Part 6 (1/2)
King James V, as he was travelling through part of his dominions, disguised under the character of the Gaberlunzie-man, or Guid-man of Ballangiegh, prosecuting, as was his custom, his low and vague amours, fell in with a band of Gipsies, in the midst of their carousals, in a cave, near Wemyss, in Fifes.h.i.+re. His majesty heartily joined in their revels, but it was not long before a scuffle ensued, wherein the king was very roughly handled, being in danger of his life.[59] The Gipsies, perceiving at last that he was none of their people, and considering him a spy, treated him with great indignity. Among other humiliating insults, they compelled his royal majesty, as an humble servant of a Tinkler, to carry their budgets and wallets on his back, for several miles, until he was exhausted; and being unable to proceed a step further, he sank under his load. He was then dismissed with scorn and contempt by the merciless Gipsies. Being exasperated at their cruel and contemptuous treatment of his sacred person, and having seen a fair specimen of their licentious manner of life, the king caused an order in council immediately to be issued, declaring that, if _three_ Gipsies were found together, one of the three was instantly to be seized, and forthwith hanged or shot, by any one of his majesty's subjects that chose to put the order in execution.
[59] The Gipsies a.s.sert that, on this occasion, the king attempted to take liberties with one of their women: and that one of the male Gipsies ”came crack over his head with a bottle.”--ED.
This tradition is noticed by the Rev. Andrew Small, in his antiquities of Fife, in the following words. His book came into my hands after I had written down my account of the tradition.
”But, surely, this would be the last tinker that ever he would dub (a knight). If we may judge from what happened, one might imagine he, (James V,) would be heartily sick of them, (tinkers,) being taken prisoner by three of them, and compelled to stay with them several days, so that his n.o.bles lost all trace of him, and being also forced, not only to lead their a.s.s, but likewise to a.s.sist it in carrying part of the panniers! At length he got an opportunity, when they were bousing in a house at the east end of the village of Milnathort, where there is now a new meeting-house built, when he was left on the green with the a.s.s.
He contrived to write, some way, on a slip of paper, and gave a boy half-a-crown to run with it to Falkland, and give it to his n.o.bles, intimating that the guid-man of Ballangiegh was in a state of captivity.
After they got it, and knew where he was, they were not long in being with him, although it was fully ten miles they had to ride. Whenever he got a.s.sistance, he caused two of the tinkers, that were most harsh and severe to him, to be hanged immediately, and let the third one, that was most favourable to him, go free. They were hanged a little south-west of the village, at a place which, from the circ.u.mstance, is called the Gallow-hill to this day. The two skeletons were lately found after the division of the commonty that recently took place. He also, after this time, made a law, that whenever three tinkers, or Gipsies, were found going together, two of them should be hanged, and the third set at liberty.”[60]
[60] Small's Roman Antiquities of Fife, pages 285 and 286. Small also records a song composed on James V dubbing a Tinker a knight.
The following order in council is, perhaps, the one to which this tradition alludes:
”Act of the lords of council respecting John Faw, &c., June 6, 1541. The which day anent the complaint given by John Faw and his brother, and Sebastiane Lalow, Egyptians, to the King's grace, ilk ane plenizeand ... . upon other and divers faults and injuries; and that it is agreed among them to pa.s.s home, and have the same decided before the Duke of Egypt.[61] The lords of council, being advised with the points of the said complaints, and understanding perfectly the great thefts and _skaiths_ (hurts) done by the said Egyptians upon our sovereign lord's lieges, wherever they come or resort, ordain letters to be directed to the provosts and baillies of Edinburgh, St. Johnstown (Perth), Dundee, Montrose, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Elgin, Forres, and Inverness; and to the sheriffs of Edinburgh, Fife, Perth, Forfar, Kincardine, Aberdeen, Elgin and Forres, Banff, Cromarty, Inverness, and all other sheriffs, stewarts, provosts and baillies, where it happens the said Egyptians to resort.[62] To command and charge them, by open proclamation, at the market crosses of the head burghs of the sheriffdoms, to depart forth of this realm, with their wives, children, and companies, within x.x.x days after they be charged thereto, under the pain of death; notwithstanding any other letters or privileges granted to them by the king's grace, because his grace, with the advice of the lords, has discharged the same for the causes aforesaid: with certification that if they be found in this realm, the said x.x.x days being past, they shall be taken and put to death.”[63]
[61] It would seem that John Faw had become frightened at the mishap of one of his folk ”coming crack over the king's head with a bottle,”
and that, to pacify his majesty, he had at once gone before him, and informed him that he had prevailed on his ”rebellious subjects” to _pa.s.s home_, and have the matter in dispute decided by the _Duke of Egypt_. This would, so far, satisfy the king; but to make sure of getting rid of his troublesome visitors, he issued his commands to the various authorities to see that they really did leave the country.--ED.
[62] It would appear, from the mention that is made here of the authorities of so many towns and counties, ”where it happens the said Egyptians to resort,” that the race was scattered over all Scotland at this time, and that it must have been numerous.--ED.
[63] M. S. Act. Dom. Con. vol 15, fol. 155.--_Blackwood's Magazine._
This sharp order in council seems to have been the first edict banis.h.i.+ng the Gipsies as a whole people--men, women, and children--from Scotland.
But the king, whom, according to tradition, they had personally so deeply offended, dying in the following year, (1542) a new reign brought new prospects to the denounced wanderers.[64] They seem to have had the address to recover their credit with the succeeding government; for, in 1553, the writ which pa.s.sed the privy seal in 1540, forming a sort of league with ”John Faw, Lord and Earl of Little Egypt,” was renewed by Hamilton, Earl of Arran, then Regent during the minority of Queen Mary.
McLaurin, in his criminal trials, when speaking of John Faw, gravely calls him ”this peer.” ”There is a writ,” says he, ”of the same tenor in favour of this peer from Queen Mary, same record, 25 April, 1553; and 8 April, 1554, he gets remission for the slaughter of Ninian Small.” In Blackwood's Magazine it is mentioned that ”Andro Faw, Captain of the Egyptians,[65] and twelve of his gang specified by name, obtained a remission for the slaughter of Ninian Small, committed within the town of Linton, in the month of March last by past upon suddenly.” This appears to be the slaughter to which McLaurin alludes. The following are the names of these thirteen Gipsies: ”Andro Faw, captain of the Egyptians, George Faw, Robert Faw, and Anthony Faw, his sons, Johnne Faw, Andrew George Nichoah, George Sebastiane Colyne, George Colyne, Julie Colyne, Johnne Colyne, James Haw, Johnne Browne, and George Browne, Egyptians.”
[64] It is perfectly evident that the severe decree of James V against the Gipsies arose from the personal insult alluded to, owing to the circ.u.mstance of its falling to the ground after his death, and the Gipsies recovering their position with his successor. Apart from what the Gipsies themselves say on this subject, the ordinary tradition may be a.s.sumed to be well founded. If the Gipsies were spoken to on the subject of the insult offered to the king, they would naturally reply, that they did not know, from his having been dressed like a beggar, that it was the king; an excuse which the court, knowing his majesty's vagabond habits, would probably receive. But it is very likely that John Faw would declare that the guilty parties were those rebels whom he was desirous to catch, and take home with him to Egypt! This Gipsy king seems to have been a master of diplomacy.--ED.
[65] The Gipsy chiefs were partial to the t.i.tle of Captain; arising, I suppose, from their being leaders of large bands of young men employed in theft and robbery. [In Spain, such Gipsy chiefs, according to Mr.
Borrow, a.s.sumed the name of Counts.--ED.]
From the edict above mentioned, it is evident that the Gipsies in Scotland, at that time, were allowed to punish the criminal members of their own tribe, according to their own peculiar laws, customs and usages, without molestation. And it cannot be supposed that the ministers of three or four succeeding monarchs would have suffered their sovereigns to be so much imposed on, as to allow them to put their names to public doc.u.ments, styling poor and miserable wretches, as we at the present day imagine them to have been, ”Lords and Earls of Little Egypt.” Judging from the accounts which tradition has handed down to us, of the gay and fas.h.i.+onable appearance of the princ.i.p.al Gipsies, as late as about the beginning of the eighteenth century, as will be seen in my account of the Tweed-dale bands, I am disposed to believe that Anthonius Gawino, in 1506, and John Faw, in 1540, would personally, as individuals, that is, as Gipsy Rajahs,[66] have a very respectable and imposing appearance in the eyes of the officers of the crown. And besides, John Faw appears to have been possessed of ”divers sums of money, jewels, clothes and other goods, to the quant.i.ty of a great sum of money;” and it would seem that some of the officers of high rank in the household of our kings had fingered the cash of the Gipsy pilgrims.
If there is any truth in the popular and uniform tradition that, in the seventeenth century, a Countess of Ca.s.silis was seduced from her duty to her lord, and carried off by a Gipsy, of the name of John Faa, and his band, it cannot be imagined, that the seducer would be a poor, wretched, beggarly Tinkler, such as many of the tribe are at this day. If a handsome person, elegant apparel, a lively disposition, much mirth and glee, and a constant boasting of extraordinary prowess, would in any way contribute to make an impression on the heart of the frail countess, these qualities, I am disposed to think, would not be wanting in the ”Gipsy Laddie.” And, moreover, John Faw bore, on paper at least, as high a t.i.tle as her husband, Lord Ca.s.silis, from whom she absconded. It is said the individual who seduced the fair lady was a Sir John Faw, of Dunbar, her former sweetheart, and not a Gipsy; but tradition gives no account of a Sir John Faw, of Dunbar.[67] The Falls, merchants, at Dunbar, were descended from the Gipsy Faas of Yetholm.
[66] _Rajah_--The Scottish Gipsy word for a chief, governor, or prince.
[67] The author, (Mr. Finlay,) who claims a Sir John Faw, of Dunbar, to have been the person who carried off the Countess of Ca.s.silis, gives no authority, as a writer in Blackwood says, in support of his a.s.sertion. Nor does he account for a person of that name being any other than a Gipsy. Indeed, this is but an instance of the ignorance and prejudice of people generally in regard to the Gipsies. The tradition of the hero being a Gipsy, I have met with among the English Gipsies, who even gave me the name of the lady. John Faw, in all probability the king of the Gipsies, who carried off the countess, might reasonably be a.s.sumed to have been, in point of education, on a par with her, who, in that respect, would not, in all probability, rise above the most humble Scotch cow-milker at the present day, whatever her personal bearing might have been.--ED.
It is pretty clear that the Gipsies remained in Scotland, with little molestation, from 1506 till 1579--the year in which James VI took the government into his own hands, being a period of about seventy-three years, during which time these wanderers roamed up and down the kingdom, without receiving any check of consequence, excepting the short period--probably about one year--in which the severe order of James V remained in force, and which, in all probability, expired with the king.[68]
[68] During these seventy-three years of peace, the Gipsies in Scotland must have multiplied prodigiously, and, in all probability, drawn much of the native blood into their body. Not being, at that time, a proscribed race, but, on the contrary, honoured by leagues and covenants with the king himself, the ignorant public generally would have few of those objections to intermarry with them, which they have had in subsequent times. The thieving habits of the Gipsies would prove no bar to such connections, as the Scottish people were accustomed to thieving of all kinds.--ED.
The civil and religious contests in which the nation had been long engaged, particularly during the reign of Queen Mary, produced numerous swarms of banditti, who committed outrages in every part of the country.
The slighter depredations of the Gipsy bands, in the midst of the fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y quarrels of the different factions that generally prevailed throughout the kingdom, would attract but little attention, and the Gipsies would thereby escape the punishment which their actions merited.
But the government being more firmly established, by the union of the different parties who distracted the country, and the king a.s.suming the supreme authority, which all acknowledged, vigorous measures were adopted for suppressing the excess of strolling vagabonds of every description. In the very year the king was placed at the head of affairs, a law was pa.s.sed, ”For punishment of strong and idle beggars, and relief of the poor and impotent.”
Against the Gipsies this sweeping statute is particularly directed, for they are named, and some of their practices pointed out, in the following pa.s.sage: ”And that it may be known what manner of persons are meant to be strong and idle beggars and vagabonds, and worthy of the punishment before specified, it is declared that all idle persons going about the country of this realm, using subtle, crafty and unlawful plays--as jugglery, fast-and-loose, and such others, the idle people calling themselves Egyptians, or any other that fancy themselves to have knowledge of prophecy, charming, or other abused sciences, whereby they persuade the people that they can tell their weirds, deaths, and fortunes, and such other fantastical imaginations.”[69] And the following is the mode prescribed for punis.h.i.+ng the Gipsies, and the other offenders a.s.sociated with them in this act of parliament: ”That such as make themselves fools and are _bairds_, (strolling rhymers,) or other such like runners about, being apprehended, shall be put in the king's ward, or irons, so long as they have any goods of their own to live on, and if they have not whereupon to live of their own, that their ears be nailed to the tron or other tree, and cut off, and (themselves) banished the country; and if thereafter they be found again, that they be hanged.”[70]
[69] In this act of parliament are denounced, along with the Gipsies, ”all minstrels, songsters, and tale-tellers, not avowed by special licence of some of the lords of parliament or great barons, or by the high burghs and cities, for their common minstrels.” ”All _vagabond scholars_(_!_) of the universities of St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, not licenced by the rector and dean of faculty to _ask alms_.” It would seem, from this last extract, that the Scottish Universities granted diplomas to their students to beg! The Gipsies were a.s.sociated or cla.s.sed with good company at this time. But beggar students, or student-beggars, were common in other parts of Europe during that age.--ED.
[70] Glendook's Scots Acts, James VI, 6th Par. cap. 74--20th Oct.