Political, Economic, and Legal Structures

Foreign Bodies

“…11 In German cities, a property-owner born outside the walls, and thus classified as a foreigner, was required to assume citizenship to move into the city, but had to renounce it again on leaving. 12 Yet such protectionism also meant that resident foreigners in many places were the most disenfranchised; and the term 'foreign' might be used to indicate this status of economic outsiderhood rather than any birth status or class of rights. In London around 1400, many people were referred to as forinsecus -foreigners or strangers -in civic and guild records, even though they came from England and sometimes even from London itself.…”

“…a male foreigner] and to the city and the common good are brought all kinds of problems and difficulties. 17 As nations centralized from the sixteenth century, and as religious divisions became more intense and violent, shared allegiance to a ruler rather than localized economic status grew more dominant as a measure of belonging. This is seen very strongly in Ancien régime France, which was an early leader in this development: being subject to the king and from the territory he ruled would come to define the French citizen.…”