Review article
From the History of the Roma in the eighteenth century: Nicholas Škrlec Lomnički on the Roma in his writings Status actualis, Projectum and Descriptio
Danijel Vojak
; Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb
Abstract
Based on the analysis of historical sources at his disposal in previous scholarship, the author discusses the proposals of Nicholas Škrlec Lomnički concerning the regulation of the position of the Roma population in Hungary. In the second half of the eighteenth century, Mary Therese and Joseph II tried to regulate the position of the Roma in the Habsburg Monarchy by numerous decrees. At the beginning of the 1790s, Škrlec, considering the resistance (and unwillingness) of the authorities, as well as both the non-Roma and the Roma population themselves, concerning any implementation of the reforms of Mary Therese and Joseph II, proposed his propositions connected to the regulation of the position of the Roma in Hungary in his writings Descriptio and Projectum, while in Status actualis he just briefly discussed the professions of the Roma in Hungary. In his writings Descriptio and Projectum, he proposed that Hungarian (and by that he meant also Croatian) authorities should make accessible to the Roma some permanent sources of income (employment) and access to guilds and bodies dealing with agriculture, and in that manner suppress their nomadic customs (such as wandering around and playing music). In Škrlec’s opinion, by means of these measures, which were to be proclaimed as a separate law, Roma criminality would be prevented and the Roma would become part of the population that participated in the increase of national wealth. In the same writings, Škrlec made similar proposals also for the Jews and the Vlachs, emphasising the need for their education and employment. Through such plans, it becomes clear that Škrlec’s tendency towards inter-ethnic balance was achieved through a legal proposal for advancing the economy. Also, the foundations of his rethinking on regulating the status of the Roma may be found also in contemporary cameralist economic views about a connection between the increase of the population and increased employment with augmentation of national wealth. It is necessary to stress the point that Škrlec was among the first Croatian intellectuals who actively dealt with any regulation of the position of the Roma minority in Hungary (and Croatia). The Habsburg authorities did not accept his proposals regarding the Roma, and with that an opportunity for their more successful social and economic integration was missed. As for the next more important attempts for regulation of the aforementioned problem, the Habsburg (Austro-Hungarian and Croatian) authorities would try to implement those only in the second half of the nineteenth century, when they would not use the model proposed by Škrlecovim, but would try to assimilate the Roma on the basis of restrictive legal regulation.
Keywords
Nicholas Škrlec Lomnički; the Roma; Hungary; Croatia; Mary Therese; Joseph II
Hrčak ID:
121323
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2013.
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