THE WILD SCOTS & PICTS OF GALLOWAY (Gipsies) & THE EGYPTIANS ACT 1530
In reciting the victories of the Roman general Theodosius, Claudian saysâ
âIlle leves Mauros, nec falso nomine Pictos Edomuitââ
Now, when Claudian wrote, and for a long time after, Maurus signified a great deal more than âa native of Mauritaniaâ
Any Latin dictionary,âany old one, at least,âwill tell you that Maurus is âa moor,â a âblackamoor,â or âa tawny-moorâ
And Shakespeare uses the word "moorâ as a synonym for "negroâ
As that last word bears nowadays a somewhat restricted meaning, it may be better to take the old-fashioned âblackamoorâ as the nearest English rendering of Maurus, signifying thereby any black or brown skinned manâŠ
Consequently, the translation of Claudianâs line is thisâ
âHe subdued the nimble blackamoors, not wrongly named âthe painted peopleâ
Claudian's lines have revealed to us that the historical Picti of Britain were, ethnologically, Mauri: being Picti only by customâŠ
Therefore the Picts of Galloway were the Moors of GallowayâŠ
âSince we see that the people known to us specially as âPictsâ (the Picti of Claudian) were of black complexion, it becomes a question wether their chief alliesâthe Early Scotsâwere not of a kindred hueâ
This seems to be distinctly pointed out by Gildas, when he chronicles the arrival of âa duskish swarm of vermin, or hideous crew of Scots and Picts, somewhat different in manners, but all alike thirsting bloodâ
The precise words used by the monkish chronicler are theseâTetri Scotorum Pictorumque gregesââthe black herds of Scots and Pictsâ
When he speaks of the black herds of Scots and Picts, we have every right to believe that in so speaking of them he depicted them trulyâŠ
The fourth century Scots, then, being undistinguishable from the general âblack herdâ that made up the Scoto-Pictish army, were themselves of the same complexion as the Picts Proper. That is to say, they, also, were Mauri, or MoorsâŠ
âDeucaledones, & Dicaledon; the name of a people in Alba: they were partly Scots and partly Picts. The Scots were so called from their swarthy complexionâ
(HistoriĂŠ ScoticĂŠ Nomenclatura Latino-vernacula; 1697)
The word Swarthy or Swart derives from âSchwarzâ or âSchwartzâ which means âto be black; black man, and negro
(FlĂŒgel-Schmidt-Tanger, a Dictionary of the English and German Languages for Home and School; 1905)
The Egyptians Act 1530 (22 Hen. 8. c. 10) was an Act passed by the Parliament of England in 1531 to expel the "outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians"
The Act accused âgipsiesâ of using "crafty and subtle devices" to deceive people, notably by claiming to tell fortunes whilst also allegedly frequently committing felonies such as robberyâŠ
The statute forbade any more âgipsiesâ from entering the realm and gave those already in England sixteen days' notice to depart from the realmâŠ
After the Egyptians Act of 1530 was passed, the effect that it was supposed to have did not meet the expectations the people of England thought it would over the course of a few yearsâŠ
Because of that, Mary I passed the Egyptians Act of 1554 with hopes that it would take a larger effect on the Egyptians still lingering in EnglandâŠ
The Egyptians Act of 1530 and 1554 were the last acts passed targeting "Egyptians" in the name itself, but in the following years, issues of vagrancy were still on the riseâŠ
Due to the name of Egyptians and what the people of England thought of them, they were considered wanderers and vagrant and therefore still a pressing issue to EnglandâŠ
For a 70 year period from 1530 to 1598, there were four statutes that addressed issues regarding vagrancy and people who called themselves "Egyptians"
âOf the dress of Gipsies (regarded as such) I have seen no picture at such an early date as this. But the remarks made upon this point, in the Encyclopedia article, indicate a fashion closely resembling that of Martinâs IslandersâŠâ
âGipsies formerly had a distinctive costume, consisting of a turban like headdress of many colors, together with a large cloak, worn after the fashion of a toga, over a long loose under-skirt . . .The English gipsy woman may be known by her bright silk handkerchief, her curiously plaited hair, her massy rings, her coral or bead necklace, and by the monging-guno, a tablecloth arranged bagwise over her backâ
âIn England the females are generally distinguished by a cloak, grey or red, and a colored kerchief tied around the headâŠâ
âOutwardly as within Gipsies present strong contrasts, some being strangely hideous, others very beautiful, though not with a regular conventional beauty. . . The hair, black or dark brown, inclines to coarseness, is often frizzled, and does not soon to grey; the complexion, a tawny olive, was compared by the Plymouth Pilgrims (1622) to that of the Indians of North AmericaâŠâ
âThe Gipsies then, whom we have already seen described as âMoorsâ, were also known as âSaracensâ, the terms being indifferently used in heraldry and in the old romancesâŠâ
âThus, the Moors or Saracens, the Danes and other kindred races, and the Gipsies are virtually the same people under different namesâŠâ
âAnd there is great deal in the foregoing description to remind one of what has already been said regarding Ancient Britons, with whom, as Moors, Saracens, and Hungarians, or Ogres, or Cimbri, or Danes, they are historically identifiedâŠâ
While the ânaked men living in cavesâ, who were âblubber lippedâ and men with âplaited hairâ, against whom the Celtic legendary heroes fought, are in all these respects Gipsies: and under either name are one with the naked Wild or Black-Irishmen, with their âglibbedâ locks, described by Derrick and SpencerâŠâ
âAnd again, the ugly Moors of heraldry, with their black skins, thick lips, and âpearls pendantâ are virtually the same as the ear-ringed black and hideous Egyptians who trooped into Bologna about five centuries agoâŠâ
âSo that the strolling mountebanks and minstrels of the days of John of Rampayne, wether descended from pre-Roman âMoorsâ, or from later âblack heathenâ invaders, were pretty clearly of this raceâŠâ
âThe legend shows them to be black, and to this very day you may see the racial characteristics in the ear-rings and gay colors of the nomadic, open-air juggler, with his oily, plaited hair, and perhaps also in the long side locks which are still dear to the âPutney Petâ fraternityâŠâ
âIn an account of the Gipsies of the Pyrenees (quoted by Simson, p. 88) one sees again the same âblubber-lippedâ race, the Saracens and Moors of tradition and of heraldry.â
âThe Gitanos are tanned like mulattos. . . Their features are irregular. . .They have the mouth very wide, thick lips, and high cheekbonesâ
âAgainâbecause the fifteenth century Gipsies of Galloway were âMoorsâ, and the Moors were Picts ânec falso nomine Pictosâ, those Galloway Gipsies were PictsâŠ
The Gipsies, thenânot to go further into detailsâwhen accepted as numerous, warlike, and distinctly black people, living an individual existence in various districts of the British Islands during the past few centuries, but gradually becoming mingled with the white races, announce themselves very clearly as the progenitors, on one side, of all the melanochroi of our countryâŠ
These [British Gipsies], it is said by one of their historians, regard themselves as a compound of many races,ââdreadfully mixedâ, is the expression they employ. âPharaohs folkâ, âEgyptiansâ, and (as often) âEthiopiansâ, are the racial titles they apply to themselves in Scotland; and the resemblances even yet borne by them to these ancient peoples are manyâŠ
(David MacRitchie; âAncient and Modern Britons Vol. 1; 1884)
