From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts
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Lane B. Baker
Abstract
This chapter argues that a closer look at manuscripts affords new insights into the last great immigration of the European Middle Ages: the arrival of the Roma in western Europe during the fifteenth century. Historians have long approached Romani immigration by way of narrative chronicles. For the most part, they have done so without consulting fifteenth-century manuscripts, opting instead for later print chronicles or more accessible published editions. This reading strategy has imported modern prejudices and assumptions into historians’ accounts of western Europe’s first Romani communities. By examining five original manuscripts of a fifteenthcentury chronicle, the anonymous Chronicle of the City of Zurich, this chapter shows that early accounts of Romani immigration were diverse, contradictory, and evolving. Depending on the manuscript, the same group of Roma might be remembered as exotic marvels, sympathetic Christian refugees, or as menacing thieves. A return to original manuscripts reveals a wider range of medieval perspectives on the Roma, complicating our tidy narratives of how anti-Romani sentiment first developed.
Abstract
This chapter argues that a closer look at manuscripts affords new insights into the last great immigration of the European Middle Ages: the arrival of the Roma in western Europe during the fifteenth century. Historians have long approached Romani immigration by way of narrative chronicles. For the most part, they have done so without consulting fifteenth-century manuscripts, opting instead for later print chronicles or more accessible published editions. This reading strategy has imported modern prejudices and assumptions into historians’ accounts of western Europe’s first Romani communities. By examining five original manuscripts of a fifteenthcentury chronicle, the anonymous Chronicle of the City of Zurich, this chapter shows that early accounts of Romani immigration were diverse, contradictory, and evolving. Depending on the manuscript, the same group of Roma might be remembered as exotic marvels, sympathetic Christian refugees, or as menacing thieves. A return to original manuscripts reveals a wider range of medieval perspectives on the Roma, complicating our tidy narratives of how anti-Romani sentiment first developed.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
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I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
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II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
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III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
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IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- Abbreviations IX
- List of Figures XI
- Notes on Contributors XVII
- Introduction: History, Manuscripts, Making 1
-
I Strategies of Production
- Assemblages and History in a Medieval French Manuscript from Corbie, ca. 1295: Copenhagen, Kongelige Biblioteket, GKS 487 f° 23
- Writing with the Book: History through the Codex and the Materiality of Autography 47
- Miscellanies of Histories: Perception of the Past and Historiographical Agency of Late Medieval Compilers 71
-
II The Stakes of Adaptation
- Writing History with Bede’s Martyrology, 800–1200 95
- Adaptation and Affect in Orderic Vitalis’s Historia ecclesiastica 117
- From Little Egypt to Zurich: Chronicling Romani Immigrants with Late Medieval Manuscripts 141
- Making History in the Renaissance with Medieval Manuscripts: Jean Le Féron and the Grandes chroniques de France 171
-
III Configuring History
- Medieval Monastic Manuscripts after the Middle Ages: The Case of St. Nikolaus in undis at Strasbourg 199
- History Branches Out: Narrative and Chronology in Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer, Cod. Bodmer 147 225
- Fabulous History: Painting History in Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, MS 5069 253
-
IV Response
- Making History with Manuscripts: Response 287
- General Index 303
- Manuscripts Cited 315
