Editing Romani people (section)

=== Early modern history ===
[[File:Carl d´Unker-Gipsy Family in Prison.jpg|thumb|upright|''Gypsy Family in Prison'', 1864 painting by [[Carl d´Unker]]. An actual imprisoned family in Germany served as the models. The reason for their imprisonment remains unknown.]]
Their early history shows a mixed reception. Although 1385 marks the first recorded transaction for a Romani slave in [[Wallachia]], they were issued safe conduct by [[Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund]] in 1417. Roma were ordered expelled from the [[Margraviate of Meissen|Meissen region]] of Germany in 1416, [[Lucerne]] in 1471, [[Milan]] in 1493, France in 1504, [[Catalonia]] in 1512, Sweden in 1525, [[Kingdom of England|England]] in 1530 (see [[Egyptians Act 1530]]), and Denmark in 1536. From 1510 onwards, any Rom found in Switzerland was to be executed, while in England (beginning in 1554) and Denmark (beginning of 1589) any Rom who did not leave within a month was to be executed. [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] began deportations of Roma to its [[Colonial Brazil|colonies]] in 1538.<ref name="kenrick">{{Cite book |first=Donald |last=Kenrick |title=Historical Dictionary of the Gypsies (Romanis) |edition=2nd |publisher=Scarecrow Press |date=5 July 2007 |pages=xx–xxii |isbn=978-0-8108-6440-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/atozofgypsiesrom0000unse}}</ref>

A 1596 English statute gave Roma special privileges that other wanderers lacked. France passed a similar law in 1683. [[Catherine the Great of Russia]] declared the Roma "crown slaves" (a status superior to [[serfs]]), but also kept them out of certain parts of [[St. Petersburg, Russia|the capital]].<ref name="Norman Davies 1996 387–388">{{cite book |first=Norman |last=Davies |title=Europe: A History |author-link=Norman Davies |isbn=978-0-19-820171-7 |year=1996 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/europehistory00davi_0/page/387 387–88] |title-link=Europe: A History |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> In 1595, [[Ștefan Răzvan]] overcame his birth into slavery, and became the [[Voivode]] ([[List of Moldavian rulers|Prince]]) of [[Moldavia]].<ref name="kenrick" />

Since a royal edict by [[Charles II of Spain|Charles II]] in 1695, Spanish Roma had been restricted to certain towns.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/education/roma/Source/FS2/3.3_roundup-spain_english.pdf |author=Antonio Gómez Alfaro |title=The Great "Gypsy" Round-up in Spain |page=4}}</ref> An official edict in 1717 restricted them to only 75 towns and districts, so that they would not be concentrated in any one region. In the [[Great Gypsy Round-up]], Roma were arrested and imprisoned by the [[Spanish Monarchy]] in 1749.

During the latter part of the 17th century, around the [[Franco-Dutch War]], both France and the Dutch Republic needed thousands of men to fight. Some recruitment took the form of rounding up vagrants and the poor to work the galleys and provide the armies' labour force. With this background, Roma were targets of both the French and the Dutch.<ref name="Western Europe">{{cite web |url=https://rm.coe.int/western-europe-factsheets-on-romani-history/16808b19e4 |title=Western Europe}}</ref>

After the wars, and into the first decade of the 18th century, Roma were slaughtered with impunity throughout the Dutch Republic. Roma, called 'heiden' (‘heathens’) by the Dutch, wandered throughout the rural areas of Europe and became the societal pariahs of the age. ''Heidenjachten'', translated as "heathen hunt" happened throughout the Dutch Republic in an attempt to eradicate them.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Another Darkness Another Dawn |last=Taylor |first=Becky |publisher=Reaktion Books Ltd. |year=2014 |location=London UK |pages=72 |isbn=978-1-78023-257-7}}</ref>

Although some Roma could be kept as slaves in Wallachia and Moldavia until [[abolitionism|abolition]] in 1856, the majority traveled as free nomads with their wagons, as alluded to in the spoked wheel symbol in the [[Romani flag]].{{sfn|Hancock|2001|p=25}} Elsewhere in Europe, they were subjected to [[ethnic cleansing]], abduction of their children, and [[forced labour]]. In Britain, Roma were sometimes expelled from small communities or hanged; in France, they were branded, and their heads were shaved; in [[Moravia]] and [[Bohemia]], the women were marked by their ears being severed. As a result, large groups of the Roma moved to the East, toward [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poland]], which was more tolerant, and [[Ruska Roma|Russia]], where the Roma were treated more fairly as long as they paid the annual taxes.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8136812.stm |first=Delia |last=Radu |title='On the Road': Centuries of Roma History |publisher=BBC |newspaper=World Service |date=8 July 2009}}</ref>