Gypsy 4
Excerpts from an internet source:
Western stereotypes of Gypsies as criminals arose when Gypsies first entered Europe.
Confusion reigned over Europe's attempts to know who the Gypsies were.
... "many early [European] accounts describe Gypsy bands as conglomerations of various segments of the underclass of society,"
... Gypsies were widely thought to be "a motley assemblage of rogues and vagabonds."
European Christians, especially, tended to believe that dark-skinned people were evil.
It was suggested that because the Gypsies were dark, strangely dressed, and spoke a language believed to be "a kind of gibberish used to deceive others" lent credence to the fear that they were spies for the Turks and enemies of Christendom.