Common opinion deriveth them from _Egypt_, and from thence they derive themselves, according to their own account hereof, as _Munster_ discovered in the letters and pass which they obtained from _Sigismund_ the Emperour; that they first came out of lesser _Egypt_, that having defected from the Christian rule, and relapsed unto Pagan rites, some of every family were enjoyned this penance to wander about the world; or as _Aventinus_ delivereth, they pretend for this vagabond course, a judgement of God upon their fore-fathers, who refused to entertain the Virgin _Mary_ and Jesus, when she fled into their Country. Which account notwithstanding is of little probability: for the generall stream of writers, who enquire into their originall, insist not upon this; and are so little satisfied in their descent from _Egypt_, that they deduce them from several other nations [SN: _Fernand. de Cordua didascal. multipl._]: _Polydore Virgil_ accounting them originally _Syrians_, _Philippus Bergomas_ fetcheth them from _Chaldæa_, _Æneas Sylvius_ from some part of _Tartary_, _Bellonius_ no further then _Walachia_ and _Bulgaria_, nor _Aventinus_ then the confines of _Hungaria_. That they are no _Egyptians_, _Bellonius_ [SN: Observat. l. 2.] maketh evident: who met great droves of Gypsies in _Egypt_, about Gran Cairo, Matærea, and the villages on the banks of _Nilus_, who notwithstanding were accounted strangers unto that Nation, and wanderers from foreign parts, even as they are esteemed with us. [Sidenote: _Gypsies first known in Germany._] That they came not out of _Egypt_ is also probable, because their first appearance was in _Germany_, since the year 1400, nor were they observed before in other parts of _Europe_, as is deducible from _Munster_, _Genebrard_, _Crantsius_ and _Ortilius_. But that they first set out not far from _Germany_, is also probable from their language, which was the Sclavonian tongue; and when they wandred afterward into _France_, they were commonly called _Bohemians_, which name is still retained for Gypsies. And therefore when _Crantsius_ delivereth, they first appeared about the Baltick Sea, when _Bellonius_ deriveth them from _Bulgaria_ and _Walachia_, and others from about _Hungaria_, they speak not repugnantly hereto: for the language of those Nations was Sclavonian, at least some dialect thereof. [Sidenote: _What use the Grand Signior maketh of Gypsies._]