The Romani People, in and around the 19th Century

Introduction

    When I was a child, my grandmother would often threaten to "sell me to the gypsies". Or something to that effect. I didn't think much of it then, but looking back on it now. It highlights a bunch of stereotypes and generalizations, mostly coming from Europe. Child theft, animal theft, stealing as a whole. Along with being vagrants, dirty, and weirdly romanticized for their ideas of freedom. Sexually and physically. A lot of these stereotypes are just that, but they all come from fear and a misunderstanding of the people. 

The Roma

    The Roma, or Romani, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryans. Which means that they have roots to the Indian Subcontinent. They tend to live either a nomadic or itinerant lifestyle, that means they swap from working and wandering. They speak/spoke Romani, and spread out from modern day India, through the Middle East, and into Europe (OBP). The term Gypsy is up in the air, some embrace and use it, while others deem in an ethnic slur. Which back then and today, it is still used as. The Roma had reached England between the 15th and 16th century, having made established communities in the 19th century. 

Roma encampment in Essex, 19th century, (4)

 

Fantasy and Fetish

    But long before the 19th century, the Roma were fetishized. Often romanticized for their sexuality and freedom. The term Gypsy became so popular, that it soon just described promiscuous women in general. "when applied to a woman, it receives the following description: A contemptuous term for a woman, as being cunning, deceitful, fickle, or the like; a 'baggage', 'hussy', etc" (Wagner, 80). While it wasn't as popular as the sexual fantasy of the Roma. Their nomadic lifestyle was occasionally explored. When it was, it was mostly to prosecute them for crimes, and not to explore their way of life.   

  

Ignorance and Prejudice 

A Hungarian Gypsy Caravan (5)

    The Roma were heavily scrutinized along with being fetishized.  "the very same writers who generally demonized or at best patronized vagrants, at other times down right idealized them" (Woodbridge, 240). They've been stereotyped as swindlers and thieves. Dirty, loud, and obnoxious, they were vagrants and spread sin and vice. "From these sources it appears that vagrants had five main characteristics. First they were poor... Finally they were lawless, dangerous, suspected of spreading vice and corruption" (Beier, 4). As the Roma were lumped in with other vagrants, they were persecuted along side them. "Until 1783, a gypsy could be legally put to death in England for simply being a gypsy" (Walker).  After this, and going into the mid 19th century, the Roma entered the public eye, becoming a conversation starter in the 19th century. Along with that, they became popular amongst authors in England. Being added as characters, or still being represented with the same stereotypes mentioned before.

Dracula's Gypsies

    The Roma, or Szgany, in Dracula aren't mentioned a lot. In the first chapter, Jonathan does write about the peoples he comes across. But doesn't call them Gypsies or Szgany. He does do this in the 4th chapter, when he sees an encampment in the courtyard. "They are fearless and without religion, save superstition, and they talk only their own varieties of the Romany tongue" (Stoker, 49). This obviously doesn't speak for all Roma, but it's a very good window into how the English saw them. As a wandering group of ethic peoples. Seemingly atheistic and holding onto their own, non-Christian beliefs. 

Works Cited

1. Wagner, Sydnee. “Outlandish People.” Academic Works, 2020, https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4693&context=gc_etds

2 .Houghton-Walker, Sarah. “Background, Histories, and Myths: The Situation of the Gypsies in the Romantic Period | Representations of the Gypsy in the Romantic Period | Oxford Academic.” Oxford Academic, Oct. 2014, academic.oup.com/book/1993/chapter-abstract/141833366?redirectedFrom=fulltext.

3. “Romani People.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_people#Early_modern_history

4.English Photographer, A Gypsy Encampment in Essex. 19th century. Bridgeman Images, London. 

5. Le Petit Journal, Une invasion de Hongrois a Carcasonne. 1989. Le Petit Journal.

6. Beier, A. “A. L. Beier Masterless Men.” Internet Archive, 16 Dec. 2023, archive.org/details/a.-l.-beier-masterless-men/page/4/mode/2up.

7. Woodbridge, Linda. Vagrancy, Homelessness, and English Renaissance Literature. University of Illinois Press, 2001.

8. Stoker, Bram. Dracula (Norton Critical Editions). Available from: Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania, (2nd Edition). W. W. Norton, 2021.