In the year 1531, the Parliament of England issued a decree that would define the fate of an entire people for centuries to come. The Egyptians Act 1530 targeted those known as outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians, a group now identified as the Roma, descendants of migrants who had journeyed from Northern India around the year 600. This legislation did not merely regulate behavior; it demanded the immediate expulsion of all Roma from the realm, granting them a mere sixteen days to leave or face severe consequences. The statute accused Romanichals of employing crafty and subtle devices to deceive the populace, specifically citing the practice of telling fortunes as a cover for committing felonies such as robbery. The law mandated that any stolen goods be returned to their owners, while those who violated the statute faced the confiscation of their properties, which were to be divided between the Sovereign and the Justice of the Peace or another arresting officer. This harsh response marked the beginning of a legal framework that would treat the Roma not as citizens but as a threat to the social order of Tudor England.
The Failure of Expulsion
The initial attempt to expel the Roma through the Egyptians Act 1530 proved to be a spectacular failure, as the targeted communities refused to vanish from the English landscape. By the reign of Mary I, the government recognized that the expulsion order had not achieved its aim, leading to the passage of the Egyptians Act 1554. This newer statute complained that Egyptians were still plying their devilish and naughty practices and devices, yet it introduced a critical shift in policy. Unlike its predecessor, the 1554 act allowed some Roma to escape prosecution if they abandoned their nomadic lifestyle, which the law described as their naughty, idle and ungodly life and company. This change acknowledged that the Roma were not going to leave voluntarily, forcing the state to adapt its approach from total removal to conditional tolerance. The shift highlighted the practical difficulties of enforcing such a radical decree and set a precedent for future laws that would focus on behavior rather than origin.The Fortune Telling Trap
At the heart of the legal persecution lay a specific accusation regarding the practice of fortune telling, which became a focal point for the state's hostility toward the Roma. The Egyptians Act 1530 explicitly linked the claim of telling fortunes to the commission of felonies, creating a legal trap for those who engaged in this cultural tradition. This accusation was not merely a moral judgment but a strategic tool used to justify the seizure of property and the expulsion of entire communities. The law suggested that the Roma used their ability to predict the future as a disguise for robbery, a claim that persisted in legal texts for centuries. By the 19th century, the Vagrancy Act 1824 section 4 would still contain the offense of telling fortunes, demonstrating how the initial accusations of the 1530s had evolved into a lasting legal stigma. The connection between fortune telling and criminality became a self-fulfilling prophecy, where the mere act of practicing their trade could lead to arrest and punishment.