Gypsies, from the Ganges to the Thames

the long version

In this book Donald Kendrick begins by considering the many controversial and conflicting theories about the origin of the Gypsies. After updating his earlier account of their journey from India to Constantinople, he follows their route to the Balkans during the Ottoman period and their journey into central and western Europe where, for a brief golden age, they passed themselves off as pilgrims and penitents and were welcomed as skilled musicians, acrobats and metalworkers who brought an exotic element into a feudal society. An "Egyptian" fortune-teller was recorded in London at the end of the fifteenth century and a "gypsy" had his ears cut off and was transported to Virginia in 1715. --From publisher's description.