FOOTNOTE:

[1] Not to be confused with Giotto di Buondone, a contemporary

citizen and politician of Siena.

GIPSIES, or GYPSIES, a wandering folk scattered through every European

land, over the greater part of western Asia and Siberia; found also in

Egypt and the northern coast of Africa, in America and even in

Australia. No correct estimate of their numbers outside of Europe can be

given, and even in Europe the information derived from official

statistics is often contradictory and unreliable. The only country in

which the figures have been given correctly is Hungary. In 1893 there

were 274,940 in Transleithania, of whom 243,432 were settled, 20,406

only partly settled and 8938 nomads. Of these 91,603 spoke the Gipsy

language in 1890, but the rest had already been assimilated. Next in

numbers stands Rumania, the number varying between 250,000 and 200,000

(1895). Turkey in Europe counted 117,000 (1903), of whom 51,000 were in

Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, 22,000 in the vilayet of Adrianople and

2500 in the vilayet of Kossovo. In Asiatic Turkey the estimates vary

between 67,000 and 200,000. Servia has 41,000; Bosnia and Herzegovina,

18,000; Greece, 10,000; Austria (Cisleithania), 16,000, of whom 13,500

are in Bohemia and Moravia; Germany, 2000; France, 2000 (5000?); Basque

Provinces, 500 to 700; Italy, 32,000; Spain, 40,000; Russia, 58,000;

Poland, 15,000; Sweden and Norway, 1500; Denmark and Holland, 5000;

Persia, 15,000; Transcaucasia, 3000. The rest is mere guesswork. For

Africa, America and Australia the numbers are estimated between 135,000

and 166,000. The estimate given by Miklosich (1878) of 700,000 fairly

agrees with the above statistics. No statistics are forthcoming for the

number in the British Isles. Some estimate their number at 12,000.

The Gipsies are known principally by two names, which have been modified

by the nations with whom they came in contact, but which can easily be

traced to either the one or the other of these two distinct stems. The

one group, embracing the majority of Gipsies in Europe, the compact

masses living in the Balkan Peninsula, Rumania and Transylvania and

extending also as far as Germany and Italy, are known by the name

_Atzigan_ or _Atsigan_, which becomes in time Tshingian (Turkey and

Greece), Tsigan (Bulgarian, Servian, Rumanian), Czigany (Hungarian),

Zigeuner (Germany), Zingari (Italian), and it is not unlikely that the

English word Tinker or Tinkler (the latter no doubt due to a popular

etymology connecting the gaudy gipsy with the tinkling coins or the

metal wares which he carried on his back as a smith and tinker) may be a

local transformation of the German _Zigeuner_. The second name, partly

known in the East, where the word, however, is used as an expression of

contempt, whilst Zigan is not felt by the gipsies as an insult, is

_Egyptian_; in England, Gipsy; in some German documents of the 16th

century _Aegypter_; Spanish _Gitano_; modern Greek _Gyphtos_. They are

also known by the parallel expressions _Faraon_ (Rumanian) and _Pharao

Nephka_ (Hungarian) or Pharaoh's people, which are only variations

connected with the Egyptian origin. In France they are known as

_Bohemiens_, a word the importance of which will appear later. To the

same category belong other names bestowed upon them, such as Walachi,

Saraceni, Agareni, Nubiani, &c. They were also known by the name of

Tartars, given to them in Germany, or as "Heathen," _Heydens_. All these

latter must be considered as nicknames without thereby denoting their

probable origin. The same may have now been the ease with the first name

with which they appear in history, _Atzigan_. Much ingenuity has been

displayed in attempts to explain the name, for it was felt that a true

explanation might help to settle the question of their origin and the

date of their arrival in Europe. Here again two extreme theories have

been propounded, the one supported by Bataillard, who connected them

with the Sigynnoi of Herodotus and identified them with the Komodromoi

of the later Byzantine writers, known already in the 6th century. Others

bring them to Europe as late as the 14th century; and the name has also

been explained by de Goeje from the Persian _Chang_, a kind of harp or

zither, or the Persian _Zang_, black, swarthy. Rienzi (1832) and Trumpp

(1872) have connected the name with the Changars of North-East India,

but all have omitted to notice that the real form was Atzigan or (more

correct) Atzingan and not Tsigan. The best explanation remains that

suggested by Miklosich, who derives the word from the Athinganoi, a name

originally belonging to a peculiar heretical sect living in Asia Minor

near Phrygia and Lycaonia, known also as the Melki-Zedekites. The

members of this sect observed very strict rules of purity, as they were

afraid to be defiled by the touch of other people whom they considered

unclean. They therefore acquired the name of Athinganoi (i.e.

"Touch-me-nots").

Miklosich has collected seven passages where the Byzantine historians of

the 9th century describe the Athinganoi as soothsayers, magicians and

serpent-charmers. From these descriptions nothing definite can be proved

as to the identity of the Athinganoi with the Gipsies, or the reason why

this name was given to soothsayers, charmers, &c. But the inner history

of the Byzantine empire of that period may easily give a clue to it and

explain how it came about that such a nickname was given to a new sect

or to a new race which suddenly appeared in the Greek Empire at that

period. In the history of the Church we find them mentioned in one

breath with the Paulicians and other heretical sects which were

transplanted in their tens of thousands from Asia Minor to the Greek

empire and settled especially in Rumelia, near Adrianople and

Philippopolis. The Greeks called these heretical sects by all kinds of

names, derived from ancient Church traditions, and gave to each sect

such names as first struck them, on the scantiest of imaginary

similarities. One sect was called Paulician, another Melki-Zedekite; so

also these were called Athinganoi, probably being considered the

descendants of the outcast Samer, who, according to ancient tradition,

was a goldsmith and the maker of the Golden Calf in the desert. For this

sin Samer was banished and compelled to live apart from human beings and

even to avoid their touch (Athinganos: "Touch-me-not"). Travelling from

East to West these heretical sects obtained different names in different

countries, in accordance with the local traditions or to imaginary

origins. The Bogomils and Patarenes became Bulgarians in France, and so

the gypsies Bohemiens, a name which was also connected with the

heretical sect of the Bohemian brothers (_Bohmische Bruder_). Curiously

enough the Kutzo-Vlachs living in Macedonia (q.v.) and Rumelia are also

known by the nickname Tsintsari, a word that has not yet been explained.

Very likely it stands in close connexion with Zingari, the name having

been transferred from one people to the other without the justification

of any common ethnical origin, except that the Kutzo-Vlachs, like the

Zingari, differed from their Greek neighbours in race, as in language,

habits and customs; while they probably followed similar pursuits to

those of the Zingari, as smiths, &c. As to the other name, Egyptians,

this is derived from a peculiar tale which the gipsies spread when

appearing in the west of Europe. They alleged that they had come from a

country of their own called Little Egypt, either a confusion between

Little Armenia and Egypt or the Peloponnesus.

Attention may be drawn to a remarkable passage in the Syriac version of

the apocryphal Book of Adam, known as the _Cave of Treasures_ and

compiled probably in the 6th century: "And of the seed of Canaan were

as I said the Aegyptians; and, lo, they were scattered all over the

earth and served as slaves of slaves" (ed. Bezold, German translation,

p. 25). No reference to such a scattering and serfdom of the Egyptians

is mentioned anywhere else. This must have been a legend, current in

Asia Minor, and hence probably transferred to the swarthy Gipsies.

A new explanation may now be ventured upon as to the name which the

Gipsies of Europe give to themselves, which, it must be emphasized, is

not known to the Gipsies outside of Europe. Only those who starting from

the ancient Byzantine empire have travelled westwards and spread over

Europe, America and Australia call themselves by the name of Rom, the

woman being Romni and a stranger Gazi. Many etymologies have been

suggested for the word Rom. Paspati derived it from the word Droma

(Indian), and Miklosich had identified it with Doma or Domba, a "low

caste musician," rather an extraordinary name for a nation to call

itself by. Having no home and no country of their own and no political

traditions and no literature, they would naturally try to identify

themselves with the people in whose midst they lived, and would call

themselves by the same name as other inhabitants of the Greek empire,

known also as the Empire of New Rom, or of the Romaioi, Romeliots,

Romanoi, as the Byzantines used to call themselves before they assumed

the prouder name of Hellenes. The Gipsies would therefore call

themselves also Rom, a much more natural name, more flattering to their

vanity, and geographically and politically more correct than if they

called themselves "low caste musicians." This Greek origin of the name

would explain why it is limited to the European Gipsies, and why it is

not found among that stock of Gipsies which has migrated from Asia Minor

southwards and taken a different route to reach Egypt and North Africa.

_Appearance in Europe._--Leaving aside the doubtful passages in the

Byzantine writers where the Athinganoi are mentioned, the first

appearance of Gipsies in Europe cannot be traced positively further back

than the beginning of the 14th century. Some have hitherto believed that

a passage in what was erroneously called the Rhymed Version of Genesis

of Vienna, but which turns out to be the work of a writer before the

year 1122, and found only in the Klagenfurt manuscript (edited by

Ditmar, 1862), referred to the Gipsies. It runs as follows: Gen. xiii.

15--"Hagar had a son from whom were born the Chaltsmide. When Hagar had

that child, she named it Ismael, from whom the Ismaelites descend who

journey through the land, and we call them Chaltsmide, may evil befall

them! They sell only things with blemishes, and for whatever they sell

they always ask more than its real value. They cheat the people to whom

they sell. They have no home, no country, they are satisfied to live in

tents, they wander over the country, they deceive the people, they cheat

men but rob no one noisily."

This reference to the Chaltsmide (not goldsmiths, but very likely

ironworkers, smiths) has wrongly been applied to the Gipsies. For it is

important to note that at least three centuries before historical

evidence proves the immigration of the genuine Gipsy, there had been

wayfaring smiths, travelling from country to country, and practically

paving the way for their successors, the Gipsies, who not only took up

their crafts but who probably have also assimilated a good proportion of

these vagrants of the west of Europe. The name given to the former, who

probably were Oriental or Greek smiths and pedlars, was then transferred

to the new-comers. The Komodromoi mentioned by Theophanes (758-818), who

speaks under the date 554 of one hailing from Italy, and by other

Byzantine writers, are no doubt the same as the Chaltsmide of the German

writer of the 12th century translated by Ducange as _Chaudroneurs_. We

are on surer ground in the 14th century. Hopf has proved the existence

of Gipsies in Corfu before 1326. Before 1346 the empress Catherine de

Valois granted to the governor of Corfu authority to reduce to vassalage

certain vagrants who came from the mainland; and in 1386, under the

Venetians, they formed the Feudum Acindanorum, which lasted for many

centuries. About 1378 the Venetian governor of Nauplia confirmed to the

"Acingani" of that colony the privileges granted by his predecessor to

their leader John. It is even possible to identify the people described

by Friar Simon in his _Itinerarium_, who, speaking of his stay in Crete

in 1322, says: "We saw there a people outside the city who declare

themselves to be of the race of Ham and who worship according to the

Greek rite. They wander like a cursed people from place to place, not

stopping at all or rarely in one place longer than thirty days; they

live in tents like the Arabs, a little oblong black tent." But their

name is not mentioned, and although the similarity is great between

these "children of Ham" and the Gipsies, the identification has only the

value of an hypothesis. By the end of the 15th century they must have

been settled for a sufficiently long time in the Balkan Peninsula and

the countries north of the Danube, such as Transylvania and Walachia, to

have been reduced to the same state of serfdom as they evidently

occupied in Corfu in the second half of the 14th century. The voivode

Mircea I. of Walachia confirms the grant made by his uncle Vladislav

Voivode to the monastery of St Anthony of Voditsa as to forty families

of "Atsigane," for whom no taxes should be paid to the prince. They were

considered crown property. The same gift is renewed in the year 1424 by

the voivode Dan, who repeats the very same words (i Acigane, m, celiudi.

da su slobodni ot vstkih rabot i dankov) (Hajdau, _Arhiva_, i. 20). At

that time there must already have been in Walachia settled Gipsies

treated as serfs, and migrating Gipsies plying their trade as smiths,

musicians, dancers, soothsayers, horse-dealers, &c., for we find the

voivode Alexander of Moldavia granting these Gipsies in the year 1478

"freedom of air and soil to wander about and free fire and iron for

their smithy." But a certain portion, probably the largest, became

serfs, who could be sold, exchanged, bartered and inherited. It may be

mentioned here that in the 17th century a family when sold fetched forty

Hungarian florins, and in the 18th century the price was sometimes as

high as 700 Rumanian piastres, about L8, 10s. As late as 1845 an auction

of 200 families of Gipsies took place in Bucharest, where they were sold

in batches of no less than 5 families and offered at a "ducat" cheaper

per head than elsewhere. The Gipsies followed at least four distinct

pursuits in Rumania and Transylvania, where they lived in large masses.

A goodly proportion of them were tied to the soil; in consequence their

position was different from that of the Gipsies who had started

westwards and who are nowhere found to have obtained a permanent abode

for any length of time, or to have been treated, except for a very short

period, with any consideration of humanity.

Their appearance in the West is first noted by chroniclers early in the

15th century. In 1414 they are said to have already arrived in Hesse.

This date is contested, but for 1417 the reports are unanimous of their

appearance in Germany. Some count their number to have been as high as

1400, which of course is exaggeration. In 1418 they reached Hamburg,

1419 Augsburg, 1428 Switzerland. In 1427 they had already entered France

(Provence). A troupe is said to have reached Bologna in 1422, whence

they are said to have gone to Rome, on a pilgrimage alleged to have been

undertaken for some act of apostasy. After this first immigration a

second and larger one seems to have followed in its wake, led by Zumbel.

The Gipsies spread over Germany, Italy and France between the years 1438

and 1512. About 1500 they must have reached England. On the 5th of July

1505 James IV. of Scotland gave to "Antonius Gaginae," count of Little

Egypt, letters of recommendation to the king of Denmark; and special

privileges were granted by James V. on the 15th of February 1540 to

"oure louit johnne Faw Lord and Erle of Litill Egypt," to whose son and

successor he granted authority to hang and punish all Egyptians within

the realm (May 26, 1540).

It is interesting to hear what the first writers who witnessed their

appearance have to tell us; for ever since the Gipsies have remained the

same. Albert Krantzius (Krantz), in his _Saxonia_ (xi. 2), was the first

to give a full description, which was afterwards repeated by Munster in

his _Cosmographia_ (iii. 5). He says that in the year 1417 there

appeared for the first time in Germany a people uncouth, black, dirty,

barbarous, called in Italian "Ciani," who indulge specially in thieving

and cheating. They had among them a count and a few knights well

dressed, others followed afoot. The women and children travelled in

carts. They also carried with them letters of safe-conduct from the

emperor Sigismund and other princes, and they professed that they were

engaged on a pilgrimage of expiation for some act of apostasy.

The guilt of the Gipsies varies in the different versions of the story,

but all agree that the Gipsies asserted that they came from their own

country called "Litill Egypt," and they had to go to Rome, to obtain

pardon for that alleged sin of their forefathers. According to one

account it was because they had not shown mercy to Joseph and Mary when

they had sought refuge in Egypt from the persecution of Herod (_Basel

Chronicle_). According to another, because they had forsaken the

Christian faith for a while (_Rhaetia_, 1656), &c. But these were

fables, no doubt connected with the legend of Cartaphylus or the

Wandering Jew.

Krantz's narrative continues as follows: This people have no country and

travel through the land. They live like dogs and have no religion

although they allow themselves to be baptized in the Christian faith.

They live without care and gather unto themselves also other vagrants,

men and women. Their old women practise fortune-telling, and whilst they

are telling men of their future they pick their pockets. Thus far

Krantz. It is curious that he should use the name by which these people

were called in Italy, "Ciani." Similarly Crusius, the author of the

_Annales Suevici_, knows their Italian name _Zigani_ and the French

_Bohemiens_. Not one of these oldest writers mentions them as

coppersmiths or farriers or musicians. The immunity which they enjoyed

during their first appearance in western Europe is due to the letter of

safe-conduct of the emperor. As it is of extreme importance for the

history of civilization as well as the history of the Gipsies, it may

find a place here. It is taken from the compilation of Felix Oefelius,

_Rerum Boicarum scriptores_ (Augsburg, 1763), ii. 15, who reproduces the

"Diarium sexennale" of "Andreas Presbyter," the contemporary of the

first appearance of the Gipsies in Germany.

"Sigismundus Dei gratia Romanorum Rex semper Augustus, ac Hungariae,

Bohemiae, Dalmatiae, Croatiae, &c. Rex Fidelibus nostris universis

Nobilibus, Militibus, Castellanis, Officialibus, Tributariis,

civitatibus liberis, opidis et eorum iudicibus in Regno et sub domino

nostro constitutis ex existentibus salutem cum dilectione. Fideles

nostri adierunt in praesentiam personaliter Ladislaus Wayuoda Ciganorum

cum aliis ad ipsum spectantibus, nobis humilimas porrexerunt

supplicationes, huc in sepus in nostra praesentia supplicationum precum

cum instantia, ut ipsis gratia nostra uberiori providere dignaremur.

Unde nos illorum supplicatione illecti eisdem hanc libertatem duximus

concedendam, qua re quandocunque idem Ladislaus Wayuoda et sua gens ad

dicta nostra dominia videlicet civitates vel oppida pervenerint, ex tunc

vestris fidelitatibus praesentibus firmiter committimus et mandamus ut

eosdem Ladislaum Wayuodam et Ciganos sibi subiectos omni sine

impedimento ac perturbatione aliquali fovere ac conservare debeatis,

immo ab omnibus impetitionibus seu offensionibus tueri velitis: Si autem

inter ipsos aliqua Zizania seu perturbatio evenerit ex parte,

quorumcunque ex tunc non vos nec aliquis alter vestrum, sed idem

Ladislaus Wayuoda iudicandi et liberandi habeat facultatem. Praesentes

autem post earum lecturam semper reddi iubemus praesentanti.

"Datum in Sepus Dominica die ante festum St Georgii Martyris Anno Domini

MCCCCXXIII., Regnorum nostrorum anno Hungar. XXXVI., Romanorum vero

XII., Bohemiae tertio."

Freely translated this reads: "We Sigismund by the grace of God emperor

of Rome, king of Hungary, Bohemia, &c. unto all true and loyal subjects,

noble soldiers, commanders, castellans, open districts, free towns and

their judges in our kingdom established and under our sovereignty, kind

greetings. Our faithful voivode of the Tsigani with others belonging to

him has humbly requested us that we might graciously grant them our

abundant favour. We grant them their supplication, we have vouchsafed

unto them this liberty. Whenever therefore this voivode Ladislaus and

his people should come to any part of our realm in any town, village or

place, we commit them by these presents, strongly to your loyalty and we

command you to protect in every way the same voivode Ladislaus and the

Tsigani his subjects without hindrance, and you should show kindness

unto them and you should protect them from every trouble and

persecution. But should any trouble or discord happen among them from

whichever side it may be, then none of you nor anyone else belonging to

you should interfere, but this voivode Ladislaus alone should have the

right of punishing and pardoning. And we moreover command you to return

these presents always after having read them. Given in our court on

Sunday the day before the Feast of St George in the year of our Lord

1423. The 36th year of our kingdom of Hungary, the 12th of our being

emperor of Rome and the 3rd of our being king of Bohemia."

There is no reason to doubt the authenticity of this document, which is

in no way remarkable considering that at that time the Gipsies must have

formed a very considerable portion of the inhabitants of Hungary, whose

king Sigismund was. They may have presented the emperor's grant of

favours to Alexander prince of Moldavia in 1472, and obtained from him

safe-conduct and protection, as mentioned above.

No one has yet attempted to explain the reason why the Gipsies should

have started in the 14th and especially in the first half of the 15th

century on their march westwards. But if, as has been assumed above, the

Gipsies had lived for some length of time in Rumelia, and afterwards

spread thence across the Danube and the plains of Transylvania, the

incursion of the Turks into Europe, their successive occupation of those

very provinces, the overthrow of the Servian and Bulgarian kingdoms and

the dislocation of the native population, would account to a remarkable

degree for the movement of the Gipsies: and this movement increases in

volume with the greater successes of the Turks and with the peopling of

the country by immigrants from Asia Minor. The first to be driven from

their homes would no doubt be the nomadic element, which felt itself ill

at ease in its new surroundings, and found it more profitable first to

settle in larger numbers in Walachia and Transylvania and thence to

spread to the western countries of Europe. But their immunity from

persecution did not last long.

_Later History._--Less than fifty years from the time that they emerge

out of Hungary, or even from the date of the Charter of the emperor

Sigismund, they found themselves exposed to the fury and the prejudices

of the people whose good faith they had abused, whose purses they had

lightened, whose barns they had emptied, and on whose credulity they had

lived with ease and comfort. Their inborn tendency to roaming made them

the terror of the peasantry and the despair of every legislator who

tried to settle them on the land. Their foreign appearance, their

unknown tongue and their unscrupulous habits forced the legislators of

many countries to class them with rogues and vagabonds, to declare them

outlaws and felons and to treat them with extreme severity. More than

one judicial murder has been committed against them. In some places they

were suspected as Turkish spies and treated accordingly, and the

murderer of a Gipsy was often regarded as innocent of any crime.

Weissenbruch describes the wholesale murder of a group of Gipsies, of

whom five men were broken on the wheel, nine perished on the gallows,

and three men and eight women were decapitated. This took place on the

14th and 15th of November 1726. Acts and edicts were issued in many

countries from the end of the 15th century onwards sentencing the

"Egyptians" to exile under pain of death. Nor was this an empty threat.

In Edinburgh four "Faas" were hanged in 1611 "for abyding within the

kingdome, they being Egiptienis," and in 1636 at Haddington the

Egyptians were ordered "the men to be hangied and the weomen to be

drowned, and suche of the weomen as hes children to be scourgit throw

the burg and burnt in the cheeks." The burning on the cheek or on the

back was a common penalty. In 1692 four Estremadura Gipsies caught by

the Inquisition were charged with cannibalism and made to own that they

had eaten a friar, a pilgrim and even a woman of their own tribe, for

which they suffered the penalty of death. And as late as 1782, 45

Hungarian Gipsies were charged with a similar monstrous crime, and when

the supposed victims of a supposed murder could not be found on the spot

indicated by the Gipsies, they owned under torture and said on the rack,

"We ate them." Of course they were forthwith beheaded or hanged. The

emperor Joseph II., who was also the author of one of the first edicts

in favour of the Gipsies, and who abolished serfdom throughout the

Empire, ordered an inquiry into the incident; it was then discovered

that no murder had been committed, except that of the victims of this

monstrous accusation.

The history of the legal status of the Gipsies, of their treatment in

various countries and of the penalties and inflictions to which they

have been subjected, would form a remarkable chapter in the history of

modern civilization. The materials are slowly accumulating, and it is

interesting to note as one of the latest instances, that not further

back than the year 1907 a "drive" was undertaken in Germany against the

Gipsies, which fact may account for the appearance of some German

Gipsies in England in that year, and that in 1904 the Prussian Landtag

adopted unanimously a proposition to examine anew the question of

granting peddling licences to German Gipsies; that on the 17th of

February 1906 the Prussian minister issued special instructions to

combat the Gipsy nuisance; and that in various parts of Germany and

Austria a special register is kept for the tracing of the genealogy of

vagrant and sedentary Gipsy families.

Different has been the history of the Gipsies in what originally formed

the Turkish empire of Europe, notably in Rumania, i.e. Walachia and

Moldavia, and a careful search in the archives of Rumania would offer

rich materials for the history of the Gipsies in a country where they

enjoyed exceptional treatment almost from the beginning of their

settlement. They were divided mainly into two classes, (1) _Robi_ or

Serfs, who were settled on the land and deprived of all individual

liberty, being the property of the nobles and of churches or monastic

establishments, and (2) the Nomadic vagrants. They were subdivided into

four classes according to their occupation, such as the Lingurari

(woodcarvers; lit. "spoonmakers"), Caldarari (tinkers, coppersmiths and

ironworkers), Ursari (lit. "bear drivers") and Rudari (miners), also

called Aurari (gold-washers), who used formerly to wash the gold out of

the auriferous river-sands of Walachia. A separate and smaller class

consisted of the Gipsy _Laeshi_ or _Vatrashi_ (settled on a homestead or

"having a fireplace" of their own). Each _shatra_ or Gipsy community was

placed under the authority of a judge or leader, known in Rumania as

_jude_, in Hungary as _aga_; these officials were subordinate to the

_bulubasha_ or _voivod_, who was himself under the direct control of the

_yuzbasha_ (or governor appointed by the prince from among his nobles).

The _yuzbasha_ was responsible for the regular income to be derived from

the vagrant Gipsies, who were considered and treated as the prince's

property. These voivodi or yuzbashi who were not Gipsies by origin often

treated the Gipsies with great tyranny. In Hungary down to 1648 they

belonged to the aristocracy. The last Polish _Krolestvo cyganskie_ or

Gipsy king died in 1790. The _Robi_ could be bought and sold, freely

exchanged and inherited, and were treated as the negroes in America down

to 1856, when their final freedom in Moldavia was proclaimed. In Hungary

and in Transylvania the abolition of servitude in 1781-1782 carried with

it the freedom of the Gipsies. In the 18th and 19th centuries many

attempts were made to settle and to educate the roaming Gipsies; in

Austria this was undertaken by the empress Maria Theresa and the emperor

Francis II. (1761-1783), in Spain by Charles III. (1788). In Poland

(1791) the attempt succeeded. In England (1827) and in Germany (1830)

societies were formed for the reclamation of the Gipsies, but nothing

was accomplished in either case. In other countries, however, definite

progress was made. Since 1866 the Gipsies have become Rumanian citizens,

and the latest official statistics no longer distinguish between the

Rumanians and the Gipsies, who are becoming thoroughly assimilated,

forgetting their language, and being slowly absorbed by the native

population. In Bulgaria the Gipsies were declared citizens, enjoying

equal political rights in accordance with the treaty of Berlin in 1878,

but through an arbitrary interpretation they were deprived of that

right, and on the 6th of January 1906 the first Gipsy Congress was held

in Sofia, for the purpose of claiming political rights for the Turkish

Gipsies or Gopti as they call themselves. Ramadan Alief, the

_tzari-bashi_ (i.e. the head of the Gipsies in Sofia), addressed the

Gipsies assembled; they decided to protest and subsequently sent a

petition to the Sobranye, demanding the recognition of their political

rights. A curious reawakening, and an interesting chapter in the history

of this peculiar race.

_Origin and Language of the Gipsies._--The real key to their origin is,

however, the Gipsy language. The scientific study of that language began

in the middle of the 19th century with the work of Pott, and was brought

to a high state of perfection by Miklosich. From that time on monographs

have multiplied and minute researches have been carried on in many parts

of the world, all tending to elucidate the true origin of the Gipsy

language. It must remain for the time being an open question whether the

Gipsies were originally a pure race. Many a strange element has

contributed to swell their ranks and to introduce discordant elements

into their vocabulary. Ruediger (1782), Grellmann (1783) and Marsden

(1783) almost simultaneously and independently of one another came to

the same conclusion, that the language of the Gipsies, until then

considered a thieves' jargon, was in reality a language closely allied

with some Indian speech. Since then the two principal problems to be

solved have been, firstly, to which of the languages of India the

original Gipsy speech was most closely allied, and secondly, by which

route the people speaking that language had reached Europe and then

spread westwards. Despite the rapid increase in our knowledge of Indian

languages, no solution has yet been found to the first problem, nor is

it likely to be found. For the language of the Gipsies, as shown now by

recent studies of the Armenian Gipsies, has undergone such a profound

change and involves so many difficulties, that it is impossible to

compare the modern Gipsy with any modern Indian dialect owing to the

inner developments which the Gipsy language has undergone in the course

of centuries. All that is known, moreover, of the Gipsy language, and

all that rests on reliable texts, is quite modern, scarcely earlier than

the middle of the 19th century. Followed up in the various dialects into

which that language has split, it shows such a thorough change from

dialect to dialect, that except as regards general outlines and

principles of inflexion, nothing would be more misleading than to draw

conclusions from apparent similarities between Gipsy, or any Gipsy

dialect, and any Indian language; especially as the Gipsies must have

been separated from the Indian races for a much longer period than has

elapsed since their arrival in Europe and since the formation of their

European dialects. It must also be borne in mind that the Indian

languages have also undergone profound changes of their own, under

influences totally different from those to which the Gipsy language has

been subjected. The problem would stand differently if by any chance an

ancient vocabulary were discovered representing the oldest form of the

common stock from which the European dialects have sprung; for there can

be no doubt of the unity of the language of the European Gipsies. The

question whether Gipsy stands close to Sanskrit or Prakrit, or shows

forms more akin to Hindi dialects, specially those of the North-West

frontier, or Dardestan and Kafiristan, to which may be added now the

dialects of the Pisaca language (Grierson, 1906), is affected by the

fact established by Fink that the dialect of the Armenian Gipsies shows

much closer resemblance to Prakrit than the language of the European

Gipsies, and that the dialects of Gipsy spoken throughout Syria and Asia

Minor differ profoundly in every respect from the European Gipsy, taken

as a whole spoken. The only explanation possible is that the European

Gipsy represents the first wave of the Westward movement of an Indian

tribe or caste which, dislocated at a certain period by political

disturbances, had travelled through Persia, making a very short stay

there, thence to Armenia staying there a little longer, and then

possibly to the Byzantine Empire at an indefinite period between 1100

and 1200; and that another clan had followed in their wake, passing

through Persia, settling in Armenia and then going farther down to

Syria, Egypt and North Africa. These two tribes though of a common

remote Indian origin must, however, be kept strictly apart from one

another in our investigation, for they stand to each other in the same

relation as they stand to the various dialects in India. The linguistic

proof of origin can therefore now not go further than to establish the

fact that the Gipsy language is in its very essence an originally Indian

dialect, enriched in its vocabulary from the languages of the peoples

among whom the Gipsies had sojourned, whilst in its grammatical

inflection it has slowly been modified, to such an extent that in some

cases, like the English or the Servian, barely a skeleton has remained.

Notwithstanding the statements to the contrary, a Gipsy from Greece or

Rumania could no longer understand a Gipsy of England or Germany, so

profound is the difference. But the words which have entered into the

Gipsy language, borrowed as they were from the Greeks, Hungarians,

Rumanians, &c., are not only an indication of the route taken--and this

is the only use that has hitherto been made of the vocabulary--but they

are of the highest importance for fixing the time when the Gipsies had

come in contact with these languages. The absence of Arabic is a

positive proof that not only did the Gipsies not come via Arabia (as

maintained by De Goeje) before they reached Europe, but that they could

not even have been living for any length of time in Persia after the

Mahommedan conquest, or at any rate that they could not have come in

contact with such elements of the population as had already adopted

Arabic in addition to Persian. But the form of the Persian words found

among European Gipsies, and similarly the form of the Armenian words

found in that language, are a clear indication that the Gipsies could

not have come in contact with these languages before Persian had assumed

its modern form and before Armenian had been changed from the old to the

modern form of language. Still more strong and clear is the evidence in

the case of the Greek and Rumanian words. If the Gipsies had lived in

Greece, as some contend, from very ancient times, some at least of the

old Greek words would be found in their language, and similarly the

Slavonic words would be of an archaic character, whilst on the contrary

we find medieval Byzantine forms, nay, modern Greek forms, among the

Gipsy vocabulary collected from Gipsies in Germany or Italy, England or

France; a proof positive that they could not have been in Europe much

earlier than the approximate date given above of the 11th or 12th

century. We then find from a grammatical point of view the same

deterioration, say among the English or Spanish Gipsies, as has been

noticed in the Gipsy dialect of Armenia. It is no longer Gipsy, but a

corrupt English or Spanish adapted to some remnants of Gipsy

inflections. The purest form has been preserved among the Greek Gipsies

and to a certain extent among the Rumanian. Notably through Miklosich's

researches and comparative studies, it is possible to follow the slow

change step by step and to prove, at any rate, that, as far as Europe is

concerned, the language of these Gipsies was one and the same, and that

it was slowly split up into a number of dialects (13 Miklosich, 14

Colocci) which shade off into one another, and which by their

transitional forms mark the way in which the Gipsies have travelled, as

also proved by historical evidence. The Welsh dialect, known by few, has

retained, through its isolation, some of the ancient forms.

_Religion, Habits and Customs._--Those who have lived among the Gipsies

will readily testify that their religious views are a strange medley of

the local faith, which they everywhere embrace, and some old-world

superstitions which they have in common with many nations. Among the

Greeks they belong to the Greek Church, among the Mahommedans they are

Mahommedans, in Rumania they belong to the National Church. In Hungary

they are mostly Catholics, according to the faith of the inhabitants of

that country. They have no ethical principles and they do not recognize

the obligations of the Ten Commandments. There is extreme moral laxity

in the relation of the two sexes, and on the whole they take life

easily, and are complete fatalists. At the same time they are great

cowards, and they play the role of the fool or the jester in the popular

anecdotes of eastern Europe. There the poltroon is always a Gipsy, but

he is good-humoured and not so malicious as those Gipsies who had

endured the hardships of outlawry in the west of Europe.

There is nothing specifically of an Oriental origin in their religious

vocabulary, and the words _Devla_ (God), _Bang_ (devil) or _Trushul_

(Cross), in spite of some remote similarity, must be taken as later

adaptations, and not as remnants of an old Sky-worship or

Serpent-worship. In general their beliefs, customs, tales, &c. belong to

the common stock of general folklore, and many of their symbolical

expressions find their exact counterpart in Rumanian and modern Greek,

and often read as if they were direct translations from these languages.

Although they love their children, it sometimes happens that a Gipsy

mother will hold her child by the legs and beat the father with it. In

Rumania and Turkey among the settled Gipsies a good number are carriers

and bricklayers; and the women take their full share in every kind of

work, no matter how hard it may be. The nomadic Gipsies carry on the

ancient craft of coppersmiths, or workers in metal; they also make

sieves and traps, but in the East they are seldom farriers or

horse-dealers. They are far-famed for their music, in which art they are

unsurpassed. The Gipsy musicians belong mostly to the class who

originally were serfs. They were retained at the courts of the boyars

for their special talent in reciting old ballads and love songs and

their deftness in playing, notably the guitar and the fiddle. The former

was used as an accompaniment to the singing of either love ditties and

popular songs or more especially in recital or heroic ballads and epic

songs; the latter for dances and other amusements. They were the

troubadours and minstrels of eastern Europe; the largest collection of

Rumanian popular ballads and songs was gathered by G. Dem. Teodorescu

from a Gipsy minstrel, Petre Sholkan; and not a few of the songs of the

guslars among the Servians and other Slavonic nations in the Balkans

come also from the Gipsies. They have also retained the ancient tunes

and airs, from the dreamy "doina" of the Rumanian to the fiery "czardas"

of the Hungarian or the stately "hora" of the Bulgarian. Liszt went so

far as to ascribe to the Gipsies the origin of the Hungarian national

music. This is an exaggeration, as seen by the comparison of the Gipsy

music in other parts of south-east Europe; but they undoubtedly have

given the most faithful expression to the national temperament. Equally

famous is the Gipsy woman for her knowledge of occult practices. She is

the real witch; she knows charms to injure the enemy or to help a

friend. She can break the charm if made by others. But neither in the

one case nor in the other, and in fact as little as in their songs, do

they use the Gipsy language. It is either the local language of the

natives as in the case of charms, or a slightly Romanized form of Greek,

Rumanian or Slavonic. The old Gipsy woman is also known for her skill in

palmistry and fortune-telling by means of a special set of cards, the

well-known Tarok of the Gipsies. They have also a large stock of fairy

tales resembling in each country the local fairy tales, in Greece

agreeing with the Greek, and in Rumania with the Rumanian fairy tales.

It is doubtful, however, whether they have contributed to the

dissemination of these tales throughout Europe, for a large number of

Gipsy tales can be shown to have been known in Europe long before the

appearance of the Gipsies, and others are so much like those of other

nations that the borrowing may be by the Gipsy from the Greek, Slav or

Rumanian. It is, however, possible that playing-cards might have been

introduced to Europe through the Gipsies. The oldest reference to cards

is found in the Chronicle of Nicolaus of Cavellazzo, who says that the

cards were first brought into Viterbo in 1379 from the land of the

Saracens, probably from Asia Minor or the Balkans. They spread very

quickly, but no one has been able as yet to trace definitely the source

whence they were first brought. Without entering here into the history

of the playing-cards and of the different forms of the faces and of the

symbolical meaning of the different designs, one may assume safely that

the cards, before they were used for mere pastime or for gambling, may

originally have had a mystical meaning and been used as _sortes_ in

various combinations. To this very day the oldest form is known by the

hitherto unexplained name of Tarock, played in Bologna at the beginning

of the 15th century and retained by the French under the form Tarot,

connected direct with the Gipsies, "Le Tarot des Bohemiens." It was

noted above that the oldest chronicler (Presbyter) who describes the

appearance of the Gipsies in 1416 in Germany knows them by their Italian

name "Cianos," so evidently he must have known of their existence in

Italy previous to any date recorded hitherto anywhere, and it is

therefore not impossible that coming from Italy they brought with them

also their book of divination.

_Physical Characteristics._--As a race they are of small stature varying

in colour from the dark tan of the Arab to the whitish hue of the

Servian and the Pole. In fact there are some white-coloured Gipsies,

especially in Servia and Dalmatia, and these are often not easily

distinguishable from the native peoples, except that they are more lithe

and sinewy, better proportioned and more agile in their movements than

the thick-set Slavs and the mixed race of the Rumanians. By one feature,

however, they are easily distinguishable and recognize one another, viz.

by the lustre of their eyes and the whiteness of their teeth. Some are

well built; others have the features of a mongrel race, due no doubt to

intermarriage with outcasts of other races. The women age very quickly

and the mortality among the Gipsies is great, especially among children;

among adults it is chiefly due to pulmonary diseases. They love display

and Oriental showiness, bright-coloured dresses, ornaments, bangles,

&c.; red and green are the colours mostly favoured by the Gipsies in the

East. Along with a showy handkerchief or some shining gold coins round

their necks, they will wear torn petticoats and no covering on their

feet. And even after they have been assimilated and have forgotten their

own language they still retain some of the prominent features of their

character, such as the love of inordinate display and gorgeous dress;

and their moral defects not only remain for a long time as glaring as

among those who live the life of vagrants, but even become more

pronounced. The Gipsy of to-day is no longer what his forefathers have

been. The assimilation with the nations in the near East and the steps

taken for the suppression of vagrancy in the West, combine to

denationalize the Gipsy and to make "Romani Chib" a thing of the past.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The scientific study of the Gipsy language and its

origin, as well as the critical history of the Gipsy race, dates (with

the notable exception of Grellmann) almost entirely from Pott's

researches in 1844.

I. _Collections of Documents, &c._--Lists of older publications

appeared in the books of Pott, Miklosich and the archduke Joseph; Pott

adds a critical appreciation of the scientific value of the books

enumerated. See also _Verzeichnis von Werken und Aufsatzen ... uber

die Geschichte und Sprache der Zigeuner, &c._, 248 entries (Leipzig,

1886); J. Tipray, "Adalekok a cziganyokrol szolo irodalomhoz," in

_Magyar Konyvszemle_ (Budapest, 1877); Ch. G. Leland, _A Collection of

Cuttings ... relating to Gypsies_ (1874-1891), bequeathed by him to

the British Museum. See also the _Orientalischer Jahresbericht_, ed.

Muller (Berlin, 1887 ff.).

II. _History._--(a) The first appearance of the Gipsies in Europe.

Sources: A. F. Oefelius, _Rerum Boicarum scriptores, &c._ (Augsburg,

1763); M. Freher, _Andreae Presbyteri ... chronicon de ducibus

Bavariae ..._ (1602); S. Munster, _Cosmographia ... &c._ (Basel,

1545); J. Thurmaier, _Annalium Boiorum libri septem_, ed. T. Zieglerus

(Ingolstad, 1554); M. Crusius, _Annales Suevici, &c._ (Frankfurt,

1595-1596), _Schwabische Chronik ..._ (Frankfurt, 1733); A. Krantz,

_Saxonia_ (Cologne, 1520); Simon Simeon, _Itineraria, &c._, ed. J.

Nasmith (Cambridge, 1778). (b) Origin and spread of the Gipsies: H. M.

G. Grellmann, _Die Zigeuner, &c._ (1st ed., Dessau and Leipzig, 1783;

2nd ed., Gottingen, 1787); English by M. Roper (London, 1787; 2nd ed.,

London, 1807), entitled _Dissertation on the Gipsies, &c._; Carl von

Heister, _Ethnographische ... Notizen uber die Zigeuner_ (Konigsberg,

1842), a third and greatly improved edition of Grellmann and the best

book of its kind up to that date; A. F. Pott, _Die Zigeuner in Europa

und Asien_ (2 vols., Halle, 1844-1845), the first scholarly work with

complete and critical bibliography, detailed grammar, etymological

dictionary and important texts; C. Hopf, _Die Einwanderung der

Zigeuner in Europa_ (Gotha, 1870); F. von Miklosich, "Beitrage zur

Kenntnis der Zigeuner-Mundarten," i.-iv., in _Sitzungsber. d. Wiener

Akad. d. Wissenschaften_ (Vienna, 1874-1878), "Uber die Mundarten und

die Wanderungen der Zigeuner Europas," i.-xii., in _Denkschriften d.

Wiener Akad. d. Wissenschaften_ (1872-1880); M. J. de Goeje, _Bijdrage

tot de geschiedenis der Zigeuners_ (Amsterdam, 1875), English

translation by MacRitchie, _Account of the Gipsies of India_ (London,

1886); Zedler, _Universal-Lexicon_, vol. lxii., s.v. "Zigeuner," pp.

520-544 containing a rich bibliography; many publications of P.

Bataillard from 1844 to 1885; A. Colocci, _Storia d' un popolo

errante_, with illustrations, map and Gipsy-Ital. and Ital.-Gipsy

glossaries (Turin, 1889); F. H. Groome, "The Gypsies," in E.

Magnusson, _National Life and Thought_ (1891), and art. "Gipsies" in

_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ (9th ed., 1879); C. Amero, _Bohemiens,

Tsiganes et Gypsies_ (Paris, 1895); M. Kogalnitschan, _Esquisse sur

l'histoire, les moeurs et la langue des Cigains_ (Berlin, 1837; German

trans., Stuttgart, 1840)--valuable more for the historical part than

for the linguistic; J. Czacki, _Dziela_, vol. iii. (1844-1845)--for

historic data about Gipsies in Poland; I. Kopernicki and J. Moyer,

_Charakterystyka fizyczna ludrosci galicyjskiej_ (1876)--for the

history and customs of Galician gipsies; _Ungarische statistische

Mitteilungen_, vol. ix. (Budapest, 1895), containing the best

statistical information on the Gipsies; V. Dittrich, A _nagy-idai

cziganyok_ (Budapest, 1898); T. H. Schwicker, "Die Zigeuner in Ungarn

u. Siebenburgen," in vol. xii. of _Die Volker Osterreich-Ungarns_

(Vienna, 1883), and in _Mitteilungen d. K. K. geographischen

Gesellschaft_ (Vienna, 1896); Dr J. Polek, _Die Zigeuner in der

Bukowina_ (Czernowitz, 1908); Ficker, "Die Zigeuner der Bukowina," in

_Statist. Monatschrift_, v. 6, _Hundert Jahre 1775-1875: Zigeuner in

d. Bukowina_ (Vienna, 1875), _Die Volkerstamme der osterr.-ungar.

Monarchie, &c._ (Vienna, 1869); V. S. Morwood, _Our Gipsies_ (London,

1885); D. MacRitchie, _Scottish Gypsies under the Stewarts_

(Edinburgh, 1894); F. A. Coelho, "Os Ciganos de Portugal," in _Bol.

Soc. Geog._ (Lisbon, 1892); A. Dumbarton, _Gypsy Life in the Mysore

Jungle_ (London, 1902).

III. _Linguistic._--[Armenia], F. N. Finck, "Die Sprache der

armenischen Zigeuner," in _Memoires de l'Acad. Imp. des Sciences_,

viii. (St Petersburg, 1907). [Austria-Hungary], R. von Sowa, _Die

Mundart der slovakischen Zigeuner_ (Gottingen, 1887), and _Die

mahrische Mundart der Romsprache_ (Vienna, 1893); A. J. Puchmayer,

_Romani Cib_ (Prague, 1821); P. Josef Jesina, _Romani Cib_ (in Czech,

1880; in German, 1886); G. Ihnatko, _Czigany nyelvtan_ (Losoncon,

1877); A. Kalina, _La Langue des Tsiganes slovaques_ (Posen, 1882);

the archduke Joseph, _Czigany nyelvtan_ (Budapest, 1888); H. von

Wlislocki, _Die Sprache der transsilvanischen Zigeuner_ (Leipzig,

1884). [Brazil], A. T. de Mello Moraes, _Os ciganos no Brazil_ (Rio de

Janeiro, 1886). [France, the Basques], A. Baudrimont, _Vocabulaire de

la langue des Bohemiens habitant les pays basques-francais_ (Bordeaux,

1862). [Germany], R. Pischel, _Beitrage zur Kenntnis der deutschen

Zigeuner_ (Halle, 1894); R. von Sowa, "Worterbuch des Dialekts der

deutschen Zigeuner," in _Abhandlungen f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes_,

xi. 1, very valuable (Leipzig, 1898); F. N. Finck, _Lehrbuch des

Dialekts der deutschen Zigeuner_--very valuable (Marburg, 1903).

[Great Britain, &c.], Ch. G. Leland, _The English Gipsies and their

Language_ (London and New York, 1873; 2nd ed., 1874), _The Gipsies of

Russia, Austria, England, America, &c._ (London, 1882)--the validity

of Leland's conclusions is often doubtful; B. C. Smart and H. J.

Crofton, _The Dialect of the English Gypsies_ (2nd ed., London, 1875);

G. Borrow, _Romano lavo-lil_ (London, 1874, 1905), _Lavengro_, ed. F.

H. Groome (London, 1899). [Rumania], B. Constantinescu, _Probe de

Limba si literatura Tiganilor din Romania_ (Bucharest, 1878). [Russia,

Bessarabia], O. Boethlingk, _Uber die Sprache der Zigeuner in

Russland_ (St Petersburg, 1852; supplement, 1854). [Russia, Caucasus],

K. Badganian, _Cygany. Neskoliko slovu o narecijahu zakavkazskihu

cyganu_ (St Petersburg, 1887); Istomin, _Ciganskij Jazyku_ (1900).

[Spain], G. H. Borrow, _The Zincali, or an Account of the Gipsies of

Spain_ (London, 1841, and numerous later editions); R. Campuzano,

_Origen ... de los Gitanos, y diccionario de su dialecto_ (2nd ed.,

Madrid, 1857); A. de C., _Diccionario del dialecto gitano, &c._

(Barcelona, 1851); M. de Sales y Guindale, _Historia, costumbres y

dialecto de los Gitanos_ (Madrid, 1870); M. de Sales, _El Gitanismo_

(Madrid, 1870); J. Tineo Rebolledo, _"A Chipicalli" la lengua gitana:

diccionario gitano-espanol_ (Granada, 1900). [Turkey], A. G. Paspati,

_Etudes sur les Tchinghianes, ou Bohemiens de l'empire ottoman_

(Constantinople, 1870), with grammar, vocabulary, tales and French

glossary; very important. [General], John Sampson, "Gypsy Language and

Origin," in _Journ. Gypsy Lore Soc._ vol. i. (2nd ser., Liverpool,

1907); J. A. Decourdemanche, _Grammaire du Tchingane, &c._ (Paris,

1908)--fantastic in some of its philology; F. Kluge, _Rotwelsche

Quellen_ (Strassburg, 1901); L. Gunther, _Das Rotwelsch des deutschen

Gauners_ (Leipzig, 1905), for the influence of Gipsy on argot; L.

Besses, _Diccionario de argot espanol_ (Barcelona); G. A. Grierson,

_The Pi'saca Languages of North-Western India_ (London, 1906), for

parallels in Indian dialects; G. Borrow, _Criscote e majaro Lucas ...

El evangelio segun S. Lucas ..._ (London, 1837; 2nd ed., 1872)--this

is the only complete translation of any one of the gospels into Gipsy.

For older fragments of such translations, see Pott ii. 464-521.

IV. _Folklore, Tales, Songs, &c._--Many songs and tales are found in

the books enumerated above, where they are mostly accompanied by

literal translations. See also Ch. G. Leland, E. H. Palmer and T.

Tuckey, _English Gipsy Songs in Romany, with Metrical English

Translation_ (London, 1875); G. Smith, _Gipsy Life, &c._ (London,

1880); M. Rosenfeld, _Lieder der Zigeuner_ (1882); Ch. G. Leland, _The

Gypsies_ (Boston, Mass., 1882), _Gypsy Sorcery and Fortune-Telling_

(London, 1891); H. von Wlislocki, _Marchen und Sagen der

transsilvanischen Zigeuner_ (Berlin, 1886)--containing 63 tales, very

freely translated; _Volksdichtungen der siebenburgischen und

sudungarischen Zigeuner_ (Vienna, 1890)--songs, ballads, charms,

proverbs and 100 tales; _Vom wandernden Zigeunervolke_ (Hamburg,

1890); _Wesen und Wirkungskreis der Zauberfrauen bei den

siebenburgischen Zigeuner_ (1891); "Aus dem inneren Leben der

Zigeuner," in _Ethnologische Mitteilungen_ (Berlin, 1892); R. Pischel,

_Bericht uber Wlislocki vom wandernden Zigeunervolke_ (Gottingen,

1890)--a strong criticism of Wlislocki's method, &c.; F. H. Groome,

_Gypsy Folk-Tales_ (London, 1899), with historical introduction and a

complete and trustworthy collection of 76 gipsy tales from many

countries; Katada, _Contes gitanos_ (Logrono, 1907); M. Gaster,

_Zigeunermarchen aus Rumanien_ (1881); "Tiganii, &c.," in _Revista

pentru Istorie, &c._, i. p. 469 ff. (Bucharest, 1883); "Gypsy

Fairy-Tales" in _Folklore_. The _Journal of the Gipsy-Lore Society_

(Edinburgh, 1888-1892) was revived in Liverpool in 1907.

V. _Legal Status._--A few of the books in which the legal status of

the Gipsies (either alone or in conjunction with "vagrants") is

treated from a juridical point of view are here mentioned, also the

history of the trial in 1726. J. B. Weissenbruch, _Ausfuhrliche

Relation von der famosen Zigeuner-Diebes-Mord und Rauber_ (Frankfurt

and Leipzig, 1727); A. Ch. Thomasius, _Tractatio juridica de

vagabundo, &c._ (Leipzig, 1731); F. Ch. B. Ave-Lallemant, _Das

deutsche Gaunertum, &c._ (Leipzig, 1858-1862); V. de Rochas, _Les

Parias de France et d'Espagne_ (Paris, 1876); P. Chuchul, _Zum Kampfe

gegen Landstreicher und Bettler_ (Kassel, 1881); R. Breithaupt, _Die

Zigeuner und der deutsche Staat_ (Wurzburg, 1907); G. Steinhausen,

_Geschichte der deutschen Kultur_ (Leipzig and Vienna, 1904).

(M. G.)

GIRAFFE, a corruption of _Zarafah_, the Arabic name for the tallest of

all mammals, and the typical representative of the family _Giraffidae_,

the distinctive characters of which are given in the article PECORA,

where the systematic position of the group is indicated. The classic

term "camelopard," probably introduced when these animals were brought

from North Africa to the Roman amphitheatre, has fallen into complete

disuse.

In common with the okapi, giraffes have skin-covered horns on the head,

but in these animals, which form the genus _Giraffa_, these appendages

are present in both sexes; and there is often an unpaired one in advance

of the pair on the forehead. Among other characteristics of these

animals may be noticed the great length of the neck and limbs, the

complete absence of lateral toes and the long and tufted tail. The

tongue is remarkable for its great length, measuring about 17 in. in the

dead animal, and for its great elasticity and power of muscular

contraction while living. It is covered with numerous large papillae,

and forms, like the trunk of the elephant, an admirable organ for the

examination and prehension of food. Giraffes are inhabitants of open

country, and owing to their length of neck and long flexible tongues are

enabled to browse on tall trees, mimosas being favourites. To drink or

graze they are obliged to straddle the fore-legs apart; but they seldom

feed on grass and are capable of going long without water. When standing

among mimosas they so harmonize with their surroundings that they are

difficult of detection. Formerly giraffes were found in large herds, but

persecution has reduced their number and led to their extermination from

many districts. Although in late Tertiary times widely spread over

southern Europe and India, giraffes are now confined to Africa south of

the Sahara.

Apart from the distinct Somali giraffe (_Giraffa reticulata_),

characterized by its deep liver-red colour marked with a very coarse

network of fine white lines, there are numerous local forms of the

ordinary giraffe (_Giraffa camelopardalis_). The northern races, such as

the Nubian _G. c. typica_ and the Kordofan _G. c. antiquorum_, are

characterized by the large frontal horn of the bulls, the white legs,

the network type of coloration and the pale tint. The latter feature is

specially developed in the Nigerian _G. c. peralta_, which is likewise

of the northern type. The Baringo _G. c. rothschildi_ also has a large

frontal horn and white legs, but the spots in the bulls are very dark

and those of the females jagged. In the Kilimanjaro _G. c.

tippelskirchi_ the frontal horn is often developed in the bulls, but

the legs are frequently spotted to the fetlocks. Farther south the

frontal horn tends to disappear more or less completely, as in the

Angola _G. c. angolensis_, the Transvaal _G. c. wardi_ and the Cape _G.

c. capensis_, while the legs are fully spotted and the colour-pattern on

the body (especially in the last-named) is more of a blotched type, that

is to say, consists of dark blotches on a fawn ground, instead of a

network of light lines on a dark ground.

[Illustration: The North African or Nubian Giraffe (_Giraffa

camelopardalis_).]

For details, see a paper on the subspecies of _Giraffa

camelopardalis_, by R. Lydekker in the _Proceedings of the Zoological

Society of London_ for 1904. (R. L.*)

GIRALDI, GIGLIO GREGORIO [LILIUS GREGORIUS GYRALDUS] (1479-1552),

Italian scholar and poet, was born on the 14th of June 1479, at Ferrara,

where he early distinguished himself by his talents and acquirements. On

the completion of his literary course he removed to Naples, where he

lived on familiar terms with Jovianus Pontanus and Sannazaro; and

subsequently to Lombardy, where he enjoyed the favour of the Mirandola

family. At Milan in 1507 he studied Greek under Chalcondylas; and

shortly afterwards, at Modena, he became tutor to Ercole (afterwards

Cardinal) Rangone. About the year 1514 he removed to Rome, where, under

Clement VII., he held the office of apostolic protonotary; but having in

the sack of that city (1527), which almost coincided with the death of

his patron Cardinal Rangone, lost all his property, he returned in

poverty once more to Mirandola, whence again he was driven by the

troubles consequent on the assassination of the reigning prince in 1533.

The rest of his life was one long struggle with ill-health, poverty and

neglect; and he is alluded to with sorrowful regret by Montaigne in one

of his _Essais_ (i. 34), as having, like Sebastian Castalio, ended his

days in utter destitution. He died at Ferrara in February 1552; and his

epitaph makes touching and graceful allusion to the sadness of his end.

Giraldi was a man of very extensive erudition; and numerous testimonies

to his profundity and accuracy have been given both by contemporary and

by later scholars. His _Historia de diis gentium_ marked a distinctly

forward step in the systematic study of classical mythology; and by his

treatises _De annis et mensibus_, and on the _Calendarium Romanum et

Graecum_, he contributed to bring about the reform of the calendar,

which was ultimately effected by Pope Gregory XIII. His _Progymnasma

adversus literas et literatos_ deserves mention at least among the

curiosities of literature; and among his other works to which reference

is still occasionally made are _Historiae poetarum Graecorum ac

Latinorum_; _De poetis suorum temporum_; and _De sepultura ac vario

sepeliendi ritu_. Giraldi was also an elegant Latin poet.

His _Opera omnia_ were published at Leiden in 1696.

GIRALDI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1504-1573), surnamed CYNTHIUS, CINTHIO or

CINTIO, Italian novelist and poet, born at Ferrara in November 1504, was

educated at the university of his native town, where in 1525 he became

professor of natural philosophy, and, twelve years afterwards, succeeded

Celio Calcagnini in the chair of belles-lettres. Between 1542 and 1560

he acted as private secretary, first to Ercole II. and afterwards to

Alphonso II. of Este; but having, in connexion with a literary quarrel

in which he had got involved, lost the favour of his patron in the

latter year, he removed to Mondovi, where he remained as a teacher of

literature till 1568. Subsequently, on the invitation of the senate of

Milan, he occupied the chair of rhetoric at Pavia till 1573, when, in

search of health, he returned to his native town, where on the 30th of

December he died. Besides an epic entitled _Ercole_ (1557), in

twenty-six cantos, Giraldi wrote nine tragedies, the best known of

which, _Orbecche_, was produced in 1541. The sanguinary and disgusting

character of the plot of this play, and the general poverty of its

style, are, in the opinion of many of its critics, almost fully redeemed

by occasional bursts of genuine and impassioned poetry; of one scene in

the third act in particular it has even been affirmed that, if it alone

were sufficient to decide the question, the _Orbecche_ would be the

finest play in the world. Of the prose works of Giraldi the most

important is the _Hecatommithi_ or _Ecatomiti_, a collection of tales

told somewhat after the manner of Boccaccio, but still more closely

resembling the novels of Giraldi's contemporary Bandello, only much

inferior in workmanship to the productions of either author in vigour,

liveliness and local colour. Something, but not much, however, may be

said in favour of their professed claim to represent a higher standard

of morality. Originally published at Monteregale, Sicily, in 1565, they

were frequently reprinted in Italy, while a French translation by

Chappuys appeared in 1583 and one in Spanish in 1590. They have a

peculiar interest to students of English literature, as having

furnished, whether directly or indirectly, the plots of _Measure for

Measure_ and _Othello_. That of the latter, which is to be found in the

_Hecatommithi_ (iii. 7), is conjectured to have reached Shakespeare

through the French translation; while that of the former (_Hecat._ viii.

5) is probably to be traced to Whetstone's _Promos and Cassandra_

(1578), an adaptation of Cinthio's story, and to his _Heptamerone_

(1582), which contains a direct English translation. To Giraldi also

must be attributed the plot of Beaumont and Fletcher's _Custom of the

Country_.

GIRALDUS CAMBRENSIS (1146?-1220), medieval historian, also called GERALD

DE BARRI, was born in Pembrokeshire. He was the son of William de Barri

and Augharat, a daughter of Gerald, the ancestors of the Fitzgeralds and

the Welsh princess, Nesta, formerly mistress of King Henry I. Falling

under the influence of his uncle, David Fitzgerald, bishop of St

David's, he determined to enter the church. He studied at Paris, and his

works show that he had applied himself closely to the study of the Latin

poets. In 1172 he was appointed to collect tithe in Wales, and showed

such vigour that he was made archdeacon. In 1176 an attempt was made to

elect him bishop of St David's, but Henry II. was unwilling to see any

one with powerful native connexions a bishop in Wales. In 1180, after

another visit to Paris, he was appointed commissiary to the bishop of St

David's, who had ceased to reside. But Giraldus threw up his post,

indignant at the indifference of the bishop to the welfare of his see.

In 1184 he was made one of the king's chaplains, and was elected to

accompany Prince John on his voyage to Ireland. While there he wrote a

_Topographia Hibernica_, which is full of information, and a strongly

prejudiced history of the conquest, the _Expugnatio Hibernica_. In 1186

he read his work with great applause before the masters and scholars of

Oxford. In 1188 he was sent into Wales with the primate Baldwin to

preach the Third Crusade. Giraldus declares that the mission was highly

successful; in any case it gave him the material for his _Itinerarium

Cambrense_, which is, after the _Expugnatio_, his best known work. He

accompanied the archbishop, who intended him to be the historian of the

Crusade, to the continent, with the intention of going to the Holy Land.

But in 1189 he was sent back to Wales by the king, who knew his

influence was great, to keep order among his countrymen. Soon after he

was absolved from his crusading vow. According to his own statements,

which often tend to exaggeration, he was offered both the sees of Bangor

and Llandaff, but refused them. From 1192 to 1198 he lived in retirement

at Lincoln and devoted himself to literature. It is probably during this

period that he wrote the _Gemma ecclesiastica_ (discussing disputed

points of doctrine, ritual, &c.) and the _Vita S. Remigii_. In 1198 he

was elected bishop of St David's. But Hubert Walter, the archbishop of

Canterbury, was determined to have in that position no Welshman who

would dispute the metropolitan pretensions of the English primates. The

king, for political reasons, supported Hubert Walter. For four years

Giraldus exerted himself to get his election confirmed, and to vindicate

the independence of St David's from Canterbury. He went three times to

Rome. He wrote the _De jure Meneviensis ecclesiae_ in support of the

claims of his diocese. He made alliances with the princes of North and

South Wales. He called a general synod of his diocese. He was accused of

stirring up rebellion among the Welsh, and the justiciar proceeded

against him. At length in 1202 the pope annulled all previous elections,

and ordered a new one. The prior of Llanthony was finally elected.

Gerald was immediately reconciled to the king and archbishop; the utmost

favour was shown to him; even the expenses of his unsuccessful election

were paid. He spent the rest of his life in retirement, though there was

some talk of his being made a cardinal. He certainly survived John.

The works of Giraldus are partly polemical and partly historical. His

value as a historian is marred by his violent party spirit; some of his

historical tracts, such as the _Liber de instructione principum_ and the

_Vita Galfridi Archiepiscopi Eborecensis_, seem to have been designed as

political pamphlets. Henry II., Hubert Walter and William Longchamp, the

chancellor of Richard I., are the objects of his worst invectives. His

own pretensions to the see of St David are the motive of many of his

misrepresentations. But he is one of the most vivid and witty of our

medieval historians.

See the Rolls edition of his works, ed. J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and

G. F. Warner in 8 vols. (London, 1861-1891), some of which have

valuable introductions.

GIRANDOLE (from the Ital. _girandola_), an ornamental branched

candlestick of several lights. It came into use about the second half of

the 17th century, and was commonly made and used in pairs. It has always

been, comparatively speaking, a luxurious appliance for lighting, and in

the great 18th-century period of French house decoration the famous

_ciseleurs_ designed some exceedingly beautiful examples. A great

variety of metals has been used for the purpose--sometimes, as in the

case of the candlestick, girandoles have been made in hard woods. Gilded

bronze has been a very frequent medium, but for table purposes silver is

still the favourite material.

GIRARD, JEAN BAPTISTE [known as "Le Pere Girard" or "Le Pere Gregoire"]

(1765-1850), French-Swiss educationalist, was born at Fribourg and

educated for the priesthood at Lucerne. He was the fifth child in a

family of fourteen, and his gift for teaching was early shown at home in

helping his mother with the younger children; and after passing through

his noviciate he spent some time as an instructor in convents, notably

at Wurzburg (1785-1788). Then for ten years he was busy with religious

duty. In 1798, full of Kantian ideas, he published an essay outlining a

scheme of national Swiss education; and in 1804 he began his career as a

public teacher, first in the elementary school at Fribourg (1805-1823),

then (being driven away by Jesuit hostility) in the gymnasium at Lucerne

till 1834, when he retired to Fribourg and devoted himself with the

production of his books on education, _De l'enseignement regulier de la

langue maternelle_ (1834, 9th ed. 1894; Eng. trans. by Lord Ebrington,

_The Mother Tongue_, 1847), and _Cours educatif_ (1844-1846). Father

Girard's reputation and influence as an enthusiast in the cause of

education became potent not only in Switzerland, where he was hailed as

a second Pestalozzi, but in other countries. He had a genius for

teaching, his method of stimulating the intelligence of the children at

Fribourg and interesting them actively in learning, and not merely

cramming them with rules and facts, being warmly praised by the Swiss

educationalist Francois Naville (1784-1846) in his treatise on public

education (1832). His undogmatic method and his Liberal Christianity

brought him into conflict with the Jesuits, but his aim was, in all his

teaching, to introduce the moral idea into the minds of his pupils by

familiarizing them with the right or wrong working of the facts he

brought to their attention, and thus to elevate character all through

the educational curriculum.

GIRARD, PHILIPPE HENRI DE (1775-1845), French mechanician, was born at

Lourmarin, Vaucluse, on the 1st of February 1775. He is chiefly known in

connexion with flax-spinning machinery. Napoleon having in 1810 decreed

a reward of one million francs to the inventor of the best machine for

spinning flax, Girard succeeded in producing what was required. But he

never received the promised reward, although in 1853, after his death, a

comparatively small pension was voted to his heirs, and having relied on

the money to pay the expenses of his invention he got into serious

financial difficulties. He was obliged, in 1815, to abandon the flax

mills he had established in France, and at the invitation of the emperor

of Austria founded a flax mill and a factory for his machines at

Hirtenberg. In 1825, at the invitation of the emperor Alexander I. of

Russia, he went to Poland, and erected near Warsaw a flax manufactory,

round which grew up a village which received the name of Girardow. In

1818 he built a steamer to run on the Danube. He did not return to Paris

till 1844, where he still found some of his old creditors ready to press

their claims, and he died in that city on the 26th of August 1845. He

was also the author of numerous minor inventions.

GIRARD, STEPHEN (1750-1831), American financier and philanthropist,

founder of Girard College in Philadelphia, was born in a suburb of

Bordeaux, France, on the 20th of May 1750. He lost the sight of his

right eye at the age of eight and had little education. His father was a

sea captain, and the son cruised to the West Indies and back during

1764-1773, was licensed captain in 1773, visited New York in 1774, and

thence with the assistance of a New York merchant began to trade to and

from New Orleans and Port au Prince. In May 1776 he was driven into the

port of Philadelphia by a British fleet and settled there as a merchant;

in June of the next year he married Mary (Polly) Lum, daughter of a

shipbuilder, who, two years later, after Girard's becoming a citizen of

Pennsylvania (1778), built for him the "Water Witch," the first of a

fleet trading with New Orleans and the West Indies--most of Girard's

ships being named after his favourite French authors, such as

"Rousseau," "Voltaire," "Helvetius" and "Montesquieu." His beautiful

young wife became insane and spent the years from 1790 to her death in

1815 in the Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1810 Girard used about a million

dollars deposited by him with the Barings of London for the purchase of

shares of the much depreciated stock of the Bank of the United States--a

purchase of great assistance to the United States government in

bolstering European confidence in its securities. When the Bank was not

rechartered the building and the cashier's house in Philadelphia were

purchased at a third of the original cost by Girard, who in May 1812

established the Bank of Stephen Girard. He subscribed in 1814 for about

95% of the government's war loan of $5,000,000, of which only $20,000

besides had been taken, and he generously offered at par shares which

upon his purchase had gone to a premium. He pursued his business

vigorously in person until the 12th of February 1830, when he was

injured in the street by a truck; he died on the 26th of December 1831.

His public spirit had been shown during his life not only financially

but personally; in 1793, during the plague of yellow fever in

Philadelphia, he volunteered to act as manager of the wretched hospital

at Bush Hill, and with the assistance of Peter Helm had the hospital

cleansed and its work systematized; again during the yellow fever

epidemic of 1797-1798 he took the lead in relieving the poor and caring

for the sick. Even more was his philanthropy shown in his disposition by

will of his estate, which was valued at about $7,500,000, and doubtless

the greatest fortune accumulated by any individual in America up to that

time. Of his fortune he bequeathed $116,000 to various Philadelphia

charities, $500,000 to the same city for the improvement of the Delaware

water front, $300,000 to Pennsylvania for internal improvements, and the

bulk of his estate to Philadelphia, to be used in founding a school or

college, in providing a better police system, and in making municipal

improvements and lessening taxation. Most of his bequest to the city was

to be used for building and maintaining a school "to provide for such a

number of poor male white orphan children ... a better education as well

as a more comfortable maintenance than they usually receive from the

application of the public funds." His will planned most minutely for the

erection of this school, giving details as to the windows, doors, walls,

&c.; and it contained the following phrase: "I enjoin and require that

no ecclesiastic, missionary or minister of any sect whatsoever, shall

ever hold or exercise any duty whatsoever in the said college; nor shall

any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor,

within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college....

I desire to keep the tender minds of orphans ... free from the

excitements which clashing doctrines and sectarian controversy are so

apt to produce." Girard's heirs-at-law contested the will in 1836, and

they were greatly helped by a public prejudice aroused by the clause

cited; in the Supreme Court of the United States in 1844 Daniel Webster,

appearing for the heirs, made a famous plea for the Christian religion,

but Justice Joseph Story handed down an opinion adverse to the heirs

(_Vidals_ v. _Girard's Executors_). Webster was opposed in this suit by

John Sergeant and Horace Binney. Girard specified that those admitted to

the college must be white male orphans, of legitimate birth and good

character, between the ages of six and ten; that no boy was to be

permitted to stay after his eighteenth year; and that as regards

admissions preference was to be shown, first to orphans born in

Philadelphia, second to orphans born in any other part of Pennsylvania,

third to orphans born in New York City, and fourth to orphans born in

New Orleans. Work upon the buildings was begun in 1833, and the college

was opened on the 1st of January 1848, a technical point of law making

instruction conditioned upon the completion of the five buildings, of

which the principal one, planned by Thomas Ustick Walter (1804-1887),

has been called "the most perfect Greek temple in existence." To a

sarcophagus in this main building the remains of Stephen Girard were

removed in 1851. In the 40 acres of the college grounds there were in

1909 18 buildings (valued at $3,350,000), 1513 pupils, and a total

"population," including students, teachers and all employes, of 1907.

The value of the Girard estate in the year 1907 was $35,000,000, of

which $550,000 was devoted to other charities than Girard College. The

control of the college was under a board chosen by the city councils

until 1869, when by act of the legislature it was transferred to

trustees appointed by the Common Pleas judges of the city of

Philadelphia. The course of training is partly industrial--for a long

time graduates were indentured till they came of age--but it is also

preparatory to college entrance.

See H. A. Ingram, _The Life and Character of Stephen Girard_

(Philadelphia, 1884), and George P. Rupp, "Stephen Girard--Merchant

and Mariner," in _1848-1898: Semi-Centennial of Girard College_

(Philadelphia, 1898).

GIRARDIN, DELPHINE DE (1804-1855), French author, was born at

Aix-la-Chapelle on the 26th of January 1804. Her mother, the well-known

Madame Sophie Gay, brought her up in the midst of a brilliant literary

society. She published two volumes of miscellaneous pieces, _Essais

poetiques_ (1824) and _Nouveaux Essais poetiques_ (1825). A visit to

Italy in 1827, during which she was enthusiastically welcomed by the

literati of Rome and even crowned in the capitol, was productive of

various poems, of which the most ambitious was _Napoline_ (1833). Her

marriage in 1831 to Emile de Girardin (see below) opened up a new

literary career. The contemporary sketches which she contributed from

1836 to 1839 to the feuilleton of _La Presse_, under the _nom de plume_

of Charles de Launay, were collected under the title of _Lettres

parisiennes_ (1843), and obtained a brilliant success. _Contes d'une

vieille fille a ses neveux_ (1832), _La Canne de Monsieur de Balzac_

(1836) and _Il ne faut pas jouer avec la douleur_ (1853) are among the

best-known of her romances; and her dramatic pieces in prose and verse

include _L'Ecole des journalistes_ (1840), _Judith_ (1843), _Cleopatre_

(1847), _Lady Tartufe_ (1853), and the one-act comedies, _C'est la faute

du mari_ (1851), _La Joie fait peur_ (1854), _Le Chapeau d'un horloger_

(1854) and _Une Femme qui deteste son mari_, which did not appear till

after the author's death. In the literary society of her time Madame

Girardin exercised no small personal influence, and among the

frequenters of her drawing-room were Theophile Gautier and Balzac,

Alfred de Musset and Victor Hugo. She died on the 29th of June 1855. Her

collected works were published in six volumes (1860-1861).

See Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du lundi_, t. iii.; G. de Molenes, "Les

Femmes poetes," in _Revue des deux mondes_ (July 1842); Taxile Delord,

_Les Matinees litteraires_ (1860); _L'Esprit de Madame Girardin, avec

une preface par M. Lamartine_ (1862); G. d'Heilly, _Madame de

Girardin, sa vie et ses oeuvres_ (1868); Imbert de Saint Amand, _Mme

de Girardin_ (1875).

GIRARDIN, EMILE DE (1802-1881), French publicist, was born, not in

Switzerland in 1806 of unknown parents, but (as was recognized in 1837)

in Paris in 1802, the son of General Alexandre de Girardin and of Madame

Dupuy, wife of a Parisian advocate. His first publication was a novel,

_Emile_, dealing with his birth and early life, and appeared under the

name of Girardin in 1827. He became inspector of fine arts under the

Martignac ministry just before the revolution of 1830, and was an

energetic and passionate journalist. Besides his work on the daily press

he issued miscellaneous publications which attained an enormous

circulation. His _Journal des connaissances utiles_ had 120,000

subscribers, and the initial edition of his _Almanach de France_ (1834)

ran to a million copies. In 1836 he inaugurated cheap journalism in a

popular Conservative organ, _La Presse_, the subscription to which was

only forty francs a year. This undertaking involved him in a duel with

Armand Carrel, the fatal result of which made him refuse satisfaction to

later opponents. In 1839 he was excluded from the Chamber of Deputies,

to which he had been four times elected, on the plea of his foreign

birth, but was admitted in 1842. He resigned early in February 1847, and

on the 24th of February 1848 sent a note to Louis Philippe demanding his

resignation and the regency of the duchess of Orleans. In the

Legislative Assembly he voted with the Mountain. He pressed eagerly in

his paper for the election of Prince Louis Napoleon, of whom he

afterwards became one of the most violent opponents. In 1856 he sold _La

Presse_, only to resume it in 1862, but its vogue was over, and Girardin

started a new journal, _La Liberte_, the sale of which was forbidden in

the public streets. He supported Emile Ollivier and the Liberal Empire,

but plunged into vehement journalism again to advocate war against

Prussia. Of his many subsequent enterprises the most successful was the

purchase of _Le Petit Journal_, which served to advocate the policy of

Thiers, though he himself did not contribute. The crisis of the 16th of

May 1877, when Jules Simon fell from power, made him resume his pen to

attack MacMahon and the party of reaction in _La France_ and in _Le

Petit Journal_. Emile de Girardin married in 1831 Delphine Gay (see

above), and after her death in 1855 Guillemette Josephine Brunold,

countess von Tieffenbach, widow of Prince Frederick of Nassau. He was

divorced from his second wife in 1872.

The long list of his social and political writings includes: _De la

presse periodique au XIX^e, siecle_ (1837); _De l'instruction

publique_ (1838); _Etudes politiques_ (1838); _De la liberte de la

presse et du journalisme_ (1842); _Le Droit au travail au Luxembourg

et a l'Assemblee Nationale_ (2 vols., 1848); _Les Cinquante-deux_

(1849, &c.), a series of articles on current parliamentary questions;

_La Politique universelle, decrets de l'avenir_ (Brussels, 1852); _Le

Condamne du 6 mars_ (1867), an account of his own differences with the

government in 1867 when he was fined 5000 fr. for an article in _La

Liberte; Le Dossier de la guerre_ (1877), a collection of official

documents; _Questions de mon temps, 1836 a 1856_, articles extracted

from the daily and weekly press (12 vols., 1858).

GIRARDON, FRANCOIS (1628-1715), French sculptor, was born at Troyes on

the 17th of March 1628. As a boy he had for master a joiner and

wood-carver of his native town, named Baudesson, under whom he is said

to have worked at the chateau of Liebault, where he attracted the notice

of Chancellor Seguier. By the chancellor's influence Girardon was first

removed to Paris and placed in the studio of Francois Anguier, and

afterwards sent to Rome. In 1652 he was back in France, and seems at

once to have addressed himself with something like ignoble subserviency

to the task of conciliating the court painter Charles Le Brun. Girardon

is reported to have declared himself incapable of composing a group,

whether with truth or from motives of policy it is impossible to say.

This much is certain, that a very large proportion of his work was

carried out from designs by Le Brun, and shows the merits and defects of

Le Brun's manner--a great command of ceremonial pomp in presenting his

subject, coupled with a large treatment of forms which if it were more

expressive might be imposing. The court which Girardon paid to the

"premier peintre du roi" was rewarded. An immense quantity of work at

Versailles was entrusted to him, and in recognition of the successful

execution of four figures for the Bains d'Apollon, Le Brun induced the

king to present his protege personally with a purse of 300 louis, as a

distinguishing mark of royal favour. In 1650 Girardon was made member of

the Academy, in 1659 professor, in 1674 "adjoint au recteur," and

finally in 1695 chancellor. Five years before (1690), on the death of Le

Brun, he had also been appointed "inspecteur general des ouvrages de

sculpture"--a place of power and profit. In 1699 he completed the bronze

equestrian statue of Louis XIV., erected by the town of Paris on the

Place Louis le Grand. This statue was melted down during the Revolution,

and is known to us only by a small bronze model (Louvre) finished by

Girardon himself. His Tomb of Richelieu (church of the Sorbonne) was

saved from destruction by Alexandre Lenoir, who received a bayonet

thrust in protecting the head of the cardinal from mutilation. It is a

capital example of Girardon's work, and the theatrical pomp of its style

is typical of the funeral sculpture of the reigns of Louis XIV. and

Louis XV.; but amongst other important specimens yet remaining may also

be cited the Tomb of Louvois (St Eustache), that of Bignon, the king's

librarian, executed in 1656 (St Nicolas du Chardonneret), and decorative

sculptures in the Galerie d'Apollon and Chambre du roi in the Louvre.

Mention should not be omitted of the group, signed and dated 1699, "The

Rape of Proserpine" at Versailles, which also contains the "Bull of

Apollo." Although chiefly occupied at Paris Girardon never forgot his

native Troyes, the museum of which town contains some of his best works,

including the marble busts of Louis XIV. and Maria Theresa. In the hotel

de ville is still shown a medallion of Louis XIV., and in the church of

St Remy a bronze crucifix of some importance--both works by his hand. He

died in Paris in 1715.

See Corrard de Breban, _Notice sur la vie et les oeuvres de Girardon_

(1850).

GIRART DE ROUSSILLON, an epic figure of the Carolingian cycle of

romance. In the genealogy of romance he is a son of Doon de Mayence, and

he appears in different and irreconcilable circumstances in many of the

_chansons de geste_. The legend of Girart de Roussillon is contained in

a _Vita Girardi de Roussillon_ (ed. P. Meyer, in _Romania_, 1878),

dating from the beginning of the 12th century and written probably by a

monk of the abbey of Pothieres or of Vezelai, both of which were founded

in 860 by Girart; in _Girart de Roussillon, a chanson de geste_ written

early in the 12th century in a dialect midway between French and

Provencal, and apparently based on an earlier Burgundian poem; in a 14th

century romance in alexandrines (ed. T. J. A. P. Mignard, Paris and

Dijon, 1878); and in a prose romance by Jehan Wauquelin in 1447 (ed. L.

de Montille, Paris, 1880). The historical Girard, son of Leuthard and

Grimildis, was a Burgundian chief who was count of Paris in 837, and

embraced the cause of Lothair against Charles the Bald. He fought at

Fontenay in 841, and doubtless followed Lothair to Aix. In 855 he became

governor of Provence for Lothair's son Charles, king of Provence (d.

863). His wife Bertha defended Vienne unsuccessfully against Charles the

Bald in 870, and Girard, who had perhaps aspired to be the titular ruler

of the northern part of Provence, which he had continued to administer

under Lothair II. until that prince's death in 869, retired with his

wife to Avignon, where he died probably in 877, certainly before 879.

The tradition of his piety, of the heroism of his wife Bertha, and of

his wars with Charles passed into romance; but the historical facts are

so distorted that in _Girart de Roussillon_ the _trouvere_ makes him the

opponent of Charles Martel, to whom he stands in the relation of

brother-in-law. He is nowhere described in authentic historic sources as

of Roussillon. The title is derived from his castle built on Mount

Lassois, near Chatillon-sur-Seine. Southern traditions concerning Count

Girart, in which he is made the son of Garin de Monglane, are embodied

in _Girart de Viane_ (13th century) by Bertrand de Bar-sur-l'Aube, and

in the _Aspramonte_ of Andrea da Barberino, based on the French _chanson

of Aspremont_, where he figures as Girart de Frete or de Fratte.[1]

_Girart de Viane_ is the recital of a siege of Vienne by Charlemagne,

and in _Aspramonte_ Girart de Fratte leads an army of infidels against

Charlemagne. _Girart de Roussillon_ was long held to be of Provencal

origin, and to be a proof of the existence of an independent Provencal

epic, but its Burgundian origin may be taken as proved.

See F. Michel, _Gerard de Rossillon ... publie en francais et en

provencal d'apres les MSS. de Paris et de Londres_ (Paris, 1856); P.

Meyer, _Girart de Roussillon_ (1884), a translation in modern French

with a comprehensive introduction. For _Girart de Viane_ (ed. P.

Tarbe, Reims, 1850) see L. Gautier, _Epopees francaises_, vol. iv.; F.

A. Wulff, _Notice sur les sagas de Magus et de Geirard_ (Lund, 1874).