History says that for more than 500 years the Roma were slaves in the territory of today's Romania
For almost five centuries, their slave lord brought huge profits to their masters: the landowners, the feudal aristocracy and the Orthodox Church. The status of the Roma was that of a subject people, the absolute property of their masters: the personality, faith and habits of their masters determined their entire existence.
After 1500, although the number of slaves declined drastically in Catholic and Protestant Europe—as slaves were transferred to overseas colonies to work—slavery flourished in the Romanian principalities. "In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was probably the only country in Europe that had a class of people with this label of slaves," Professor Doctor Constantin Balaceanu says of Stolnica.
The legislative texts, which mention them under the double denomination—Gypsies or slaves—state that they were born slaves; that every child born to a slave mother was a slave; that their masters had the power of life and death over them; that every owner had the right to sell or offer his slaves; and that every gypsy without a master is the property of the state.
In 1600, an able-bodied Roma was worth as much as a horse. In 1682, one Roma was worth two mares with foals. In 1760, three Roma were worth as much as one house, and in 1814, the Snagov monastery sold a Roma for the price of four buffaloes. There were also cases where Roma were sold according to their weight, a barrel of honey was exchanged, or offered as a gift..
Link: https://vvv.europeana.eu/es/blog/roma-ropstvo-u-Rumuniji-istorija
