1417 is the most important year in the history of the Romani people. Their behavior dramatically changed. They had moved along well-travelled routes to and from the Holy Land, the routes of pilgrims. They had always been close observers, necessary to adaptation and survival, and they noticed the special treatment that Christian pilgrims received but their course came to them in a flash in 1417:
It was as if some unsung genius...had realized the potential advantages to be drawn from the religious environment of the time and had devised a strategy for exploiting it and enhancing prospects for survival.
...
Virtually nothing...has prepared us for what did happen in 1417 and the immediately following years. In the Romani of the Gypsies of Spain, the expression o xonxano baro, "the great trick', refers to a certain method of relieving some gullible dupe of a large sum of money. In the entire chronicle of Gypsey history, the greatest trick of all was the one played on western Europe in the early fifteenth century.
-The Gypsies, Angus Fraser (62).
The Gypsies became Christian pilgrims.
I have never read an academic book that I have notated in the margins "Ha-ha!," "lol," "omg!" as I have this one. We, especially I, can get a kick out of the "lovable rogue" and I have! However, the rogue is lovable only at the distance of observer. The Duke and the Dauphin were tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail in Huckleberry Finn. To the people and especially to the authorities of Europe, once they realized they had been had by the Romani, it was no laughing matter. Nor was it to be to the Romani. Law enforcement began, which led to persecution, enslavement, the Holocaust. Romani reputation suffers to this day in Europe. All of it because of the change in Romani behavior that came with the Great Trick of 1417.
What an amazing story.
It was as if some unsung genius...had realized the potential advantages to be drawn from the religious environment of the time and had devised a strategy for exploiting it and enhancing prospects for survival.
...
Virtually nothing...has prepared us for what did happen in 1417 and the immediately following years. In the Romani of the Gypsies of Spain, the expression o xonxano baro, "the great trick', refers to a certain method of relieving some gullible dupe of a large sum of money. In the entire chronicle of Gypsey history, the greatest trick of all was the one played on western Europe in the early fifteenth century.
-The Gypsies, Angus Fraser (62).
The Gypsies became Christian pilgrims.
What an amazing story.
