Early Dance

Mark Harris mark_harris at quickmail.sps.mot.com
Thu Oct 19 15:53:48 PDT 1995


Greetings unto Duncan,

Who said,

> What about gypsies? They seem to be found all over Europe at any given
> time.  They may not fit the billing of "professional dance troupe", but
> what the hey, right?  We're fishing for ideas!

Not quite correct. They migrated through Europe in the middle of our
period. I believe the time period in question was a bit earlier than
this.

To quote from a message in my file from the last time Gypsies were
discussed on the Rialto:

>>>>
According to Clebert, they advanced from India into Persia sometime
before the 10th Century.  In the 1300's they were officially reported
in Crete (1322), Corfu (1346), Serbia (1348) and the Peloponnese (1378).
In the 1400's, they were officially reported in  Basle (1414), Moldavia,
Hungary and Transylvania (1417), Saxony and Augsburg (1418), France 
(1419), Bologna and Rome (1422), Paris (1427), Barcelona (1447),
Wales (1430 or 1440) and Scotland (1447 or 1505) -- the exact year
of their appearances in Wales and Scotland were being contested.

In the 1500's, gypsies were reported officially in Russia (1500),
Poland (1509), England (1514), Sweden (1515) and Norway (1540).
I use the word 'officially' in this context because Clebert points
out:

	"These dates mark the 'official' appearance of Gypsies;
	a fact which must be emphasized.  It does not mean that
	in reality the Gypsies had not arrived in Europe before
	the authorities thought of mentioning them for the first
	time, before the occurrence of some local event or other
	with which their name was associated."

In fact, other authors claim that Gypsies probably made their
way in England in the 1430's, but valid documentation is lacking
in these claims. 
<<<<<

If anyone is interested in the complete file, just let me know.
I'm in the process of updating this file, and only a short file is
currently available at the Web site.

Stefan li Rous
markh at risc.sps.mot.com




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