MOVING OF DUBROVNIK LOVARI ROMA ACROSS CROATIA, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASISE ON SETTLING ON THE TERRITORY OF TODAY’S BJELOVAR-BILOGORA COUNTY (SLAVONIA, BJELOVAR-KRIZEVCI COUNTY, MIGRATIONS, DOCUMENTS, NAMES AND SURNAMES)
No matter whether Dubrovnik gypsies traded in Dubrovnik or outside of it, close or far away from the town everything indicates that they were involved in Dubrovnik merchandise. Merchandise was what made Dubrovnik Lovari Roma to migrate and settle in other places in Croatia, mostly in Slavonia which in 1743 was joined with the rest of Croatia. Lovari Roma managed to come to big town centres of Varazdin and Zagerb.
Data on Roma in Slavonia can be found in report in 1698-1702 on taxing of citizens. Varazdin was the capital of Croatian in years 1756-1776. These grandiose years ended with fire in 1776 and the town lost the importance and the Roma that lived there moved after that to the territory already inhabited by Lovari Roma; Bilogora, Moslavina and Podravina. They stayed in this territory rich with horses and cattle which are bases of their trade. Lovari Roma for centuries traded with cattle, mostly horses and even today they are known for being merchants.
According to ”Conscriptio Zingarorum” from 1781 in all counties of Slavoina there were 1326 of Gypsies and in the military frontier 1982 gypsies were registered (Vukanovic Tatomir, Roma (Gypsies) in Jug. 4). Known orders of the eprariors Maria Teresa and Joseph II that regulate life of Gypsies had big influence on assimilation and inhabiting of Gypsies. Such rules and orders were in power until 1783 and were completely forgotten after 6 May 1871 when with “the Kings order” the authority of military administration in military frontier was banned and introduced civic administration according to which Gypsies were left to live as “their blood tells them”. This mostly meant at the end of the villages, in houses made of soil or wood, as horse trades, musicians or horse-thief.
Due to the best possibility for trading the Lovari Roma mostly inhabited municipalities of Kapela, Veliki Grdjevac, Pitomaca, Severin, Ivanic-Klostar, Novigrad, Virje, Ivanska, Sokolovac and Popovaca (Report of Bjelovar-Krizevci County for the year 1887, 15 February 1886). Settling of Lovari Roma and Kalderash from Hungary to district of Koprivnica and Djurdjevac, mostly in municipalities of Pitomaca, Novigrad and Virje and their mixing with already inhabited “domestic gypsies” Lovari, was noted in registry books of parish Pitomaca from 1768 till 1825, archive of Croatia, Zagreb and in 1904 it was noted for the first time in the registry books the name “domestic Gypsies”.
It is interesting that the new coming Roma were specific by their fair skin and blue or green eyes which was contrast to the settled Lovari Roma who were very dark with mostly brown eyes.
According to statements in 1909, running from Hungaria from newly introduced rule of Roma hall-marking a big group of Kalderash Roma with surnames: Goman, Lakatos and Bayash Roma with surnames: Horvat, Bogdan. They also inhabited the mentioned area along with autochthonous Roma and formerly set fellow-countryman, Hungarian Roma from Serbia. It was very difficult to establish the exact number of Roma, (Statistical yearbook of Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia for 1906-1919.) because new groups of Roma were arriving to Croatia. These groups differed from Lovari Roma in culture, religion and by Roma language. This is especially with the language of Bayash Roma who speak with old Rumanian dialect, dialect of ljimba d’bajas, language from the territory of Dacia.
Also there is lack information into which category the Roma citizens were put in, whether it was according to ethnicity of the area in which they lived of whether they were put under “others” or “not known”. Census of Kingdom of Yugoslavia from 31 March 1931 gives a general number of Roma. The census was based on religion and mother tong. According to the census 64 909 persons declared their mother tong to be “Gypsy”. More precise data came from “Yearbook of Banovina authorities of Banovina Croatia” from 16.08.1940 where 14 879 or 0.37 percent of population spoke “Gypsy” as mother tong. Considering the number of Roma in Croatia at that time, which consisted of autochthonous Lovari Roma and new comer Roma it can be concluded that the present laws, kindness of non-Roma population and the areas in which they lived suited Roma perfectly. This was an impulse to accept this area as “promised land” in which nobody will ban them and in which they will permanently settle.
