England's Immigrants, 1330–1550: Aliens in Later Medieval and Early Tudor England

Abstract

This article, a revised and annotated version of a plenary lecture given at the North American Conference on British Studies meeting in October 2018, considers the place and significance of aliens in England's history between the expulsion of the Jews in 1290 and the arrival of the French and Dutch Protestants from the 1540s onward. It draws extensively on a new database of immigrants to England between 1330 and 1550, which itself relies principally on the remarkable records generated by a tax on aliens resident in England, collected at various points between 1440 and 1487. Aliens emerge as a significant element in English society—sometimes chastised, sometimes subject to violence and other abuse, but also recognized clearly for their contribution to the economy. If immigrants were sometimes seen as a potentially disruptive presence, they were also understood to be a natural and permanent part of the social order.

Diversity aboard a Tudor warship: investigating the origins of theMary Rosecrew using multi-isotope analysis

“…Trade between countries facilitated the movement of people as well as goods. Between 1500 and 1540 historical documents record the names of over 3000 immigrants settling in England (mostly in the south), originating (in descending numbers) from France, The Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Channel Islands and Portugal [ 14 ]. Even within Britain movement of people was common at this time; vagrancy was rife due to population growth and bad harvests [ 15 ].…”