King Henry VIII legally banned reading palms because he thought it was a scam utilized by vagabonds

Palmistry became a matter of law

Chiromancy—the practice of interpreting the lines and shapes of a person’s hand to tell their fortune—was named in England’s 1530 Egyptian Act. The law treated it as a means by which people described as “outlandish” could deceive Christians and take their money. In other words, the state was not regulating palm reading as a private belief; it was casting the practice as part of a public threat associated with itinerant outsiders.

The label reveals the law’s target

The act’s word “Egyptian” was a period label applied to Romani people, not a reliable description of where they came from. Palmistry was one activity condemned in a broader measure aimed at people the authorities categorized as outsiders and travelers. Henry VIII’s stated concern about deceit gave the restriction a moral and financial rationale: fortune-telling was framed as a way to exploit those who sought it.

That framing matters. The act did not amount to a modern, general debate about whether palmistry was true. It tied a familiar practice to suspicion of a marginalized group—and made that suspicion a matter of law.