘The people of God were always afflicted by the Egyptians, but the
Supreme King delivered them from their hands by means of many miracles,
which are related in the Holy Scriptures; and now, without having
recourse to so many, but only by means of the miraculous talent which
your Majesty possesses for expelling such reprobates, he will, doubtless,
free this kingdom from them, which is what is supplicated in this
discourse, and it behoves us, in the first place, to consider
‘WHO ARE THE GITÁNOS?
‘Writers generally agree that the first time the Gitános were seen in
Europe was the year 1417, which was in the time of Pope Martinus the
Fifth and King Don John the Second; others say that Tamerlane had them in
his camp in 1401, and that their captain was Cingo, from whence it is
said that they call themselves Cingary. But the opinions concerning
their origin are infinite.
‘The first is that they are foreigners, though authors differ much with
respect to the country from whence they came. The majority say that they
are from Africa, and that they came with the Moors when Spain was lost;
others that they are Tartars, Persians, Cilicians, Nubians, from Lower
Egypt, from Syria, or from other parts of Asia and Africa, and others
consider them to be descendants of Chus, son of Cain; others say that
they are of European origin, Bohemians, Germans, or outcasts from other
nations of this quarter of the world.
‘The second and sure opinion is, that those who prowl about Spain are not
Egyptians, but swarms of wasps and atheistical wretches, without any kind
of law or religion, Spaniards, who have introduced this Gypsy life or
sect, and who admit into it every day all the idle and broken people of
Spain. There are some foreigners who would make Spain the origin and
fountain of all the Gypsies of Europe, as they say that they proceeded
from a river in Spain called Cija, of which Lucan makes mention; an
opinion, however, not much adopted amongst the learned. In the opinion
of respectable authors, they are called Cingary or Cinli, because they in
every respect resemble the bird cinclo, which we call in Spanish
Motacilla, or aguzanieve (wagtail), which is a vagrant bird and builds no
nest, {138} but broods in those of other birds, a bird restless and poor
of plumage, as Ælian writes.
‘THE GITÁNOS ARE VERY HURTFUL TO SPAIN
‘There is not a nation which does not consider them as a most pernicious
rabble; even the Turks and Moors abominate them, amongst whom this sect
is found under the names of Torlaquis, {139} Hugiemalars, and Dervislars,
of whom some historians make mention, and all agree that they are most
evil people, and highly detrimental to the country where they are found.
‘In the first place, because in all parts they are considered as enemies
of the states where they wander, and as spies and traitors to the crown;
which was proven by the emperors Maximilian and Albert, who declared them
to be such in public edicts; a fact easy to be believed, when we consider
that they enter with ease into the enemies’ country, and know the
languages of all nations.
‘Secondly, because they are idle vagabond people, who are in no respect
useful to the kingdom; without commerce, occupation, or trade of any
description; and if they have any it is making picklocks and pothooks for
appearance sake, being wasps, who only live by sucking and impoverishing
the country, sustaining themselves by the sweat of the miserable
labourers, as a German poet has said of them:—
“Quos aliena juvant, propriis habitare molestum,
Fastidit patrium non nisi nosse solum.”
They are much more useless than the Moriscos, as these last were of some
service to the state and the royal revenues, but the Gitános are neither
labourers, gardeners, mechanics, nor merchants, and only serve, like the
wolves, to plunder and to flee.
‘Thirdly, because the Gitánas are public harlots, common, as it is said,
to all the Gitános, and with dances, demeanour, and filthy songs, are the
cause of continual detriment to the souls of the vassals of your Majesty,
it being notorious that they have done infinite harm in many honourable
houses by separating the married women from their husbands, and
perverting the maidens: and finally, in the best of these Gitánas any one
may recognise all the signs of a harlot given by the wise king; they are
gadders about, whisperers, always unquiet in places and corners.
‘Fourthly, because in all parts they are accounted famous thieves, about
which authors write wonderful things; we ourselves have continual
experience of this fact in Spain, where there is scarcely a corner where
they have not committed some heavy offence.
‘Father Martin Del Rio says they were notorious when he was in Leon in
the year 1584; as they even attempted to sack the town of Logroño in the
time of the pest, as Don Francisco De Cordoba writes in his _Didascalia_.
Enormous cases of their excesses we see in infinite processes in all the
tribunals, and particularly in that of the Holy Brotherhood; their
wickedness ascending to such a pitch, that they steal children, and carry
them for sale to Barbary; the reason why the Moors call them in Arabic,
_Raso cherany_, {140} which, as Andreas Tebetus writes, means _master
thieves_. Although they are addicted to every species of robbery, they
mostly practise horse and cattle stealing, on which account they are
called in law _Abigeos_, and in Spanish _Quatreros_, from which practice
great evils result to the poor labourers. When they cannot steal cattle,
they endeavour to deceive by means of them, acting as _terceros_, in
fairs and markets.
‘Fifthly, because they are enchanters, diviners, magicians, chiromancers,
who tell the future by the lines of the hand, which is what they call
_Buena ventura_, and are in general addicted to all kind of superstition.
‘This is the opinion entertained of them universally, and which is
confirmed every day by experience; and some think that they are caller
Cingary, from the great Magian Cineus, from whom it is said they learned
their sorceries, and from which result in Spain (especially amongst the
vulgar) great errors, and superstitious credulity, mighty witchcrafts,
and heavy evils, both spiritual and corporeal.
‘Sixthly, because very devout men consider them as heretics, and many as
Gentile idolaters, or atheists, without any religion, although they
exteriorly accommodate themselves to the religion of the country in which
they wander, being Turks with the Turks, heretics with the heretics, and,
amongst the Christians, baptizing now and then a child for form’s sake.
Friar Jayme Bleda produces a hundred signs, from which he concludes that
the Moriscos were not Christians, all which are visible in the Gitános;
very few are known to baptize their children; they are not married, but
it is believed that they keep the women in common; they do not use
dispensations, nor receive the sacraments; they pay no respect to images,
rosaries, bulls, neither do they hear mass, nor divine services; they
never enter the churches, nor observe fasts, Lent, nor any ecclesiastical
precept; which enormities have been attested by long experience, as every
person says.
‘Finally, they practise every kind of wickedness in safety, by
discoursing amongst themselves in a language with which they understand
each other without being understood, which in Spain is called Gerigonza,
which, as some think, ought to be called Cingerionza, or language of
Cingary. The king our lord saw the evil of such a practice in the law
which he enacted at Madrid, in the year 1566, in which he forbade the
Arabic to the Moriscos, as the use of different languages amongst the
natives of one kingdom opens a door to treason, and is a source of heavy
inconvenience; and this is exemplified more in the case of the Gitános
than of any other people.
‘THE GITÁNOS OUGHT TO BE SEIZED WHEREVER FOUND
‘The civil law ordains that vagrants be seized wherever they are found,
without any favour being shown to them; in conformity with which, the
Gitános in the Greek empire were given as slaves to those who should
capture them; as respectable authors write. Moreover, the emperor, our
lord, has decreed by a law made in Toledo, in the year 1525, _that the
third time they be found wandering they shall serve as slaves during
their whole life to those who capture them_. Which can be easily
justified, inasmuch as there is no shepherd who does not place barriers
against the wolves, and does not endeavour to save his flock, and I have
already exposed to your Majesty the damage which the Gitános perpetrate
in Spain.
‘THE GITÁNOS OUGHT TO BE CONDEMNED TO DEATH
‘The reasons are many. The first, for being spies, and traitors to the
crown; the second as idlers and vagabonds.
‘It ought always to be considered, that no sooner did the race of man
begin, after the creation of the world, than the important point of civil
policy arose of condemning vagrants to death; for Cain was certain that
he should meet his destruction in wandering as a vagabond for the murder
of Abel. _Ero vagus et profugus in terra: omnis igitur qui invenerit
me_, _occidet me_. Now, the _igitur_ stands here as the natural
consequence of _vagus ero_; as it is evident, that whoever shall see me
must kill me, because he sees me a wanderer. And it must always be
remembered, that at that time there were no people in the world but the
parents and brothers of Cain, as St. Ambrose has remarked. Moreover,
God, by the mouth of Jeremias, menaced his people, that all should devour
them whilst they went wandering amongst the mountains. And it is a
doctrine entertained by theologians, that the mere act of wandering,
without anything else, carries with it a vehement suspicion of capital
crime. Nature herself demonstrates it in the curious political system of
the bees, in whose well-governed republic the drones are killed in April,
when they commence working.
‘The third, because they are stealers of four-footed beasts, who are
condemned to death by the laws of Spain, in the wise code of the famous
King Don Alonso; which enactment became a part of the common law.
‘The fourth, for wizards, diviners, and for practising arts which are
prohibited under pain of death by the divine law itself. And Saul is
praised for having caused this law to be put in execution in the
beginning of his reign; and the Holy Scripture attributes to the breach
of it (namely, his consulting the witch) his disastrous death, and the
transfer of the kingdom to David. The Emperor Constantine the Great, and
other emperors who founded the civil law, condemned to death those who
should practise such facinorousness,—as the President of Tolosa has
written.
‘The last and most urgent cause is, that they are heretics, if what is
said be truth; and it is the practice of the law in Spain to burn such.
‘THE GITÁNOS ARE EXPELLED FROM THE COUNTRY BY THE LAWS OF SPAIN
‘Firstly, they are comprehended as hale beggars in the law of the wise
king, Don Alonso, by which he expelled all sturdy beggars, as being idle
and useless.
‘Secondly, the law expels public harlots from the city; and of this
matter I have already said something in my second chapter.
‘Thirdly, as people who cause scandal, and who, as is visible at the
first glance, are prejudicial to morals and common decency. Now, it is
established by the statute law of these kingdoms, that such people be
expelled therefrom; it is said so in the well-pondered words of the edict
for the expulsion of the Moors: “And forasmuch as the sense of good and
Christian government makes it a matter of conscience to expel from the
kingdoms the things which cause scandal, injury to honest subjects,
danger to the state, and above all, disloyalty to the Lord our God.”
Therefore, considering the incorrigibility of the Gitános, the Spanish
kings made many holy laws in order to deliver their subjects from such
pernicious people.
‘Fourthly, the Catholic princes, Ferdinand and Isabella, by a law which
they made in Medina del Campo, in the year 1494, and which the emperor
our lord renewed in Toledo in 1523, and in Madrid in 1528 and 1534, and
the late king our lord, in 1560, banished them perpetually from Spain,
and gave them as slaves to whomsoever should find them, after the
expiration of the term specified in the edict—laws which are notorious
even amongst strangers. The words are:—“We declare to be vagabonds, and
subject to the aforesaid penalty, the Egyptians and foreign tinkers, who
by laws and statutes of these kingdoms are commanded to depart therefrom;
and the poor sturdy beggars, who contrary to the order given in the new
edict, beg for alms and wander about.”
‘THE LAWS ARE VERY JUST WHICH EXPEL THE GITÁNOS FROM THE STATES
All the doctors, who are of opinion that the Gitános may be condemned to
death, would consider it as an act of mercy in your Majesty to banish
them perpetually from Spain, and at the same time as exceedingly just.
Many and learned men not only consider that it is just to expel them, but
cannot sufficiently wonder that they are tolerated in Christian states,
and even consider that such toleration is an insult to the kingdoms.
‘Whilst engaged in writing this, I have seen a very learned memorial, in
which Doctor Salazar de Mendoza makes the same supplication to your
Majesty which is made in this discourse, holding it to be the imperious
duty of every good government.
‘It stands in reason that the prince is bound to watch for the welfare of
his subjects, and the wrongs which those of your Majesty receive from the
Gitános I have already exposed in my second chapter; it being a point
worthy of great consideration that the wrongs caused by the Moriscos
moved your royal and merciful bosom to drive them out, although they were
many, and their departure would be felt as a loss to the population, the
commerce, the royal revenues, and agriculture. Now, with respect to the
Gitános, as they are few, and perfectly useless for everything, it
appears more necessary to drive them forth, the injuries which they cause
being so numerous.
‘Secondly, because the Gitános, as I have already said, are Spaniards;
and as others profess the sacred orders of religion, even so do these
fellows profess gypsying, which is robbery and all the other vices
enumerated in chapter the second. And whereas it is just to banish from
the kingdom those who have committed any heavy delinquency, it is still
more so to banish those who profess to be injurious to all.
‘Thirdly, because all the kings and rulers have always endeavoured to
eject from their kingdoms the idle and useless. And it is very
remarkable, that the law invariably commands them to be expelled, and the
republics of Athens and Corinth were accustomed to do so—casting them
forth like dung, even as Athenæus writes: _Nos genus hoc mortalium
ejicimus ex hac urbe velut purgamina_. Now the profession of the Gypsy
is idleness.
‘Fourthly, because the Gitános are diviners, enchanters, and mischievous
wretches, and the law commands us to expel such from the state.
‘In the fifth place, because your Majesty, in the Cortes at present
assembled, has obliged your royal conscience to fulfil all the articles
voted for the public service, and the forty-ninth says: “One of the
things at present most necessary to be done in these kingdoms, is to
afford a remedy for the robberies, plundering and murders committed by
the Gitános, who go wandering about the country, stealing the cattle of
the poor, and committing a thousand outrages, living without any fear of
God, and being Christians only in name. It is therefore deemed
expedient, that your Majesty command them to quit these kingdoms within
six months, to be reckoned from the day of the ratification of these
presents, and that they do not return to the same under pain of death.”
‘Against this, two things may possibly be urged:—
‘The first, that the laws of Spain give unto the Gitános the alternative
of residing in large towns, which, it appears, would be better than
expelling them. But experience, recognised by grave and respectable men,
has shown that it is not well to harbour these people; for their houses
are dens of thieves, from whence they prowl abroad to rob the land.
‘The second, that it appears a pity to banish the women and children.
But to this can be opposed that holy act of your Majesty which expelled
the Moriscos, and the children of the Moriscos, for the reason given in
the royal edict. _Whenever any detestable crime is committed by any
university_, _it is well to punish all_. And the most detestable crimes
of all are those which the Gitános commit, since it is notorious that
they subsist on what they steal; and as to the children, there is no law
which obliges us to bring up wolf-whelps, to cause here-after certain
damage to the flock.
‘IT HAS EVER BEEN THE PRACTICE OF PRINCES TO EXPEL THE GITÁNOS
‘Every one who considers the manner of your Majesty’s government as the
truly Christian pattern must entertain fervent hope that the advice
proffered in this discourse will be attended to; more especially on
reflecting that not only the good, but even the most barbarous kings have
acted up to it in their respective dominions.
‘Pharaoh was bad enough, nevertheless he judged that the children of
Israel were dangerous to the state, because they appeared to him to be
living without any certain occupation; and for this very reason the
Chaldeans cast them out of Babylon. Amasis, king of Egypt, drove all the
vagrants from his kingdom, forbidding them to return under pain of death.
The Soldan of Egypt expelled the Torlaquis. The Moors did the same; and
Bajazet cast them out of all the Ottoman empire, according to Leo
Clavius.
‘In the second place, the Christian princes have deemed it an important
measure of state.
‘The emperor our Lord, in the German Diets of the year 1548, expelled the
Gitános from all his empire, and these were the words of the decree:
“Zigeuner quos compertum est proditores esse, et exploratores hostium
nusquam in imperio locum inveniunto. In deprehensos vis et injuria sine
fraude esto. Fides publica Zigeuners ne dator, nec data servator.”
‘The King of France, Francis, expelled them from thence; and the Duke of
Terranova, when Governor of Milan for our lord the king, obliged them to
depart from that territory under pain of death.
‘Thirdly, there is one grand reason which ought to be conclusive in
moving him who so much values himself in being a faithful son of the
church,—I mean the example which Pope Pius the Fifth gave to all the
princes; for he drove the Gitános from all his domains, and in the year
1568, he expelled the Jews, assigning as reasons for their expulsion
those which are more closely applicable to the Gitános;—namely, that they
sucked the vitals of the state, without being of any utility whatever;
that they were thieves themselves, and harbourers of others; that they
were wizards, diviners, and wretches who induced people to believe that
they knew the future, which is what the Gitános at present do by telling
fortunes.
‘Your Majesty has already freed us from greater and more dangerous
enemies; finish, therefore, the enterprise begun, whence will result
universal joy and security, and by which your Majesty will earn immortal
honour. Amen.
‘O Regum summe, horum plura ne temnas (absit) ne fortè tempsisse Hispaniæ
periculosum existat.’