ABSTRACT
After a long, lonely day in the Special Collections of the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds, I was enjoying a pint in the rare English sunshine outside Wetherspoon House, before catching a train back to my lodgings in Headingley. While engaged in casual conversation with a dark-haired man in his thirties, the topic turned to the reason for my trip to England and the focus of my research. I quickly discovered that I was sitting across the table from a twenty-first-century English Roma, who worked at the university. Steve proceeded to regale me with a story passed down from his grandmother, now deceased. According to Grandma, Steve’s ancestors had escorted Joseph of Arimathea1 and the boy Jesus to the British Isles. They travelled to Somerset and built the first church at Glastonbury, which is well-known for its connection with the medieval legend of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. Steve’s grandmother bequeathed to her family the idea that gypsies originated in North Africa. Steve’s personal proof of his gypsy lineage was that he had always known things, alluding to an innate prescience transferred through his bloodline.
