The Alien Communities of London in the Fifteenth Century: Subsidy Rolls of 1440 and 1483-4 (Richard III Society S.) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1900289156 ISBN 13: 9781900289153

Publisher: Paul Watkins Publishing, 1998

Synopsis

In the fifteenth century, 6%, probably more, of London's population were alien immigrants. They came, in the main, from north-west Europe, especially Holland and Brabant, to live and to work in the capital, some for a few years only, others for the rest of their lives. They created small colonies where they worked as artisans in the clothing, leather-working and other trades. Some were rich brewers and goldsmiths but most were scarcely distinguishable from their London neighbours, except that they were aliens and often treated with scarcely-veiled hostility. The Crown saw them as a source of tax revenue and in 1439-40 imposed on them a poll tax, something which they could not levy on their own subjects after the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. These tax records survive and this volume includes calendars of three of the assessments, those for Southwark in 1440 and London in the Middlesex suburbs in 1483-4. The wealth of detail is extraordinary, including not only the names of the immigrants but the wards or parishes in which they lived, their occupations and sometimes their country of origin. These sources have been used to assess the scale of immigration into London in the fifteenth century, the geographic origins of the migrants, their social organisation and economic role within London, and to ask the difficult question of how the Londoners regarded this substantial alien minority within their midst. They offer to the economic and family historian, and the student of names, a great deal of precious source material. The book includes an introduction, maps of the localities, biographic studies of the aliens and their employers, statistical tables and a full index. An essential tool for anyone interested in London's history and family history, and even a contribution to contemporary debate, immigration never having been a new phenomenon in the life of London.

About this edition

• Publisher: Paul Watkins Publishing
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1900289156
• ISBN 13: 9781900289153
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 202
• Editor: Bolton J. L.