Following the lead of the Catholic kings, the Diet of Augsburg, 1500-1548, revoking all previous concessions, banished the Gypsies from the Holy German Empire under similar conditions. This ordinance was also revived in 1530, in 1544, in 1548, in 1551, and in 1577, the last time confirmed by a police regulation at Frankfurt. In 1545 the Superior Tribunal of Utrecht punished a Gypsy who had disobeyed a decree of exile by flogging until blood was drawn, by splitting his nostrils, and by shaving his head before he was driven to the frontier.[154] In England the liberal and Protestant Henry VIII.[155] sanctioned an Act of Parliament persecuting the Gypsies to extermination; and it was renewed by Philip and Mary, and by Elizabeth. Francis I. of France followed the example of his neighbours; and under Charles IX. the persecution was renewed by the States-General assembled at Orleans, 1561, who decreed extermination by steel and fire. Another and similar edict appeared in 1612. Charles V., besides his proclamations in Spain and Germany, condemned the Gypsies of the Netherlands to enrolment under pain of death, and this was confirmed by the States-General in 1582. Fanatic Poland in 1578 issued a law forbidding hospitality to Gypsies, and exiling those who received them. Pius V. showed himself equally inhuman, and the Romá were driven from the duchies of Parma and Milan, from the republic of Venice, and the kingdom of Denmark. Sweden distinguished herself by the severest laws of expulsion in 1662, 1723, and 1727. From these barbarities arose the Gypsies’ saying, “King’s law has destroyed the Gypsy law.” The latter consisted of fidelity to one another; the code contained only three commandments, of which the first two were addressed to women: “Thou shalt not separate from the Rom (Gypsy law).” “Thou shalt be faithful to thy Rom.” “Thou shalt pay thy debts to the Rom.” These Draconian laws against the Gypsies died out during the development of civilization, and received their death-blow at the hands of the great and glorious French Revolution, 1789. * * * * * I propose now to collect a series of notices upon the subject of the Gypsies and the Jats which are not readily procurable by students; many are obtained from books little known to the public, and not a few are gathered by myself. And with a view of introducing some order into the scattered tribes, we will begin from the farthest East, the old home. FOOTNOTES: [147] _Histoire des Bohémiens_, French Translation of 1810. [148] The _Edinburgh Review_, “Origin and Wanderings of the Gypsies,” July, 1878, adopted the opinion of F. Bataillard that a single scouting-party was in Europe between 1417 and 1427. [149] [“They appeared in various bands, under chiefs, to whom they acknowledged obedience, and who assumed the titles of dukes and earls” (_Weissenburch_).]