The living conditions of Gypsy slaves in early nineteenth-century Wallachia

GAUNT, DAVID; ROTARU, JULIETA

doi:https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.3

Romani Studies (2021), 31, (1), 29–55.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/rs.2021.3
Language: English
Pages: 27

Abstract

Very little research has been done specifically on the condition of the Gypsy slaves in Wallachia. Most general histories ignore them, and few contemporary observers studied them. This is just one more sign of their discrimination and neglect. This study draws on the exhaustive nominal lists of the Romani population from the database MapRom which draws on the first preserved count of the population of Danubian principalities (1838). Many aspects of the rob-slave condition have been analysed, the household size, the socio-professional and juridical categories and the Gypsy owners, the degree to which the Gypsies in Wallachia were integrated into the majority population and the ethnic attitudes of the surrounding population, and a case study of formation of a Gypsy settlement.

FormatArticle

£25.00

READ THIS ARTICLE

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

References

ANIC, Fond Catagrafii, part I, Inventory number 501, volumes numbered I/8 to I/107. [The 1838 Census of population, houses and agriculture, Historical National Archives, Bucharest; mostly unpublished]. Google Scholar

ANIC, fond Mânăstirea Brâncoveni, pachetul XXII/23/61 [documents regarding the Gypsy robs of Brâncoveni Monastery]. Google Scholar

ANIC, Diplomatice, dos. 147/1832 [Contains a general statistics of wealth and population undertaken in 1832 by general Fanthon de Verrayon; unpublished, briefly described in Ion Cojocaru “Țara Românească după statistica generală din 1832.” Studii și materiale istorice 1965 (7): 147-62]. Google Scholar

ANIC, Logofeția Pricinilor Bisericești, dos. 25/1844 Catagrafia țiganilor mânăstirești [Statistics of the Monastery Gypsies undertaken in 1844 by the Ministry of Religious Affaires]. Google Scholar

ANIC, Vornicia din Lăuntru, dos. 640 [Documents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the frontage of villages reform, 1834-1838]. Google Scholar

ANIC, fond Obișnuita Obștească Adunare a Tării Românești, dos. 34/1832 [Draft laws of the central administration for 1832]. Google Scholar

ANIC, Vornicia temnitelor, file 354/1833 [Documents on investigations into the deeds of Muslim Gypsies in 1833]. Google Scholar

ANIC Manuscrise, Ms. 712 and 209, Condica manastirii Cozia [Documents of the movable and immovable patrimony of the monastery from 1388 till 1790s]. Google Scholar

ANIC, Manuscrise, Ms. 377. [Inventory of the movable and immovable patrimony of all monasteries in Wallachia and Moldavia, years 1738-1740, unpublished. For Moldavia is published as Sămile mănăstirilor de țară din Moldova, pe anul 1742, de I. Bogdan, București: Soccec and co. 1914]. Google Scholar

BAR, Mss. Rom. 3437, vol. I: Răspunsuri la chestionariul juridic al lui B.P. Haşdeu. 1878. Botoşani, Buzău, Dâmboviţa, Dolj, Fălciu. Google Scholar

BAR, Mss. Rom. 3438, vol. II: Răspunsuri la chestionariul juridic al lui B.P. Haşdeu. 1878. Mehedinţi, Muscel, Prahova, Putna, Râmnicu-Sărat, Roman, Tecuci, Tutova. Google Scholar

Secondary sources

Achim, Viorel. 2004. The Roma in Romanian history. Budapest-New York: Central European University Press, 2nd edition [First edition Tiganii în istoria României. Bucureşti: Editura Enciclopedica, 1998]. Google Scholar

Achim, Viorel. 2018. Considerations about the territorial distribution of slaves in the Romanian principalities. In: Flynn-Paul, Jeff, and Pargas, Damian Alan, eds. Slaving zones: Culture and identity, ideologies. and institutions in the evolution of global slavery. Leiden: Brill. 70-93. Google Scholar

Analele parlamentare ale României 1898. Tom IX, Partea I, București: Imprimeria Statului, 1163-6. Google Scholar

Bibescu, Gheorghe. 1894. Domnia lui Bibescu. Vol. II, Legi și decrete, 1843-1848. București. Google Scholar

Călători străini despre Țările Române. 1976. Vol. VI, Partea I, Paul de Alep. București: Editura Academiei Romane. Google Scholar

Chiriţă, Mihai. 2002. Obşteasca catagrafie de la 1838. Studii şi materiale de istorie modernă XIV (2000-2001). Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române. 133-44. Google Scholar

Chirot, Daniel. 1976. Social change in a peripheral society: The creation of a Balkan colony, Elsevier: Academic Press. Google Scholar

Constantin, Florina-Manuela. 2007a. Legături de sânge și legături sociale: structuri de rudenie la robii tigani din Tara Românească (1601-1650). In: Barbu, Violeta, Constantin, Florina Manuela, and Vintilă-Ghiţulescu, Constanţa, eds. De la comunitate la societate. Studii de istoria familiei în Ţara Românească (sec. XVI-XIX) Bucureşti: Institutul Cultural Român, 122-ff. Google Scholar

Constantin, Florina-Manuela. 2007b. Robii tigani din Tara Romaneasca in justitie. Cutume si ipostaze juridice. Studiu de caz (Hrisovul din 21 iunie 1637). Revista istorică XVIII (1-2): 100-11. Google Scholar

Constantin, Florina-Manuela. 2009. Robia în pravilele românești ale secolului al XVII-lea. Îndreptarea legii (1652). Revista istorică XX (1-2): 73-100. Google Scholar

Constantin, Florina-Manuela. 2012. Liens de parenté et liens sociaux chez les esclavestsiganes de Valachie. Le sălaş au XVIIè siècle. In: Stella, Alessandro, and Botte, Roger, eds. Couleurs de l’esclavage sur les deux rives de la Méditerranée (Moyen Age-XXe siècle). Paris: Éditions Karthala. 283-95. Google Scholar

Constantin, Florina-Manuela. 2013. Modalități de transmitere a dreptului de stăpânire asupra robilor tigani. Vânzarea și schimbul (Țara Românească, secolul al XVII-lea). In: Miscelanea in honorem Professoris Marcel-Dumitru Ciucă septuagenarii. Brăila-Pitești: Istros-Ordessos. 313-28. Google Scholar

Crowe, David M.A. 1994. History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. Google Scholar

DIR, B. 1981. Țara Românească. Vol. IV, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. Google Scholar

Donat, Ion, Pătroiu, Ion, and Ciobotea, Dinică. 2000. Catagrafia obştească a Ţării Româneşti din 1831. Craiova: Helios. Google Scholar

Donat, Ion, and Retegan, G. 1956. La valachie en 1838 (d’après une source statistique inédite). Revue Roumaine d’Histoire 4 (5): 925-41. Google Scholar

DRH, B. 1965 [2013]. Țara Românească. Vol. XXII, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România. Google Scholar

Fraser, Angus. 1992. The Gypsies. Oxford: Blackwell. Google Scholar

Giurescu, Constantin C. 1957. Principatele române la începutul secolului al XIX-lea. Constatări istorice, geografice, economice şi statistice pe temeiul hărţii ruse din 1835. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică. Google Scholar

Hajnal, John. 1965. European marriage patterns in perspective. In: Glas, David V. and Eversley, David Edward Charles, eds. Population in history. Essays in historical demography. London: Edward Arnold. 101-43. Google Scholar

Hajnal, John. 1983. Two kinds of pre-industrial household formation system. In: Wall, Richard, Robin, Jean, and Laslett, Peter, eds. Family forms in historic Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 65-104. Google Scholar

Kaser, Karl. 1994. The Balkan joint family: Redefining a problem. Social Science History 18 (2): 243-69. Google Scholar

Laslett, Peter. 1983. Family and household as workgroup and kin group: Areas of traditional Europe compared. In: Wall, Richard, Robin, Jean, and Laslett, Peter, eds. Family forms in historic Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 513-63. Google Scholar

Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin. 2004. Segmentation vs. consolidation: The example of four Gypsy groups in CIS. Romani Studies. Fifth Series. 14(2): 145-91. Google Scholar

Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin. 2009. Gypsy slavery in Wallachia and Moldavia. In: Kamusella, Tomasz and Jaskulowski, Krzysztof, eds. Nationalisms today. Oxford: Peter Lang. 89-124. Google Scholar

Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin. 2013. Gypsy groups in Eastern Europe: Ethnonyms versus professionyms. Romani Studies. Fifth Series. 23(1): 61-82. Google Scholar

Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin. 2016. Roma culture: Problems and challenges. In: Roma culture: Myths and realities. Marushiakova, Elena, and Popov, Vesselin, eds. Munich: Lincom Academic Publisher. 35-64. Google Scholar

Mateescu, Bogdan. 2013. Census like material preserved in the Romanian archives, for the former principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia and for the Danubian principalities before 1914. Rostock. Mosaic Working Paper WP-2013-001. Google Scholar

Mateescu, Bogdan. 2014a. Căsătoria robilor: între alegerea cuplului şi voinţa stăpânului. Braşov: Editura Etnous. Google Scholar

Mateescu, Bogdan. 2014b. Mixed marriages involving Gypsy slaves in nineteenth-century Wallachia: state and Church policies. In: Dumănescu, Luminiţa, ed. Intermarriage throughout history. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 212-31. Google Scholar

Mateescu, Bogdan. 2015. Familia în timpul robiei: o perspectivă demografică. Studiu și liste de populație din arhive. Iași: Editura Universităţii Al. I. Cuza. Google Scholar

Mitrany, David. 1930. The land and the peasant in Rumania: The war and agrarian reform, 1917-1921. London: Humphrey Milford. Google Scholar

Negulescu, Paul, and Alexianu, George. 1944. Regulamentele Organice ale Valahiei şi Moldovei. Vol. I. Textele puse în aplicare la 1 iulie 1831 în Valahia şi la 1 ianuarie 1832 în Moldova. Regulamentul Organic al Valahiei. Bucureşti: Întreprinderile Eminescu S.A. Google Scholar

Olson, Leonard Eugene. 1975. Pavel Kiselev and the Romanian peasantry: The influence of the Russian occupation in agrarian relations in the Danubian principalities 1828-1834. PhD thesis. University of Illinois. Google Scholar

Papacostea, Șerban. 1971. Oltenia sub stăpânire austriacă 1718-1739, București: Editura Academiei Române. Google Scholar

Piasere, Leonardo. 2016. Karl Marx et les roms des Principautés Roumaines. Études Tsiganes 56-7 (1): 235-60. Google Scholar

Retegan, G. 1969. Primul recensământ modern al populaţiei şi agriculturii Ţării Româneşti: 1838. In: Din istoria statisticii româneşti. Culegere de articole. Bucureşti: Direcţia Centrală de Statistică. 145-56. Google Scholar

Roman, Nicoleta. 2014. Caught between two worlds: The children from Gypsy and Romanian-Gypsy families in Wallachia (1800-1860). Romanian Journal of Population Studies 8 (1): 63-86. Google Scholar

Rotaru, Julieta. 2018. Aspects of Romani demographics in the 19th century Wallachia. Baltic Worlds XI (1): 28-44. Google Scholar

Rotaru, Julieta. (forthcoming). Considerations about the “Turkish Gypsies” as crypto-Muslims in Wallachia. In: Kyuchukov, Hristo, Zahova, Sofiya, and Duminica, Ion, eds. History and culture of Roma. Festschrift for Vesselin Popov. Roma Series 8. München: Lincom Academic Publishers. Google Scholar

Rusenescu, D., and Bugă, D. 1966. Territorial distribution of population between the Carpathians and the Danube. Revue roumain de géologie, géophysique et géographie 10: 75-84. Google Scholar

Scraba, Gheorghe D. 1907. Starea socială a săteanului. După ancheta privitoare anului 1905, îndeplinită cu ocaziunea expoziţiunii generale române din 1906 de către Secţiunea de Economie Socială, cu 34 tabele statistice şi 24 tabele grafice. Bucureşti: Carol Göbl. Google Scholar

Stahl, Henri. 1980. Traditional Romanian village communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar

Turcu, Dan. 2002. Ion, Pătroiu, Ion Donat, şi Dinică Ciobotea, Catagrafia obştească a Ţării Româneşti din 1831. Craiova, Edit. Helios, 1999, LVIII+ 200p. + 4 hărţi. (review), Studii şi materiale de istorie modernă 14 (2000-2001): 158-9. Google Scholar

If you have private access to this content, please log in with your username and password here

Details

Author details

GAUNT, DAVID

ROTARU, JULIETA

Romani Studies