Strangers Settled Here Among Us: Immigration in Early Elizabethan England

STRANGERS SETTLED HERE AMONGST US

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STRANGERS SETTLED HERE AMONGST US Policies, perceptions and the presence of aliens in Elizabethan England

Laura Hunt Yungblut

London and New York

First published 1996 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an International Thomson Publishing Company © 1996 Laura Hunt Yungblut All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Yungblut, Laura Hunt, 1961– ‘Strangers settled here amongst us’: policies, perceptions, and the presence of aliens in Elizabethan England/Laura Hunt Yungblut. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-415-02144-8 (hardcover) 1. Great Britain—Politics and government—1558–1603. 2. Refugees, Political—England—History—16th century. 3. Refugees, Religious—England—History—16th century. 4. Ethnic attitudes—England—History—16th century. 5. England—Ethnic relations—History—16th century. 6. Great Britain—History— Elizabeth, 1558–1603. 7. Immigrants—English—History—16th century. 8. Aliens—England—History—16th century. I. Title. DA356.Y86 1996 323.1′42′09031–dc20 95–39757 CIP ISBN 0-203-40369-X Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-71193-9 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-02144-8 (Print Edition)

CONTENTS

1 2 3 4

APPENDIX A APPENDIX B

List of tables List of maps Preface INTRODUCTION ‘STRANGERS SETTLED HERE’ DICHOTOMIES IN ENGLISH ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ALIENS THE PRESENCE OF ALIENS AND GOVERNMENT POLICY IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I ALIENS, POLICY, AND THE ELIZABETHAN ECONOMY CONCLUSION Colchester Contribution Book to the Poor (1582–92) Norwich Book of Orders for Dutch and Walloon Strangers, 1564–1643 (NRO, MF/RO 31/1) Notes Bibliography Index

vi vii viii 1 7 28 46 69 83 86 89 93 119 132

TABLES 1 Survey of aliens in London, the liberties, Southwark, and Westminster, taken January 1563 (SP 12/27/19, 20) 2 Comparisons of numbers from surveys taken from March 1567 to November/December 1571 3 London wards with the highest alien population 4 London wards with the lowest alien population

15 17 20 21

MAPS 1 Patterns of alien residential concentration in Elizabethan London 2 Major areas of alien settlement, 1558–1603 3 Patterns of alien residential concentration in Elizabethan Norwich

20 24 26

PREFACE Almost innumerable works have been written about Elizabeth I and England in the ‘Elizabethan Age.’ Such a proliferation would seem to preclude the need for more books on the same. Nevertheless, I have written this one to investigate in more depth one facet of Elizabeth’s reign which intrigued me during my graduate career—the issue of immigration into England and how the Crown dealt with that issue. After having worked on a project transcribing the letters sent back home by Irish immigrants to the United States, I began drawing comparisons with the issues and concerns regarding immigration into the United States in our own era. From there I sought ways to apply these questions to the Tudor period, my particular area of interest, and my doctoral advisor introduced me to the famous late sixteenth-century immigration into England. After sifting through the seeming mountains of documents still extant concerning the strangers, and likewise as many secondary works as I could examine, the area which seemed to be the most lightly treated would be that of the triangular relationship between the aliens, the native English, and the central government, mostly because of the substantial numbers of the first, and the conscious policy decisions of the last. As the title of this book indicates, I believe that these three groups were inextricably linked, influencing one another for better or worse. It is this link that has not been deeply explored, and that forms the principal focus of this work. Thousands of Continental aliens came to the island kingdom in the early decades of Elizabeth’s reign. This influx has been examined in many books and articles, but most usually in the form of analyzing the religious motives of the strangers and/or their technological contributions to the Elizabethan economy. Conversely, studies of the Elizabethan government’s decision-making and development of policy have seldom given more than a passing nod to the issue of the alien settlement and its impact. The queen and her councillors were presented with what they perceived as both opportunities and hazards when the level of immigration increased substantially; the policies they enacted established a number of precedents for similar decisions made by Elizabeth’s successors. Authors traditionally allot a section of a work’s preface to thank various individuals who have made important contributions to the production of that work. To do so in the detail that the reality of my indebtedness requires would make this preface’s length rival that of the book’s chapters. Some contributions, however, necessitate mention. This study might never have happened at all had it not been for the initial encouragement of my advisor, Dr Ronald Pollitt, and the monetary support provided by the Jacobs K.Javits Fellowship program, which allowed me to go to the United Kingdom to conduct the necessary primary research. Several institutions granted me access to their collections, and their staffs frequently rendered invaluable assistance. These include the British Library, the Public Record Office, the Corporation of London Record Office, the Norfolk Record Office, the Essex Record Office, the Northeast Essex Record Office and the

Institute for Historical Research. I am also deeply grateful to Dr John Heitmann, Dr Larry Schweikart, Dr Marybeth Carlson and Mrs Cynthia Thomas for both professional and personal support during the project’s completion. Lastly, my warmest thanks to my husband, Mark, for alternately pushing and distracting me during the revision process, and for knowing when to do which.

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INTRODUCTION Britain has long enjoyed a reputation as the principal European refuge for those people who, for one reason or another, have felt the need to flee their native lands. This tradition of providing a place of sanctuary has continued down to the present day, as is evidenced, for example, by the famous individual cases of Louis-Philippe in the nineteenth century and Solzhenitsyn in the twentieth. The historical roots of this long-standing reputation lie in the sixteenth century. Those aliens who fled to England during the reign of Elizabeth I were, at least in any sizeable numbers, the first to have been motivated in their immigration by factors beyond what can be characterized as purely economic ones. The purpose of this study is to provide a new perspective on the roles played by those aliens.1 This new perspective addresses three primary aspects related to the strangers which are inextricably interwoven: the nature of their presence, native perceptions about them, and the policies engendered by both factors. Policy-making is an effective vehicle by which the complex interplay between the three aspects can be analyzed. Because of a variety of circumstances ranging from the ‘pull’ of Crown support to the ‘push’ of religious-civil war and economic displacement on the Continent, the notion of England as a haven for refugees was not only firmly established, but also was regularly enhanced both by events and by the reactions of Elizabeth’s government to those events. Although this building of the notion that England represented some sort of island refuge for the displaced of Europe can be traced to the Tudor century, many of the conditions which permitted its growth developed almost by chance. During Elizabeth’s rule, a number of unusual circumstances converged which enabled, or even forced, the Queen and her councillors to make policy decisions regarding the aliens and then to see those decisions through in the face of both domestic and international protest. As will be shown, Elizabeth’s reign differed from that of her predecessors in a number of respects. Before 1558, domestic political expediency more often than not dictated the central government’s decisions regarding strangers. The Crown rarely took the lead on alien issues through conscious and deliberate policy-making which would force reaction and influence the shape of history. Consequently, although the Queen could look to the past for precedents in dealing with strangers in the realm, she and her councillors had to adapt those precedents and modify them to fit the considerably changed circumstances. One of those unusual circumstances making Elizabeth’s position so different from that of previous monarchs was the changing nature of immigration into England during her reign, most especially in matters of dramatically increased volume, changing occupational and residential settlement patterns, and the perceptions these changes engendered. This increased immigration has been characterized as a ‘massive influx’ by the standard of earlier periods. Contemporaries certainly viewed it as such, and saw it as integrally linked with many of the rapid changes profoundly affecting them and altering their world. Elizabeth came to the throne in a period of considerable instability. A severe economic

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slump, a highly unsettled religious picture, and Catholic European powers eager to see her fail must have made the seat of power feel most unsteady. Before these critical early years had passed, the civil, religious, and economic upheavals on the Continent led to a significant increase in the numbers of aliens arriving on English shores. These differences required the Crown to adjust to the circumstances and try to plan for the future. Although the government was extremely conscious of England’s status as Europe’s most prominent Protestant state, unavoidable risks accompanied a policy of providing a haven for refugees, whatever their reasons for fleeing. Less than a decade after the Queen’s accession, new policies were necessary in order to deal with an unprecedented immigrant situation. One of the central difficulties of this new situation is the fact that the English had a reputation for xenophobia.2 Episodes such as the infamous Evil May Day riots in 1517 dot the landscape of English social and political history, making clear that the islanders were really of two minds when it came to matters of alien immigration. The twintraditions of asylum and xenophobia existed side by side, embraced to different degrees at one time or another by one social group or another, but both were always present, overlapping, and interacting. Outbursts of anti-alien sentiment have continued with some regularity down to the twentieth century. Despite centuries of contact with foreigners—at least in London and its environs—complaints about them can be found in virtually every reign. This popular hostility was no doubt motivated in large part by economic fears, but its presence had to be dealt with. T.H.Lloyd notes these ‘recurring periods of anti-alien sentiment’ which frequently intensified in periods of real or perceived stress.3 Moreover, English perceptions of the immigrants were colored by their preconceptions, by past experiences with foreigners. The reverse is also true as the aliens came with their own set of preconceptions. Even the Queen and her Privy Council seem to have been of two minds about alien policy. The Crown publicly supported the strangers but privately suspected them for a variety of reasons. Although the role of mediating between aliens and natives certainly gave cause for concern, the greatest suspicions centered around the issue of national security and the machinations of Catholic powers to overthrow Elizabeth. The government secretly feared that the large alien presence within the island kingdom might operate as a ‘fifth column’ when the expected clash with European Catholics finally came. The dichotomous perceptions that the aliens deserved religious sanctuary and had great potential economic utility, yet still posed very real threats to peace and security, led the government to try to regulate and control the aliens as well as direct their interactions with natives. Needless to say, Elizabeth’s foreign policy considerations were also affected by the presence of aliens, and vice versa. The aforementioned public support was mostly a result of the Crown’s recognition of the advantages which might be had from the fortuitous arrival of the strangers. These immigrants differed in significant aspects from those of earlier periods. The aliens of Elizabeth’s reign were mostly urban artisans with a wide variety of technological skills, a potentially great boon for a country that was technologically backward compared to its Continental neighbors. Consequently, Elizabeth and her Principal Secretary sought to maximize this unique opportunity by formulating policies and seeing them through, even in the face of predictable popular hostility. This particular combination of circumstances—the size and changing nature of the

Introduction

3

immigration, the perceived opportunity to cure England’s economic backwardness, the escalation of hostility from Catholic powers, and those powers’ identification of England as the leading Protestant country—placed Elizabeth and her government in a situation unique in English history, a situation both rich in potential benefits and fraught with potential for disaster both at home and abroad. The policies enacted helped shape similar choices made for future immigrations to Britain.

HISTORIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT Although a considerable amount of scholarship has been devoted to various facets of the presence of aliens in Elizabethan England, such works as are available concentrate on specific limited aspects, are very dated, or are primarily collections of documents. A fair amount of work has appeared in article form, particularly in the Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London and, to a lesser extent, in the Economic History Review, but these can obviously only deal with specific, limited topics. Also, as one would infer from the titles, these serials each have a certain focus which would tend to restrict the subjectmatter of the articles submitted to them. The Publications of the Huguenot Society of London (Quarto series) include excellent edited resource document volumes, printed particularly in the period 1885–1915. Prominent examples include William Page’s Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England, 1509–1603 (1893) and R.E.G. and E.F. Kirk’s Returns of Aliens in the City and Suburbs of London, 1523–1625 (1900–8). Given their purpose, they have little in the way of substantial analysis except as introductory background to the documents themselves, which are invaluable as resource materials. This series is also limited by focusing primarily on the French Protestant refugees. Other groups are occasionally covered, but for the most part only coincidentally to the French or by a church connection, as in materials on Austin Friars and other Dutch churches in England. This has changed to a degree in recent years, a trend to which this study, it is hoped, will contribute. Some monographs are available, but they have a variety of limitations. The broader ones, which attempt to paint a picture with sweeping strokes, are unfortunately very dated, such as J.S.Burn’s The History of the French Protestant Refugees (1846) and WilliamCunningham’s Alien Immigrants to England (1897). Other, more modern scholarship is available in monographs, but these either examine only those aspects of the alien experience which apply to their larger topic, as in Sylvia Thrupp’s Merchant Class of Medieval England, 1330–1500 (1949), B.A.Holderness’s Pre-Industrial England: Economy and Society, 1500–1570 (1976), E.S.Godfrey’s The Development of English Glassmaking, 1560–1640 (1975). Most works dealing with the medieval and early modern English economy pay tribute to the aliens’ contributions, but usually briefly. Others dealing specifically with aliens often have a very narrow focus, the most extreme of which is Alice Beardwood’s Alien Merchants in England 1350 to 1377: Their Legal and Economic Position (1931). Still others concentrate on one specific segment of the alien population, as with Philippe Dollinger’s The German Hansa (1970) or J.G.Gray’s The French Huguenots: Anatomy of Courage (1981). F.A.Norwood’s Strangers and Exiles: A History of Religious Refugees (1969)—a reworking and expansion of his 1942

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work, The Reformation Refugees as an Economic Force—has some lively discussion on the Elizabethan aliens, but primarily from the religious angle and only as one segment in his broad European study on religiously motivated migrations. Two of the more recent monographs are Robin Gwynn’s Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of Huguenots in Britain (1985) and Andrew Pettegree’s Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London (1986). Gwynn’s Huguenot Heritage is the most important monograph on the aliens published in decades. Gwynn discusses the Huguenots’ impact on the Elizabethan economy and on religion, the opposition to their presence and their eventual assimilation, and their relationship to the English government, among other issues. Even this valuable work could not cover everything, and it is somewhat limited by its primary focus on the Huguenots. Although other aliens are discussed, the French clearly occupy center-stage, and most of the play is set in the seventeenth century. Gwynn marvels at the decline in research on Huguenots and calls for additional scholarship. Close on the heels of Huguenot Heritage came Pettegree’s Foreign Protestant Communities. Pettegree’s work centers on the stranger churches, examining their historical and theological development and the role of the churches in the lives of the alien immigrants. While he does deal with matters such as the aliens’ economic and social impact, these discussions are an offshoot ofhis examination of the churches’ activities. He understandably limits himself to an examination of London. Although other settlements are of necessity mentioned, he states explicitly that he deliberately steered away from an examination of the alien communities in the provinces. He identifies comparative examinations of the provincial settlements and that of London as an important area for future research. This study helps answer the call for additional scholarship by examining that interaction between the presence of aliens in Elizabethan England, the perceptions relevant to that presence, and the policies dealing with both. While this study focuses mostly on London, owing to data availability and the fact that most policymaking was centered there, it attempts to make comparisons between London and the provincial alien settlements, important because the stranger communities sometimes had numbers constituting a substantial proportion of a town’s populace.

METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE Attempting to fill a lacuna I felt existed in the historiography of the nature and results of alien immigration into Elizabethan England, I adopted a modified interdisciplinary approach which combines historical method with sociology. The resulting socioinstitutional study concentrates primarily on such matters as the interaction between the various foreign groups and the native English, the reaction of the native populace to the alien influx, the preconceptions and perceptions of both the aliens and the English, and the omnipresent question regarding ‘traditional’ English xenophobia and how these issues affected the policy decisions of Elizabeth I’s government. I have also investigated the changing nature of the immigration stream over the course of Elizabeth’s reign, and its effects on perceptions. Medieval aliens in England apparently

Introduction

5

followed no evident residential spatial patterns. The majority of the Elizabethan aliens, however, tended to crowd into relatively few wards in the City of London, and this pattern held true for the other towns in which they settled. Many were joining family and friends or sometimes even fellow-members of a Continental congregation, but the considerable increase in the amount of immigration during this period exaggerated the pattern. This habit of concentrated settle-ment, moreover, apparently made their numbers appear larger than they really were, once again fueling latent xenophobia. Obviously, religion as an issue of such magnitude in the Elizabethan period has to be examined, but doctrine is de-emphasized in the study. These questions have been thoroughly dealt with in other places. Instead, this study uses religion more as a means to concentrate on the dichotomy between traditional xenophobia and the attitude of welcoming persecuted fellow-Protestants; to compare the attitudes of the English regarding religious refugees to those immigrants who came for other reasons; and to examine the aliens’ role in Elizabethan society. Many natives, somewhat erroneously, viewed foreign churches as synonymous with the alien communities in each town. Much of this perception was due to the involvement the churches did have in providing moral instruction and discipline as well as education and poor relief to its members.4 These churches’ freedom to worship in their own languages and as they saw fit, with minimal supervision from the bishop of London and other English prelates, also created ill-will from natives, whose worship was increasingly prescribed from the center. One must treat, as well, the issue of the strangers’ economic impact. In this area, a very considerable amount of scholarship has been done on disparate facets of the aliens’ contributions. This particular combination of people and circumstances produced a number of changes which, although they started small, were to have significant impact on the future of the British economy. Rather than retell the particulars of their technological innovations, which have already been well provided by other scholars, this study focuses on the role of economic policy inspired by and attempting to maximize this phenomenon. It also examines the policy decisions made to ensure the survival of these innovations and to foster the less obvious aspects of the aliens’ economic contributions, such as employment of natives, and contributions to municipal charges and poor relief. Members of Elizabethan society, particularly those with the advantage of the perspective of local or national political office, were often able to see that the introduction of skilled aliens would benefit their country’s economy. Others, however, especially the native artisans with whom the aliens would be competing, were not persuaded they would benefit from the introduction of aliens into their communities. This tension marked the alien experience through the entire reignof Elizabeth and continued through subsequent decades of British history as well. In the realm of legal matters, the status of aliens in England is examined both before and during the Elizabethan period, to determine whether the changed situation in the sixteenth century altered their status, and, if so, how. Also explored are the restriction and control of aliens, positive or negative legislation, and what part attitudes and economic issues played in shaping such legislation, both on the local and on the national level. An attempt is made to relate this approach to an analysis of the role played by the aliens’ presence in the formation of foreign and domestic policy by the national government as officials sought to strike a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of this presence in national concerns and

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foreign relations. This investigation uses documents not previously analyzed as well as making new use of more familiar materials. It also raises new questions, and questions some accepted theories. One hopes that in these ways it provides new insights into the social and governmental impact of the arrival of the aliens. Nevertheless, much additional work remains to be done to provide a more thorough picture of the role of these strangers in Elizabethan society. A number of research areas rich in potential still remain untapped, particularly in the study of the foreign enclaves themselves as well as their role in the larger community. A more detailed analysis of the lives of the aliens themselves is an area which has received little attention and is potentially very rewarding. Possible topics in this area include examining the interaction between the various ethnic groups in the stranger communities and investigating more deeply the assimilation of the aliens into the native society. Moreover, all these topics would be well served by a thoroughgoing demographic analysis of the aliens, especially through the method of family reconstitution and the study of their movements within England. These possibilities remain in the future. One hopes that this study will make a contribution to the body of knowledge on Elizabethan England and the study of historical immigrations, a contribution on which others will continue to build.

1 ‘STRANGERS SETTLED HERE’ The presence of aliens in England was not a phenomenon new in the time of Elizabeth Tudor. The actual numbers of strangers in the realm had been consistently rather low in the centuries before her reign, but even a small presence created issues with which English governments had to deal. Elizabeth I’s late medieval predecessors had, with few exceptions, dealt with issues concerning aliens largely on an expediency basis. The expedient that drove policy was usually the need to gain support for the Crown, whether it be political backing for an insecure or unpopular government, or the omnipresent need for financial supplements. Crown policy, therefore, most often took the form of enacting restrictive measures against aliens in order to gain immediate political or economic support. A factor complicating the application of even a veneer of systematic policy was that of popular sentiment. At least according to extant sources, the English, especially Londoners, actively disliked foreigners.1 This apparent xenophobia often had its origins in economic jealousy, but whatever its basis, the perception of strangers as different and of their presence as deleterious echoed through centuries of English history. The fairly consistent presence of xenophobic sentiment expedited the Crown’s use of restrictive policy against aliens as a bribe. There is no question but that aliens had played a role in English history for centuries before the reign of Elizabeth I. The nature and the scope of that role, as well as the native context in which it operated, frequently determined the respondent actions of the Crown regarding the aliens. Prevailing conditions more often than not dictated the central government’s decisions. Factors such as immediate economic considerations, and domestic and inter national political circumstances, usually shaped and directedgovernment actions. The reverse—the Crown taking the lead on alien issues through conscious royal policy-making, thereby provoking reaction and influencing circumstances—rarely proved to be the case. Although circumstance of necessity affected decision-making, the policies made by Elizabeth’s government concerning resident aliens would prove to be a case that did indeed provoke reaction and influence circumstances, just as the Queen and her councillors intended. This represented a distinct break from the pattern of the past in the history of English policy toward resident foreigners. During Elizabeth’s rule, a number of unusual circumstances converged which enabled, or even forced, the Crown to make policy decisions regarding aliens and to see those decisions through despite varying degrees of protest both at home and abroad. The government obviously still had to deal with various economic and political considerations, but perhaps the most important new circumstance was the changing nature of immigration into England during the late sixteenth century. The very number of immigrants increased in a manner which has been characterized as a ‘massive influx’ by the standard of earlier periods.2 Moreover, the composition of this alien stream into the

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realm, as well as some of their motives for immigrating, had also changed. In less than a decade after her accession, Elizabeth’s government had to develop and implement policies for an immigrant situation her predecessors had never faced, one which simultaneously presented clear difficulties and possible rewards.

THE PRESENCE OF ALIENS IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I Foreigners had become a familiar part of the English urban landscape as early as the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Even Magna Carta made provision for free entry of alien merchants and for protection of their free commerce once there, apparently indicating that native trade had not yet achieved the capability of assuring a constant and sufficient flow of desired consumer goods from the Continent into England. The alien merchants did indeed come freely. Those of the German Hanse and of Italy formed the largest of the medieval groups, which incidentally tended to be the pattern not only in London but also in most major European cities, all of which had substantial communities of merchant strangers.3 Other English towns as well—most notably Norwich, Lynn, Boston, Hull, and York—had grown accustomed to the presence of alien merchants through centuries of trading predating the reign of Elizabeth. London, however, remained the city with the largest concentration by far of these aliens simply because of the dominant position it held in England's trade. Patterns of both nationality and location remained virtually constant throughout the Middle Ages. The overwhelming majority of these foreigners were transients, remaining in England only long enough to conduct their business, and then leaving, at least until the next time their business gave them cause to return. Nevertheless, although most remained for only a short time, select examples exist of foreigners who made England their home and became active members of their communities, particularly in the capital. Prominent alien merchants occasionally took up lengthy, sometimes permanent, residence in London; some served as aldermen and even as members of the royal household in a variety of capacities. Aliens, particularly Italians from Lucca and Lombardy, played a small but vital role in London’s medieval aldermanic class; the majority of the aliens serving the Crown in some role tended to be from various regions of France, although Edward I had Italian advisors he valued highly.4 Gwyn Williams notes that, after having gained citizenship, alien immigrants or their immediate descendants rose to become nineteen of the 229 aldermen in London (8.3 per cent) in the period 1200–1340.5 Admission as a freeman could be obtained in three ways: by inheritance or patrimony, by a minimum seven years’ apprenticeship to a freeman, or by purchasing it in the presence of the mayor and aldermen. Obviously, the only way for wealthy aliens to obtain citizenship was to gain sponsorship from a native and then to purchase the freedom of the City, routinely at a much higher fee than that for Englishmen. This was, however, a far from common occurrence and declined after the mid-fourteenth century. Besides the small numbers of wealthy alien merchants who settled in the realm, the majority of the other aliens resident in medieval England were members of religious establishments, small artisans, and servants.6 The small discrete groups of resident alien

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craftsmen came from many different parts of Europe and practiced very specialized trades in which they were commonly held to have skills superior to Englishmen, such as in making glass, brewing beer, Grafting luxury leather goods, and working precious metals. The merchants also came from virtually all over Europe, but the largest groups were the Italians and the merchants of the German Hanse. Thrupp notes that an Exchequer subsidy roll of 1485 for London lists fifteen merchants, but that all Venetians, Genoese, Lucchese, and Florentines were exempt from the subsidy and therefore not listed. She estimates that wealthy merchants and other resident aliens ‘of superior rank’ with their families numbered about 500 by 1500.7 Of those aliens who were also permanent residents but not of ‘superior rank,’ the French seem to have been mostly employed as domestics, while the Flemish, Dutch, Brabanters, and some Germans occupied the highly skilled crafts mentioned above. Together with their families, Thrupp estimates their numbers to be about 2,500, bringing the London alien population to approximately 3,000 in 1500.8 The London group constituted by far the largest in England, with numbers many times that of any other town, where resident aliens could be counted by units or tens rather than thousands. Resident merchants were limited for the most part to London, Southampton, and Sandwich, but the latter towns had comparatively small numbers.9 The aliens designated as small masters and householders were much more widely scattered, but, with the exception of a few individuals in York, most again resided in the south-east and in small numbers. Nine aliens, mostly shoemakers, who lived in Colchester gained the freedom of the city during the sixteenth century before Elizabeth’s reign. Only sixteen aliens gained the freedom of Norwich from the 1380s to 1558. Of those with trades listed, there were three goldsmiths, two hatters, one tailor, one joiner, one basketmaker, one brewer, and one skinner. D.M.Palliser identifies fifteen alien residents in York wealthy enough to be assessed in the lay subsidies from 1524 to 1549 and notes the rare case of a Spanish goldsmith who became free of York in 1530–1 and naturalized in 1535.10 Interestingly, rather than limiting their settlement only to such sizeable towns, a very small number of these alien craftsmen, particularly those of the textile trades, also settled in villages like Bocking and Shalford in Essex.11 The middle decades of the sixteenth century saw a significant increase in the numbers of aliens arriving in England. Andrew Pettegree maintains that as many as 5,000–6,000 strangers resided in London alone by the end of Henry VIII’s reign, and by the end of that of Edward VI their numbers were as high as 10,000. His numbers for Henry’s reign are estimated by scaling up by 2 or 2.5 times from a subsidy-count base which listed ‘only adult males,’ and those for Edward’s reign are from his doubling of foreign reformers’ ‘talk of there being more than 5,000 “Germans” in the capital.’ His estimates may merit re-examination.12 First, the subsidy-counts upon which he bases his conclusions tell another story under closer scrutiny. The only apparently complete subsidy-survey for London, that of April 30, 1549, lists 1,218 aliens. Maximizing the formula Pettegree applies, 2.5 times 1,218 equals 3,045, well under the ‘5,000 or 6,000’ he claims for 1547, much less the ‘10,000’ of 1553. Including the 552 aliens listed in four apparently simultaneous views taken in the suburbs and surrounding areas of Middlesex adds 1,380, for a total of 4,425.13 Four to five thousand seems to be a much more reasonable estimate in view of the extant subsidy counts for the reigns of Edward and Mary and for the

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earliest years of Elizabeth.14

THE SOURCES AND THEIR LIMITATIONS To appreciate more fully what I have characterized as the new situation arising in Elizabeth’s reign, it is first necessary to examine the alien population in England in the late sixteenth century and determine what had changed from these earlier patterns. This examination will of necessity center on London, owing to the key facts that the metropolis had the largest number of resident aliens, and that most of the extant data are on London’s alien population. Other centers of alien settlement, most notably Norwich and Colchester, will also be examined, but in much less detail and primarily for the purpose of drawing comparisons with the capital. At this point it is appropriate to note the difficulties in determining the numbers of historical populations, especially the further back one goes in time. Despite the work of scholars like E.A. Wrigley, R.S.Schofield and Peter Laslett, caveats have been presented by a number of scholars over the last few decades on the issue of accuracy in determining the sizes of historical populations. E.E.Rich noted that before the British census of 1801, ‘there is only piecemeal evidence, susceptible of very considerable manipulation and, indeed, requiring it;’ therefore ‘any attempt to estimate the total population at any period must always involve a confidence in a multiplicator which none but the wilfully deluded can feel.’ He nevertheless proceeds to make the attempt.15 David Yaukey notes that in the search for ideal migration data, even with modern studies ‘we fall woefully short, especially on the international plane.’ The distance across centuries make the search that much more complicated.16 In the specific case of aliens in England during Elizabeth’s reign, Roger Finlay, Mark Greengrass, and Irene Scouloudi point out that additional special problems apply. All agree that local officials often had difficulty in precisely defining who was an alien, and that different surveys of aliens in different periods would cover different areas. These limitations make comparisons tenuous at best, and invalid at worst. As these scholars observe, the definition of whom the authorities counted as aliens is one of the very murky issues attendant on calculating the numbers of the Elizabethan alien population. Influencing these official definitions were issues such as the variety of popular native attitudes about what constitutes an alien, and changing or misunderstood legal definitions of the position of aliens in the realm. Often the legal definitions and popular practice bore little resemblance to one another. This makes analysis of some of the alien population surveys problematical, since the personnel actually conducting them may have applied very different standards. These authors also agree on the often faulty and scattered nature of the returns, particularly outside of London. Again, like Rich, they still make an attempt based on the available documentation, as does this study.17

THE NEW ALIEN PRESENCE AFTER 1558 The newcomers were no longer primarily from the Germany and the Italian states.

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Instead, they hailed predominantly from the Low Countries and France, although other areas were still represented. By March 1567, the ‘Dutch’ constituted approximately 74.5 per cent of the alien population resident in London and Westminster, and the French accounted for another 15.5 per cent. Only 6.5 per cent came from Mediterranean areas, with the balance of 3.5 per cent falling into a number of miscellaneous categories.18 Many were indeed merchants, but very large numbers of artisans also came, as did schoolmasters, surgeons, physicians, engineers, musicians, and artists. The numbers of craftsmen were unprecedented, and the variety of their trades seems nearly as extensive as the numbers of new immigrants. Extant records indicate that the largest of these groups were those artisans employed in various aspects of the textile industry, especially weavers, dyers, spinners, threadmakers, and lacemakers. As William Page noted, ‘never [before] was so large a proportion of the population alien.’19 The heavy influx of aliens after 1560 can reasonably be attributed to the everincreasing persecutions instituted by the Catholic rulers of Spain and France against their Protestant subjects. Although Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Henry II of France, were certainly never reluctant to take punitive measures against ‘heretics’ in their dominions, their heirs raised the persecution to an even higher level. From the time of Edward VI, when the shift toward a more radical Protestantism than that of Henry VIII occurred, England began to assume the role of the leading Protestant power. As prominent Continental reformers were welcomed at Edward’s court, England’s leadership in the reformed religion grew apace until it became so strong that it was able to endure the temporary eclipse that came with Edward’s death and the return to Roman Catholicism during the reign of Mary.20 England’s reputation as a bastion of Protestantism, combined with the comparatively few choices for asylum and the geographic proximity of the British Isles to France and the Netherlands, made England a natural choice for a variety of religious refugees from north-western Europe.21 Frederick Norwood observed that although the refugee movements on the Continent were both large and important, that to England remained unique. He points out that because of linguistic and cultural barriers, the refugees in England are more easily identifiable, while the frequently blurred linguistic and cultural lines on the Continent make the refugees less easily traceable. I would add other arguments to Norwood’s. The very barriers he mentions exacerbated the natural tensions between natives and aliens, tensions which also existed on the Continent but apparently were of a less virulent or lasting nature. Also, these Continental refugee settlements tended more to be single nationalities as the refugees sought areas that were close to home and where they could speak the language. Most of the English settlements were made up of multiple nationalities—although one group frequently had more or less dominant numbers—and this circumstance added another dimension of tension to the situation. Religion was by no means the only motivating force for Continental immigration into England during this period. Religion may have dramatically swelled the floodtide, particularly in periods of notable religious violence on the Continent, but economic and other considerations continued to play an important motivational role.22 For example, the Hansards, whose quarters were known as the Steelyard, had been in continuous residence in London for three centuries before Edward VI revoked their privileges in 1552.23 Before the English Reformation, there was no shared sense of religious kinship to

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mitigate a popular hostility motivated in large part by economic concerns. Consequently, attitudes and relations between the native and alien groups usually remained focused on economic issues. This focus continued and strengthened a pattern of the central governments using economically oriented restrictions on aliens as bribes to gain cooperation for other policies. Native economic jealousy naturally sharpened in time of hardship, and the middle of the sixteenth century was such a time. Prices in England had increased steadily from the early years of the sixteenth century, as they had all over Europe. This inflation came primarily from the increase of silver bullion being imported from the New World by Spain. In England, however, this situation was keenly aggravated by the coinage debasements of the 1540s. In an attempt to stabilize England’s discredited currency by bringing face values into line with intrinsic worth, the Duke of Northumberland devalued the coinage by 50 per cent in April 1551. His action provoked such a negative popular reaction that the Privy Council ordered a return to ‘good currency’ in September, reinstating the previous face value.24 This revaluation of the pound sterling was an important factor which ‘contributed to the difficulties of the…exporters’ of England’s main export product, woolen short-cloths.25 The ‘boom’ the cloth industry had experienced since 1522 went ‘bust’ and the demand for English shortcloth exports declined dramatically for more than a decade.26 Despite these drawbacks, most immigrants still viewed England as the land of opportunity compared to much of the Continent. A general examination of the conditions in their homelands and of those they anticipated finding at their chosen destination helps shed light on the increasing rate of immigration in Elizabethan England. Discussing the forces behind the mobility of pre-industrial skilled labor in Europe, Carlo Cipolla identifies several ‘mis-fortunes that made life unbearable for the preindustrial craftsman: famines, plagues, wars, taxations, shortages of demand for labor, and political and religious intolerance.’27 This list could have been written specifically to apply to the Continent in the middle to late sixteenth century, where the various wars, along with their concomitant and virtually continuous impairment of economies, provided a number of these ‘push’ factors inspiring many north-western Europeans to seek quieter and more profitable places to pursue their trades. Peter Clark and Paul Slack identify three general ‘sorts’ of migration to the various towns of early modern England: betterment; subsistence; and the Elizabethan aliens, whose special case combined elements of the first two. Betterment migration was a conscious and deliberate decision to relocate in the hopes of improving one’s economic and/or social position. Subsistence migrants were generally the poorer segments of society who, under a variety of external pressures which threatened their very existence, moved to towns seeking charity, employment, or some other means of survival.28 The circumstances of this period merged these two types in the alien groups coming to England during Elizabeth’s reign. A small but regular number had come solely for pecuniary reasons throughout the sixteenth century, and despite the economic difficulties the English faced at the outset of Elizabeth’s reign, England appeared to hold more economic promise than did home for many potential immigrants. The effects of the Antwerp market’s 1551 crash, the economic decline of Antwerp, and the disruptions caused by the French civil wars during the 1560s provide just a few examples of how even the straitened circumstances in

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England could look good to hungry craftsmen on the Continent.29 In an extraordinarily lengthy and detailed survey of the alien population taken in 1571, the immigrants themselves gave their reasons for coming to England, and economic motives figure prominently from those who immigrated throughout the 1550s and 1560s. Lawrence Fortuna, a Norman clockmaker ‘came into this realme to worke’ in 1560, as did Flemish cutler Thomas de Shampoyse and his wife. Dutch cutler Lambert Peterson also came ‘to get his lyvinge’ in 1554. John Edwardes, a tailor born in the duchy of Cleves, did likewise in 1558.30 Religion as a motive for such immigration was not a major factor until after the 1521 Reformation on the Continent, and even then the numbers of refugees for conscience remained small until the last decade of Henry VIII’s rule. It was not until the reign of Edward VI that the official sympathy extended to persecuted Protestants brought a steady increase in the numbers of religiously motivated immigrants into the realm, despite the decline in English prosperity in the middle decades of the century. The receptiveness of Edward’s government to these individuals helped establish a pattern which would develop into the comparative floodtide of immigration which characterized the 1560s and 1570s, an influx supplemented by Elizabeth and Cecil’s invitations to select Continental craftsmen and experts to bring their arts to England. The fact that Continental immigration to England—albeit in relatively small numbers—was a centuries-old pattern also encouraged the potential new arrivals of her reign. Victualler Christian Browne of Holland had been in England ‘above fyftye yeares’ and had residing with him a ‘kynnesman’ who had lived in the realm ‘six yeares.’ Sealmaker Michael Shero from ‘nere Paris’ was ‘brought over by one of his brothers very yonge’ fifteen years earlier. Gyllymes Sage, ‘Frenchwoman, howsholder, was brought into this realme by her frendes about xiiij yeares past.’ Symonde Bewfatt of Tournai came ‘to seeke his father and mother who nowe be deade, and he remayneth.’ Other entries in the same revealing 1571 survey discussed above mention virtually every possible motive. Frenchmen James Sarmoys, Leonarde Pynardo, and Peter Bonevalt all came ‘to se the cuntrye’ and opted to stay. Servant Anthony Heringe, ‘borne in Burgondie,’ bluntly told the surveyors he ‘came over myndinge to dwell heare.’ Frauncis Mathewe of Antwerp had come thirty-six years earlier ‘to seke adventures.’31 The vast majority of the newcomers of Elizabeth’s reign made their way first to London, and did so in such unprecedented numbers that the government took a survey of the aliens as early as August 1561, commanding officials to ‘searche out & learne the holl number of the Alyens & Straungers aswell Denizens as other dwellinge and resiaunt at this p[oi]nt.’32 Additionally, City officials were ordered to record the full names and countries of origin of the immigrants. Even before this first extant survey of Elizabeth’s reign, a letter from the Bishop of London to Secretary Cecil, dated May 11, 1568, hints that the government had given thought to an inquiry some time in 1560.33 A survey dated January 20, 1562/3 apparently tried to correlate the motive of escape from religious persecution with the rising numbers of aliens in the realm. The attempt at total coverage is made clear from the preface of the certificate, which states that the survey was made in the City of London, all of the liberties, Southwark, and Westminster.34 The survey identified 4,534 aliens,’ 2,860, or 63 per cent, had come to England before Elizabeth’s reign. The surveyors categorized the more recent arrivals into

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two groups, those who ‘do professe relligion’ as a motive and had come within the first three years of the reign, and others claiming reasons of religious conscience who had come within the past twelve months. Those answering affirmatively to the former classification came to 371, and to the latter 341. The ‘others not come for the cause of relligion’ in the same time period numbered 962.35 Whether exact to the person or not, the figures do indicate that the pace of refugee immigration was increasing, since nearly as many. had arrived in the last year as in the previous two (see Table 1). Moreover, those immigrants not claiming religious asylum represented 57.5 per cent of the new arrivals, which was still a fair margin considering that refugees’ numbers had been steadily increasing since the time of Edward VI. This survey is an early indicator that the central government was aware of these issues and felt it desirable or even necessary to know more than merely the nationalities and current locations of the aliens. What started as a simple collection of names and birthplaces in 1561 had, by 1565, come to include a multitude of queries. A precept of October 1565, for instance, to certify the number of strangers in London not only included a demand for such information as names, dwelling-places and places of birth, but also howe longe euery one of them hathe dwelt and contynued within your said warde or in eny other parte of the said Cittye…and howe manny of them be howseholders & howe manny of them seruaunts or soiourners & no housekeepers and by what arte occupacon or Science euerey one of them doo lyve sortyng and placyng euereye nacion by hymself and seuering the householders from the soiornors and seruaunts And also notying the same Soioners from the seruaunts…36 This illuminating document also directed city officials to maintain watch for any new arrivals and to give notice of them from time to time. The rising tensions in the Netherlands in 1565, and the beginning of the Dutch Revolt in 1566, along with Philip II’s attempts at repression, sizably increased the flow of immigration. Page observes that the Spanish aggression resulted in an ‘enormous emigration from the Netherlands; and what with this and the wholesale executions, the once flourishing cities of the Low Countries were being depopulated.’37 Much of this ‘enormous’

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Table 1 Survey of aliens in London, the liberties, Southwark, and Westminster, taken January 1563 (SP 12/27/19, 20)

emigration fled to England, as can be seen in the surveys which followed in rapid succession in 1567 and 1568. By Easter (March 30) 1567, authorities found 3,324 aliens in London, the liberties, and Westminster. The point of the survey was clear, since the aliens were questioned primarily about nationality and length of residence in England. Of

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these immigrants, 156 had come in the past twelve to twenty-four months, and 232 had arrived within the last year.38 A survey dated December 15 of that same year reported 3,758 aliens in London and the adjoining liberties, with 1,059 of them citing a length of residence of one year or less.39 Even without counting Westminster, an increase is evident for the intervening nine months. The number of aliens increased dramatically according to a survey of March 1568, which listed 6,704 in London and the liberties, and another 2,598 in Westminster, for a total of 9,30240 (see Table 2). Of the 9,302, 77 per cent were reported as Dutch, and 18 per cent French. Although no specific numbers were given for new residents, it can be safely assumed that the majority had arrived since the previous survey was taken. In July, the government ordered yet another survey, the purpose of this one specifically to discover the number of new arrivals and how many of them had come for religion. New immigrants in just over three months numbered 461, with 259 seeking religious asylum. Most of the figures in this chapter are based on London, as are those in Table 2. Despite the fact that Table 2 shows a dramatic increase in the number of strangers found resident in March 1568, the sustained size of London’s alien population remained between 4,000 and 5,000 for most of Elizabeth’s reign. This would seem to cast doubt on the idea of an overwhelming increase of immigration, but there are several additional points which make the argument more clear. First, the central government embarked on a carefully considered policy of dispersing substantial numbers of aliens to other locations, the said policy periodically lowering the strangers’ numbers in London. A similar effect is caused by return migration. A small but steady stream of the immigrants returned to their homelands when the stresses which had compelled them to leave originally seemed to lessen. Lastly, death rates frequently outstripped birth rates in early modern cities, so many of the later immigrants to London ‘replaced’ earlier ones, a trend which cannot be seen from the survey totals. This influx in the early years of Elizabeth’s reign dwarfed the immigration of previous eras.41 It also served to intensify

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Table 2 Comparisons of numbers from surveys taken from March 1567 to November/December 1571

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government probing. As discussed above, absolute certainty on the numbers is not possible. No matter what the exact numbers, the most important aspects of this immigration are the perception at the time that it was unusual, and the reactions that this perception provoked. Consequently, the Crown expanded the search articles to include inquiries on what were the original reasons for the strangers’ immigration into England, when they first arrived, how long they intended to remain, and what churches they attended, or whether they did not attend religious service at all. By the March 1568 survey, searchers began asking about the type of houses in which the strangers dwelt, how many dwelt in one house, and ‘especially howe manny of theim do dwell upon anny of the warfes of this Cittie or neare unto the Theames or do kepe anny ware house Seller or Storehouse in anny place neare unto the said water side.’42 Moreover, the searches were becoming more frequent as well as more complex, with at least seventeen after 1560.43 The most elaborate and detailed of these surveys were conducted in May, November, and December of 1571, the year of the disclosure of the Ridolfi Plot, a proposed operation against Elizabeth which had as its primary component a foreign invasion of England coordinated with an internal rebellion. Wallace MacCaffrey described this as a ‘deeply uneasy’ period for Elizabeth and her councillors, who had not yet recovered from the successive upheavals caused by the arrival of Mary, Queen of Scots, the seizure of the Duke of Alva’s payships and resulting trade embargo, and the Northern Rebellion.44 The first of the three surveys came after the details of the plot began to surface in the late spring, and the others after its full disclosure in September.45 The May count showed 4,287 aliens in London and the liberties; that of November showed 4,541 for the same areas, and that of December showed 1,972 for the suburbs outside the City, for a total of 6,513 in and around London.46 The search articles addressed all the earlier questions, but in remarkable detail, particularly about individual household members and the motives for immigrating into England. The authorities were apparently beginning to worry about the accuracy of the information they received as well as the sufficiency of its extent. As the precepts ordering the surveys evolved into more and more complicated documents, the Privy Council took greater pains in selecting the searchers. They also issued specific instructions about verifying the good character of the searchers in addition to details of the procedures the latter were expected to follow. The aldermen who routinely conducted the surveys were to be accompanied by the Constable of each parish and ‘also one or more of the most sadd & Discrett persons of your saide warde,’ who would interrogate the aliens and require them to answer on their oaths.47 Their suspicion that the aliens were not being entirely truthful in reporting to the authorities, sometimes using language difficulties as a means to escape giving the desired information in some of these inquiries, is obvious from commands such as those requiring aldermen to take with them ‘the minister of suche of the straungers churches as best be acquainted wth their language and some other Englishe ministers.’48 Even as they relied upon them to assist the aldermen, possible governmental doubt about even the foreign ministers may be inferred from two alien surveys taken back to back in April and May 1583. Only a simple table of figures remains in the State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth, but it is logical to assume from earlier patterns that this document is

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a summary of a longer document. The search covered the City of London and the liberties, but the recorder made a special note that certificates were lacking for ‘Westminster Southwarke Horseydowne Newington [and] Lambeth.’49 Despite the substantial gaps of Westminster and Southwark, the searchers counted 4,141 aliens. They also noted whether the aliens were denizens, and which churches they attended. Assuming that the same governmental concerns prompting the earlier surveys also prompted later surveys, this pair stands out to the researcher as unusual. Two peculiar aspects merit special examination. The first is that these searches cover identical areas just one month apart, not surprisingly providing identical figures. Given the considerable time and manpower involved in searching for aliens, why mount two in such quick succession? There is no evidence that this was a time of particularly high levels of immigration, but the action may have been taken to refute exaggerated rumors about the strangers’ numbers. Information for taxation should not have been a motive; a lay subsidy list had just been taken in August of 1582. Although the subsidy list’s total of 1,840 strangers is 224 fewer than that of the 1583 pair, this should have mattered little in terms of revenue as ‘wealthier strangers were a small proportion…of the total stranger population entered for taxation’ in 1582.50 The only other surveys known to have come so close together are those of November and December 1571, but these covered adjacent, not identical, areas and were taken in a period of considerable domestic and international tension. The year 1583 appears to have been a relatively calm one on both these scores. Although relations with Philip II had become seriously strained after Elizabeth’s sponsorship of the duc d’Anjou’s expedition to the Netherlands, the breaking-point in relations had not yet been reached. That would come with England’s official entry into the Dutch War in 1585, after Elizabeth realized that France was too exhausted to continue its meddling against Spain in the Low Countries. The second peculiar feature is that on the issue of what aliens attended which church— or no church at all—the numbers collected by the aldermen are noted separately from those collected by the foreign ministers, as if to compare them. This implies that there must have been a degree of suspicion about some aspect of the foreign ministers’ reporting, but the figures are once again identical. As there is no additional evidence extant to indicate the purpose of these specific documents, the historian must raise questions based on earlier information and patterns. Any conclusions might be logical but would be unprovable. Despite this, these certificates are valuable if for nothing else than to give more data on the size of London’s alien population and to verify the patterns of immigrant residency revealed by the earlier surveys.

PATTERNS OF ALIEN SETTLEMENT IN THE CAPITAL Some aliens resided in virtually every ward within the City, but the majority tended to congregate in relatively few wards. A certificate of aliens within the City of London and the liberties dated May 4, 1593 shows that the Cheap had as few as 27 aliens, Bassishaw (Basinghall) had 19 aliens, and Cordwainer Street had only 11. At the opposite end of the scale, Bishopsgate had 577, Farringdon Within had 491, Aldgate had 394, Bridge Without had 308, Langborne had 332, Tower Ward had 285, Aldersgate had 271, and

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Portsoken had 251. Previous certificates show that this pattern of concentration had held constant for most of the reign51 (see Map 1 and Tables 3 and 4). The December 1567 survey showed 784 aliens living in Bridge Without, 313 in Tower Ward, 280 in Farringdon Without, 276 in Aldgate, 270 in Billingsgate, 207 in

Map 1 Patterns of alien residential concentration in Elizabethan London Source: Based on a map in Rapport, 1988, p.41 Langbourne, and 206 in Bishopsgate. These wards with the highest concentrations of aliens comprised the easternmost end of the City itself, and similarly high numbers are found in the eastern suburbs, as observed by Pettegree. He also notes that these areas where the aliens settled were the poorer sections of the City, with the one exception of Langborne, ‘where most of the stranger goldsmiths lived.’52 On the western side of the City, the wards of Farringdon Without, Farringdon Within, and Aldersgate also tended to have high concentrations of foreigners. In the case of the latter two, their areas included liberties or ‘exempted places’ which housed most of each ward’s complement of aliens. These were Blackfriars and St Martin le Grand, respectively.53 Farringdon Without may well have ranked so high simply owing to its size, as it was the largest of the wards. Size may also have played a role in the

Table 3 London wards with the highest alien population December 1567 March 1568 November 1571 April-May May 1593 1583 Bridge Without Portsoken Bridge Without Portsoken Bishopsgate (784) (929) (846) (840) (577) Tower Ward Bridge Without Portsoken Bridge Without Farringdon

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(313)

(916)

(633)

(473)

Farringdon Without (280) Aldgate (276) Billingsgate (270) Langborne (207) Bishopsgate (206) Farringdon Within (195)

Farringdon Without (580) Tower Ward (439) Aldgate (418) Cripplegate (277) Langborne (256) Billingsgate (247)

Tower Ward (424)

Farringdon Within (407) Bishopsgate (262) Aldgate (242) Billingsgate (205) Tower Ward (200) Langborne (151)

Bishopsgate (376) Aldersgate (296) Billingsgate (271) Langborne (268) Farringdon Without (253)

Within (491) Aldgate (394) Langborne (332) Bridge Without (308) Tower Ward (285) Aldersgate (271) Portsoken (251)

numbers attributed to Portsoken and Bishopsgate in the east, and Bridge Without in the south. The combination of ward size and prosperity relative to alien concentration seems to hold in the reverse as well. Wards like Bassishaw, Cordwainer Street, Cheap, Cornhill, and Limestreet had consistently low alien populations. All were small, prosperous, and centrally located wards. Southwark and Westminster also held fairly large concentrations of strangers. Southwark and Westminster were usually counted separately from the wards of the City, even though Bridge Without and Southwark were frequently interchangeable names. In one document, in fact, they both appear to designate the same area.54 One can draw from these residential patterns the logical conclusion that the new arrivals throughout Elizabeth’s reign felt more comfortable settling where other aliens had already established a

Table 4 London wards with the lowest alien population December March 1568 November April-May 1583 1567 1571 Cordwainer Cordwainer Bassishaw Bassishaw Street Street (18) (4) (12) (25) Bassishaw Limestreet Cordwainer Cheap (16) (28) Street (13) (19) Limestreet Breadstreet Cheap Breadstreet (23) (46) (31) (16) Cheap Queenhithe Limestreet Cornhill (28) (50) (32) (17) Breadstreet Cheap Queenhithe Walbrook

May 1593 Cordwainer Street (11) Bassishaw (19) Cheap (27) Breadstreet (30) Queenhithe

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(29) Queenhithe (39) Colman Street (41) Walbrook (61)

(49) Aldrichgate (51) Walbrook (67) Vintry (69)

(36) Breadstreet (37) Walbrook (45) Cornhill (51)

22

(23) Bridge Within (25) Cordwainer Street (27) Vintry and Castle Baynard (51)

(38) Vintry (40) Cornhill (43) Limestreet (31)

presence. As the pattern described above indicates, the immigrants of the late sixteenth century may have chosen to settle where other aliens already lived, preferably those of their own nationality. In some areas, such as the liberties, this presence had existed for many generations; in other areas, this was a newer pattern. This pattern appears to differ from that of previous centuries and may have been caused by the sheer increase in numbers coming to London.55 There is the possibility that these were forced ethnic enclaves, but the only evidence which would hint at this was the custom of local officials finding the housing for the original settlers in several cases. It was almost equally common for ministers to oversee the procurement of housing, but these occurrences are slim evidence on which to support the idea of forced conclaves. Such concentration seems to be the choice of the newcomers themselves, although the conditions of the society they entered probably contributed indirectly to their choice. Pettegree observes: ‘Initially at least, they tended to huddle together for mutual protection,’ and that the majority of the immigrants ‘settled in areas with established concentrations of foreign residents.’ He also notes the crucial role of the stranger churches ‘as the central institutions of the foreign communities, [which provided] their members with a degree of practical help that went far beyond their ostensible religious purpose.’56 His observations agree on the whole with a number of scholars who have examined residential segregation and assimilation issues in the modern urban setting.57 This study’s findings on the residential patterns of the Elizabethan aliens support those conclusions. Despite the increased flow of immigrants into England, particularly in the 1560s and 1570s, the aliens on average rarely represented more than about 4–5 per cent of the total population living in areas in and around the City. Their pattern of concentrated settlement, however, apparently made their numbers appear larger than they actually were.58

PATTERNS OF ALIEN SETTLEMENT IN THE PROVINCES London, as befitted the capital, had and maintained the largest of the alien communities, not simply because of the opportunities available in the metropolis as the country’s greatest port and commercial center, but because most of the steady stream of new arrivals came to London before removing to other towns, continuously supplementing the alien community already established there. The overwhelming majority of the immigrants

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stayed in south-eastern England, although some aliens settled as far away as Boston in Lincolnshire.59 The Boston settlement was the exception, however, to the broader pattern. Letters patent established alien settlements in Norwich, Sandwich, Southampton, Colchester, Maidstone, Canterbury, Rye, Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, Harwich, Dover, and several other towns (see Map 2). Some of these already had a long history of small numbers of permanent resident aliens, such as Norwich, Ipswich, and Southampton. Some had made direct requests to the Queen, petitioning her to permit the settling of foreign artisans and craftsmen, as was the case with Norwich, Maidstone, and others. Still others were ordered by the Privy Council to accept immigrants in governmentcoordinated removal and dispersal schemes, as was Canterbury, while towns like Rye and Winchelsea virtually had alien refugees arrive on their doorsteps unannounced, forcing officials to determine an appropriate course of action. Whatever the original means of establishment, small alien communities within English towns spread rapidly throughout the south-east. Geoffrey Parker, in a discussion comparing size and numbers of Dutch refugee settlements in England and the Germanies, notes that as early as 1572, there were seventeen Dutch Calvinist communities in England.60 Easily the most important of these provincial settlements was that of Norwich. Although not the first town to be swelled with numbers of strangers early in Elizabeth’s reign, Norwich certainly drew a disproportionate share, becoming second only to London in number of resident aliens.61 In the 1565 settlement grant, the Crown permitted thirty master artisans from the alien colony at Sandwich, along with their families and servants to a total of 300 persons, to remove to and settle in Norwich. The grant limit of 300 was soon exceeded, and continued to grow steadily. Estimates are that the alien population represented about 4,000 out of around 12,000 residents by the early 1570s and maintained levels at or slightly above one-third of Norwich’s total population.62 A return of November 16, 1571 shows 3,953 aliens in twelve of Norwich’s fourteen wards. Concentration in specific wards was the pattern, much as it had been in London. St Gyles only reported 62, while West Wymer had 827. Other wards with large numbers of strangers

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Map 2 Major areas of alien settlement, 1558–1603

24

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included Middle Wymer (577), Colgate (471), Fyebridge (442) and Coslany (412)63 (see Map 3). Despite a ‘great mortality’ that killed 2,482 of the strangers in 1578, their numbers quickly recovered. A survey of aliens in Norwich dated November 9, 1583 states that there were 4,678 strangers resident at that time. Of this number, 1,378 were children born in England to alien families but still considered in this count as strangers.64 For this 1583 return only three ward reports are extant, but the lack of balance between wards is clear. Thomas Layer of Colgate ward reported 653 strangers in his ward, while Nicholas Sotherton of St Gyles and Master Yarrom of ‘Berestrete’ reported 53 and 55, respectively.65 The numbers of immigrants were much smaller at most of the other towns where they settled in the first fifteen years of Elizabeth’s reign. Colchester, furnished with an alien colony drawn from that in Sandwich in 1570, began with about fifty people. This town already some had life-long resident aliens, but they behaved more like natives than like the Elizabethan newcomers. Because of this, they were distinguished by the designation of ‘Old Strangers.’ In an alien survey of May 1571, their numbers were already at 185, of whom 55 were ‘Old Strangers.’66 The most prominent of this small group seems to have been Winken Greneryce, a Dutch shoemaker who had lived in Colchester for over forty years. In the course of his career, he had been admitted as a freeman, and served as burgess and on the Colchester Council. Greneryce also appears early on in a remarkable document entitled Colchester Contribution Book to the Poor, 1582–1592, which reads almost like a telephone directory of those assessed for poor relief in the town over this decade. This book lists Greneryce and his brother, Thomas, as natives, but aliens are named as well in this report.67 This document also reveals that the pattern of alien concentration in specific areas observed in London and Norwich held for Colchester as well. The parishes of St James, St Peter, St Nicholas, and All Saints consistently had the most alien residents throughout the period covered by the book.68 By 1573, the alien community numbered 431 and had jumped to 1,297 by 1586, an increase of almost 300 per cent.69 Colchester was one of several towns which all had a sizable alien colony, but were in a second rank far behind London or Norwich. Sandwich and Canterbury also fall into this category. Anne M.Oakley notes that ‘there is no official estimate of the

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Map 3 Patterns of alien residential concentration in Elizabethan Norwich Map of Norwich wards and administrative districts is based on that found in J.F.Pound, The Norwich Census of the Poor, 1570 (Norwich: Norfolk Record Society, 1971), p. 11. number of strangers who came to Canterbury,’ but she has made her own estimates based

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on an examination of the Canterbury City Burghmote Minute Books.70 She puts the initial settlement at approximately 750 within a native population of about 4,500. Their numbers were up to at least 1,679 by 1582, and apparently peaked at 3,312 out of a total of about 9,000 in Canterbury ten years later.71 There were many more alien colonies, most of which were quite small in respect to their numbers, and many of which did not survive past Elizabeth’s reign. Stamford in the Midlands, for example, issued an invitation in 1567 for Dutch craftsmen to settle and bring their new skills to the town. The project was supported by Sir William Cecil, and some ten to twenty households came to Stamford, but Joan Thirsk observes that the colony did not enjoy much success.72 Maidstone’s colony lasted longer—until Archbishop Laud’s Act of Uniformity dispersed it in 1634—but their numbers were never great. Thirty households were licensed to settle in 1568, and in 1585 there were 115 Dutch adults living in forty-three family groups who formed a ‘separate community’ in Maidstone in the ward of Wyke.73 Although it is virtually impossible to calculate the total alien population in Elizabethan England from the extant records, these examples illustrate that this immigration was much greater than that of previous reigns and that the new arrivals settled in many more areas. Although the pattern of numbers for London does not seem to reflect a major change, several facts must be remembered and considered. First, the immigration was concentrated into a short timespan compared to earlier periods, fostering a perception of even greater numbers than there were. Also, the central government consistently dispersed alien families to provincial towns. This invalidates the assumption that the apparent lack of increase in London meant that the numbers of aliens in England did not significantly increase. Moreover, immigrants of the artisan class from the Low Countries and France dominated the influx, with the peoples of the Meditteranean falling far behind, a change in the immigration stream caused in part by the tense international situation in Europe as Catholic and Protestant forces maneuvered against one another. Although the Crown could look to the actions of earlier monarchs for precedents, it was enabled or even forced by this changed situtation to make and implement policies to suit the new set of circumstances and, if possible, take advantage of them. The strangers unavoidably affected virtually all aspects of life and society wherever they settled. Beyond attending to immediate, practical necessities such as their housing and occupational needs, the government also had to weigh other less tangible but equally important considerations. One of the most important of these concerned the attitudes of the receiving communities about their new foreign neighbors. Perceptions about the alien presence could obviously play a critical role in the success or failure of the Crown’s policy toward resident aliens. At the very least, attitudes could either facilitate or hinder the implementation of those policies. The manner in which Elizabeth and her government dealt with this delicate issue is another change in the tradition of how the English dealt with the strangers settled among them.

2 DICHOTOMIES IN ENGLISH ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ALIENS In 1576, the Lord Keeper, Sir Nicholas Bacon, summarized the hostile attitude toward resident aliens held by many Elizabethans in a speech he delivered to Parliament during the debate on a bill to impose additional restrictions on denizens. Unwilling to work simply to ensure the passage of this bill, Bacon took the radical step of demanding the complete ouster of the French immigrants when he declared: if the ffrenche denizens hart continue naturally ffrenche and lovinge to his owne Cuntrye Then can he not Love our Cuntrye nor be meet to be amongest us, yf he be unnaturall and can find in his hart to hate his owne Cuntrye then will he not be trustie to our Cuntrye and so more unmeet to Lyve amongest us.1 Yet just as Bacon and many who shared his view made it clear that the English generally did not care for foreigners, many of Elizabeth’s subjects indicated from the very beginning of her reign that they supported the concept of asylum and were determined to defend it. Sir William Cecil was the most prominent of these defenders. He ‘proved a most constant and valuable patron,’ since he sympathized with them as Protestants and also recognized the potential economic benefits they offered.2 Despite Cecil’s open patronage and protection, however, government documents and actions reveal that he and other councillors privately worried about the possible ill effects that a substantial alien presence in the realm might cause. Indeed, it was not unusual to find those advocating the principle of granting sanctuary also voicing suspicion of immigrants. They may have subscribed to the idea of providing refuge, but they were still concerned about the idea’s possible practical consequences.

A ‘TRADITION’ OF ANTI-ALIEN SENTIMENT? Bacon’s attitude reflected a substantial degree of popular sentiment about foreigners living in the realm, the legendary ‘traditional English xenophobia’ which has often come under scholarly attack in recent years. A number of historians have justifiably argued that most people in the pre-modern era lived in small, self-sufficient communities. This circumstance afforded little or no contact with persons outside a limited radius. According to this argument, they often viewed all individuals from other counties—still more other countries—with suspicion. They also point to the numerous waves of peoples who invaded Britain and settled among the native population over the centuries as further evidence that this implicitly harmful ‘traditional’ xenophobia never really existed.

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Furthermore, they often hold that the Elizabethan aliens would have found no support at all from any level of society had this ‘traditional’ xenophobia been an important and inherent force. This position overlooks repeated historical examples indicating the existence in England of a continual anti-alien sentiment which frequently intensified in periods of real or perceived stress. Many Englishmen associated difficult circumstances with the presence of foreigners, particularly if that presence was concentrated. The landscape of British history is dotted with outbursts of this antagonism, from the attack on Flemings in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt and the 1517 Evil May Day riots to the internment of alien Jews in the 1940s, and the Notting Hill riots of the recent past.3 The abovementioned ‘traditional’ xenophobia was frequently linked with economic difficulties, for which the stranger made a convenient whipping-boy. Indeed, such a case can be made for many of the instances where anti-alien sentiment escalated into violence. The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, however, does not fit so conveniently into this mold, as can be seen from a brief retelling of its events. The peasantry in this period, a generation or two after the initial devastation of the Black Death, grew more prosperous as the value of their labor increased. They began to resent the continuing burdens of villeinage. This simmering resentment was the true cause of the revolt, which began in the countryside of Essex and Kent. The advisors of the boy king Richard II seemed incapable of action, allowing the rebels to move toward and into London. There many townsmen joined the revolt to express their discontent with John of Gaunt’s government.4 Many buildings were burned, and prominent officials, including the archbishop of Canterbury, were killed. The rebels were eventually convinced to disperse and return home after their leader was killed. One telling aspect of the rioting was the attack on aliens resident in the metropolis, particularly Flemings.5 Contemporary accounts vividly describe this particular phase of violence and disorder in the metropolis. The author of the Anonimalle Chronicle wrote: whoever could catch any Fleming or aliens of any nation might cut off their heads; and so they did accordingly... they went to the church of St Martin’s in the Vintry, and found therein thirty-five Flemings, whom they dragged outside and beheaded in the streets.’6 The traditions of the story hold that the rural peasants could not tell from appearances who was native and who alien. They therefore devised the simple test of asking everyone they came across to say the words ‘bread’ and ‘cheese.’ If the unfortunate captive said ‘brot’ or ‘kaese,’ the rebels killed him. Problems logically arise for the historian from this tale, not the least of which is that while it would perhaps suffice for Flemings and Hanse merchants, how would the insurgents have singled out Gascons, the frequently faircomplexioned northern Italians, or ‘aliens of any [other] nation?’ The true importance of this enduring legend, whether factual or apocryphal, is that it seems to be indicative of xenophobia. One can reasonably argue that Londoners’ sustained general dislike of aliens—with a handful of notable exceptions—was an economically motivated xenophobia, fearing alien competition in trade. This explanation, however, is simply insufficient for the majority of the rebels, virtually all of whom were rural peasants.

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These individuals would have had little, if any, reason to bear economic grudges against alien merchants or alien craftsmen for the potentially harmful competition they represented. The oftcited argument that in early modern European society people suspected and feared strangers, whether aliens or simply natives from another area, is also flawed. If that were strictly true here, the rebels would have killed indiscriminately, but all records of the events indicate that their declared targets were relatively specific: the ‘evil counsellors’ around the king, and aliens.7 The insurgents apparently associated both groups in some fashion with their current hardships.8 Although the Northern Rebellion and the Midsummer Rising of Elizabeth’s reign were political insurrections, it is instructive to note that the rebels of both tried to raise support by crying out against aliens in the realm. In November 1569 the Catholic Earls of Northumberland and Westmorland launched the Northern Rebellion. While their primary intention was not action against the strangers, the rebels clearly perceived the aliens as supporting Protestant supremacy in England. In their proclamation issued at Ripon, the earls proposed to ‘resiste forse by forse…to redresse those things amiss with the restoring of all ancient customes & liberties…[for]… if we shall not doo it our selfs we might be reformed by strandgers to the great hassarde of the state of this our Country.’9 Another rebellion in the next year again called for action against the aliens. The conspirators of the Midsummer Rising in Norfolk in 1570 also tried to exploit anti-alien sentiment as a means of raising popular support. They cried out against strangers, but with as little success as in the earlier rising.10 These examples seem to indicate that there was enough consistent popular sentiment against aliens to convince the rebels that calling for their explusion would serve as effective propaganda for their respective causes. Although the rebels in both cases had ulterior motives in their objection to the strangers, the incidents still reinforced private and public fears that the aliens might pose a threat to peace and security. If one accepts the patterns of actual and attempted outbursts of anti-alien violence as evidence for the existence of a popular xenophobia—even if restricting the definition to an economically oriented xenophobia—then several issues must be addressed. Was this attitude indeed a constant, and, if so, what factors triggered these periodic intensifications? How did the differing perspectives of various sectors of the native population affect their attitudes toward resident aliens? How did native perceptions and preconceptions about aliens affect the relations between the English and the immigrants?

ANTI-ALIEN SENTIMENT AMONG LONDONERS An examination of sixteenth-century anti-alien uprisings in London provides a good opportunity for approaching these issues. ‘Evil May Day’ is the best known of the attacks, but risings and attempted risings against foreigners occurred with surprising frequency all the way through the century’s end. This held true into the seventeenth

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century as well, despite the best efforts of the authorities to keep the peace, and despite the eventual recognition that the aliens’ residence was permanent. Immigration slowed down substantially after 1580, and concentrations of aliens logically could no longer have been considered novel or a temporary inconvenience. Moreover, by the 1580s and 1590s many of the immigrants had resided in England for a generation or more, and their children had grown up knowing no other home. One can logically assume—and there is evidence to support the assumption—that familiarity would lead to assimilation and an easing or cessation of xenophobic tensions. Nevertheless, actual or planned attacks on aliens occurred in almost every decade of Elizabeth’s reign. Their frequency increased as time passed, indicating a sustained or even mounting degree of some sort of animosity, again possibly linked to societal and/or economic stresses. Andrew Pettegree argues against a continuous xenophobia among sixteenth-century Englishmen. He states that arguments for such sentiment are ‘all too often evidenced by the single example of Evil May Day.’ C.W.Chitty also denies the existence of xenophobia, again saying arguments for it were based on the overemphasis of a single example. In his case, however, he is speaking of the disturbances of 1593.11 Both seem to be overlooking the fact that a pattern existed throughout the century, a pattern which seems to indicate a continuous anti-alien sentiment, whatever its foundation. This chapter will demonstrate in further detail that this antipathy was revealed in a variety of ways. As mentioned, it was common and consistent enough for political rebels to count on it as a rallying-cry in the 1550s and 1560s; actual attacks, anticipated attacks, or investigations of threatening materials (such as anti-alien pamphlets or broadsheets) are recorded for 1493, 1517, 1573, 1575, 1581, 1583, 1586, 1587, 1593, and 1595; and native or foreign dignitaries from the 1460s to the 1610s wrote eloquently and consistently about the English people’s xenophobia. This pattern especially points up the fact that the increased presence of strangers during Elizabeth’s reign was accompanied by a rising tide of antialien expressions. Page mentions that ‘a rising of the apprentices and others of London [against the strangers] was anticipated’ in 1573, but no other details seem to be extant.12 More information is available about the later disturbances. In 1586, apprentices of the Plasterers Company ‘raised an insurrection in the city against the French and Dutch strangers, but especially against the French.’ The incident prompted authorities to commit several of the participants to Newgate prison.13 Two fairly serious outbreaks of anti-alien hostility occurred in the 1590s. In March 1593, Parliament debated a bill introduced to prohibit aliens from dealing in retail trade.14 Several individuals participated in a famous and apparently heated exchange on the issue. Various members attributed native poverty to the greed and great numbers of the strangers, claiming that the aliens’ activities reduced thousands of English traders to begging and that the House should be aware of the ‘exceeding pitiful and great’ exclamations against the strangers by Londoners.15 Sir John Wolley spoke in opposition to the bill, arguing that ‘the riches and renown of the city cometh by entertaining of strangers and giving liberty unto them,’ holding up the examples of Antwerp and Venice as great trading cities enriched by their colonies of aliens.16 Sir Walter Ralegh supported it, declaring that England did not need foreign merchants and craftsmen to gain riches and fame. In Ralegh’s view, the aliens’ activities had a deleterious rather than a salutary effect, for ‘they eat our profits and supplant our

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own nation.’ Sir Robert Cecil refuted Ralegh’s arguments, reminding the House of the benefits accrued to England owing to the immigrants’ presence and labors, and that ‘this Entertainment of them had brought great Honour to our Kingdom, in that it was accounted the Refuge of the distressed Nations.’17 The Commons passed the restrictions by a vote of 162 to 82—a margin of almost two to one—but the House of Lords threw out the bill.18 London businessmen reacted angrily to the bill’s failure, issuing virulently anti-alien flysheets which claimed the aliens resided in England by virtue of a ‘feigned hypocrisy and counterfeit show of religion.’ The authors of the flysheets also railed against ‘you beastly brutes the Belgians, or rather drunken drones and fainthearted Flemings, and you fraudulent father-Frenchmen, [who] by your cowardly flight from your own natural countries, have abandoned the same into the hands of your proud cowardly enemies.’ These sheets went on to warn aliens to leave England, and threatened if they did not: ‘There shall be many a sore stripe; apprentices will rise to the number of 2336, and all apprentices and journeymen will down with the Flemings and strangers.’19 The unsubtle threats evidently frightened some aliens into leaving the City, and their properties were looted. In an apparent effort to reduce the tension, the Privy Council ordered a survey of aliens in April, to refute the rumors about the strangers’ great numbers and to illustrate the drop in their numbers since earlier in the reign. The return, dated May 4, 1593, showed 4,300 strangers in the wards and intramural liberties of the City, well down from the peak reached twenty-five years earlier, when 6,704 aliens resided in the City and suburbs.20 On May 5, however, hostile verses were found attached to a wall of Austin Friars, the Dutch church. They read:

You strangers that inhabit this land! Note this same writing, do it understand; Conceive it well, for safety of your lives, Your goods, your children, and your dearest wives. Few aliens were actually attacked before the authorities re-established control by putting some of the rioters into the stocks and publicly whipping them ‘for a terror to other apprentices and servants.’21 The next significant incident was not long in developing, coming in June 1595. Journeymen of the London Weavers Company drew up a petition which they planned to deliver to the elders of the foreign churches in London as well as to the Lord Mayor and aldermen. In the petition they recounted the hospitality and privileges accorded the aliens and followed it with an extensive list of the ‘treachery’ with which English generosity had been repaid. They likened the alien presence to ‘nourish[ing] Serpentes in our bosomes who stings [sic] us to the very harte.’22 The four major charges were all directly related to the English weavers’ jealousy of the alien artisans, as they complained that the aliens kept too many looms and apprentices, trained some of their fellow-countrymen who had not previously been weavers, employed women, and leaked trade secrets to the clothiers, who used the information against their workers, driving down wages. The journeymen even employed Scriptural references to bolster their arguments. After the

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strangers themselves complained to the Lord Mayor about what they considered slander and harassment, ‘the poor tradesmen made a riot upon the strangers in Southwark and other parts of the city of London…[an] outrageous tumult and disorder unjustly committed.’23 Again, the authorities arrested the primary offenders, as well as the printer, although they were released after a short time. The above examples briefly describe the more dramatic outbreaks of hostility in London against the strangers, and show that discontent with their presence was not a short-lived or incidental thing. A pattern of active opposition, sometimes resulting in actual violence, existed, and its expressions accelerated as the century drew to a close. Beyond these better-known episodes, there is other evidence to suggest that many Londoners harbored ill-will toward the strangers, an animosity which expressed itself in myriad less dramatic ways. An examination of the various documents produced by City officials and others reveals numerous occasions when the authorities had to take action to prevent harassment of aliens. For example, the Court of Aldermen issued a precept on 9 March 1575 warning the masters of all London companies to take order that neyther they nor any of there seruants shall in any wyse mysuse Dysturbe or evell entrete any the strangers within this Citie but shall quyetlie suffre them to passe in & oute aboute there bussynes without let or vexacion vpon payne of disfranchisement.24 The severity of the disfranchisement threat implies a serious problem requiring stringent measures. Hostility was also shown to foreigners who in no manner constituted economic competition for Londoners, contrary to the idea that economic fears generated all of the animosity. Three separate documents from April 1581 called for ‘good entreatinge’ of the French ambassador’s retinue, who were apparently being harassed in the streets.25 The flysheets mentioned in connection with the 1593 disturbances were part of a common practice in expressing discontent with the presence of aliens. On March 28, 1583, the Privy Council wrote to the Lord Mayor and aldermen that they had received a ‘copy of a libel circulating in parts of the City against strangers, especially handicraftsmen and those of no church.’ The Council ordered the officials to conduct a survey of aliens in the City and to look into the details of the pamphlet’s complaints.26 Three more orders, written March 25–9, 1587, commanded aldermen to discover the writer or writers of ‘divers libells…latelie dispersed and sett vp in sundry places in this Cittye…greatly threatninge the hurte & distruccion of the Straungers inhabitinge heare.’27 Others besides national and civic officials noted and spoke out against the unfriendly attitude many held against the aliens. In 1572, Dr George Abbot, later Archbishop of Canterbury, commented on the issue in one of his morning lectures at Oxford. The ‘unkindness of our nation (those of the common sort)’ disturbed him deeply, and he was particularly ashamed that ‘our English used to term them no better than French dogs.’ He also decried the many conspiracies, which by some of the meaner people in one city of this land [i.e. London] had been oftentimes intended against outlandish folks [in risings and insurrections against them.] But those…that were wise and godly,

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used those aliens as brethren.28 Lambard, another author writing about the same time, also rebuked many of his countrymen for ‘the inveterate fierceness and cankered malice’ they held for aliens. He reminded his readers of the ‘great tragedies…stirred in this realm by our natural inhospitality and disdain of strangers…by this our ferocity against aliens.’29 One cannot escape the conclusion that a sizable number of natives simply did not like foreigners—for whatever reason—and expressed this dislike in a variety of ways.30

A DICHOTOMY OF ATTITUDES There existed in Elizabethan society a dichotomy of attitudes toward the strangers which caused anxiety for the national and local authorities laboring to maintain the peace and foster prosperity at their respective levels of power and responsibility. Owing largely to the twin perceptions that the aliens deserved sanctuary for religious conscience and offered potential economic benefits, but also represented a possible threat in many respects, government at both national and local levels sought to regulate and control the immigrants and their interactions with natives. The Elizabethans’ attempts to strike a balance between these poles provided a foundation upon which future monarchs and governments would pattern their actions regarding immigrants, adjusting them as circumstances required. The Lord Keeper’s speech made it clear that he and many other Elizabethans generally did not like or trust foreigners, but, as already noted, numerous other Englishmen indicated from the very beginning of Elizabeth’s reign that they supported the concept of asylum and were determined to defend it. This apparent dichotomy of attitudes, however, was neither simple nor clear. Many who held Bacon’s view had initially welcomed the aliens who came as Protestant refugees crowding into England from the Continent; likewise, many who advocated providing sanctuary for these persecuted brethren covertly regarded them with suspicion. The fact that a large proportion of these strangers had a variety of reasons for immigration beyond matters of conscience complicated the situation that much further. As Bacon’s example shows, distrust of foreigners was not restricted to the lower classes. There is an element of class to be considered when trying to analyze attitudes, but that element is reflected more in the reasons for this animosity toward aliens than in the simple fact of its existence. Norwood lists a number of reasons for ‘native dislike of aliens,’ most of which were economic in nature, including encroachment on privileges…jealousy of the strangers’ prosperity, objection to their engaging in retail trade, their great numbers, discomfort and inconvenience caused, and perhaps the most important of all, the general economic strains and conflicts in England during that period, for which the aliens made an excellent scape-goat.’31 L.F.Roker adds: ‘Perhaps the root of the jealousy and prejudice…lay in their aloofness

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and in their refusal to mix with the local people.’ He further observes that Londoners complained that aliens did not live where they were supposed to, but, rather, took the best houses and violated numerous trade statutes from earlier reigns.32 ‘Clannishness’ raised suspicions, especially given the language barrier.33 These two factors must have heightened native distrust, as they naturally worried about what the strangers talked about among themselves. Lastly, Roker points out that although the majority of immigrants to England were Protestant, they were granted, and exercised, a considerable degree of religious independence. This could indeed have been a cause of native jealousy, for the conformity required of them by the Church of England either was not applied to the aliens, or was applied very loosely. Even while granting them this substantial degree of religious freedom in their ceremonies and practices, the government paradoxically suspected them of being ‘infected wth Dangerous opinions, contrary to the faith of christs church as Anabaptists and such other Sectarys.’34 Another variable I would add to the list of factors contributing to hostility toward the strangers was the suspicion—voiced openly by Bacon and feared privately by many others—that the aliens’ true loyalties remained with their homelands, and that they might prove untrustworthy in matters of national security.35 Gwynn goes beyond the simple economic xenophobia model to argue that there was something more, something he characterizes as ‘barriers of understanding,’ which expressed themselves in the form of ‘stereotypes of the various foreign nationalities,’ in the late Tudor and Stuart periods.36 The increasing presence of foreigners with their ‘foreign ways’ brought many native preconceptions and misconceptions about them to the surface and kept them in the forefront, exaggerating them more and more as time passed. Interestingly, contact with the aliens actually seems to have fueled the solidification of the stereotypes rather than the reverse. The more the natives discovered about the foreigners and their habits through daily contact, the more ‘strange’ and ‘unEnglish’ they found these habits to be. Although somewhat reduced after 1580, the continual infusion of new immigrants furthered and reinforced this ‘strange’ picture Englishmen had of the foreigners, a view the natives maintained despite the fact that succeeding generations of aliens seem to have assimilated. In the process, the natives were defining what it meant to be English by cataloging what it meant to be ‘un-English.’ This furthered a ‘dramatic increase of national self-consciousness in the sixteenth century,’ albeit in terms of negative proofs and processes of exclusion.37 The addition of economic and political fear to this atmosphere produced a distinct and identifiable popular xenophobia which re-emerged after the early rush of religious sympathy waned.38

PRECONCEPTIONS AND AMBIGUITIES While much of the xenophobic animosity expressed by numerous Elizabethans was based on economic fear and other even less rational emotions, the aliens themselves took actions which fueled and ensured the continuance of native suspicion or hostility. Their preconceptions about the English helped set the stage. Long before the reign of Elizabeth, the English had a reputation for being particularly xenophobic. Experienced European

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travelers who interacted with peoples of a variety of countries especially noted the degree of suspicion, hostility, and condescension with which the English regarded strangers. In the 1460s, Leo of Rozmital, a baron, and brother-in-law to the king of Bohemia, spent a considerable amount of time in England after having visited numerous other courts in Europe. Two chroniclers in his retinue, Schaschek and Tetzel, made a record of the trip. They complimented the beauty of England’s ladies, buildings, and landscape, but described the English people as ‘crafty, treacherous, [and] inimical to strangers….’39 Near the end of the fifteenth century, the Venetian ambassador, Andrea Trevisan, noted that the ‘English were great lovers of themselves and thought that there was no people to equal them and no other world but England. Whenever an Englishman saw a handsome foreigner he remarked, “It is a pity he is not an Englishman,” or “he looks like an Englishman.”’40 Etienne Perlin, a physician from the University of Paris, was in London at the time of the turbulent events surrounding the death of Edward VI, and the accession of his sister, Mary. He was particularly critical of the English people, who ‘had a mortal hatred of the French as their ancient enemies, delighting to shout after a Frenchman “French chenesve [knave], French Dogue.”’ This animosity was not, however, limited to the French. Perlin continues by saying: ‘These villains hate all sorts of strangers.’41 Horatio Busino was the chaplain of Piero Contarini, Venetian ambassador to James I, who visited England in 1617–18. Although Busino was writing in a later period, the behavior he observed could not have been markedly different from that of people a generation earlier. He warned: ‘It was well for the foreigner to avoid any strangeness in his dress in the City. The clerks and apprentices were not well disposed to strangers, and were apt to ill-treat and rob them.’42 As mentioned, the foreigners and their actions must be taken into account when discussing the variety of attitudes held by the English. The primary complaints made by natives centered around trade issues, especially around the aliens’ violations of the statutes governing trade. Unfortunately for the maintenance of peaceful relations, exactly how these laws applied to strangers was a matter of much uncertainty and debate. The difficulty had two main sources: conflicting regulations, and government ambiguity in enforcement and interpretation. Natives based their grievances on pre-Elizabethan statutes which restricted the commercial activity of both merchants and artisans, most notably in the area of retail trade. That many of the Elizabethan immigrants did indeed push the limits as previously enacted is undeniably supported by a fair amount of evidence, but they were caught in the middle of a number of contradictory currents. No one seemed to have a firm idea about exactly how those earlier statutes applied to the changed situation during Elizabeth’s reign. The native business and working classes consistently referred back to the old statutes, although their memory seems to have been selective, especially in London. Complaints brought before the Lord Mayor and the Common Council prompted them to issue orders for strangers not to keep open shops and to place lattices across the windows of their shops, and prohibiting them from retail trading.43 Although insisting on enforcing the old restrictions, they conveniently tried to ignore the old freedoms granted in earlier reigns, such as existed in the liberties in and around the City. For example, the aldermen objected to the circumvention of alien housing regulations in ‘St Martyns legraunde and other pretended liberties.’ These precincts had long enjoyed exemptions from many such restrictions, although by

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Elizabeth’s reign the privileged status of the liberties was being questioned.44 In his examination of alien settlement at Colchester, Roker argues that the Flemings settled there violated pre-Elizabethan statutes regulating alien commercial activity and residency, thus justifying native resentment and anger. He gives a long list of these violated statutes, some of which dated back to the first year of Edward III.45 How far the immigrants violated these statutes out of cool disregard for the law—as the natives maintained—and how much out of confusion about the extent of their privileges is unclear. The letters patent issued by the Queen as charters for the various alien colonies contained a clause which threw all the previous statutes into doubt, including the 1563 Statute of Artificers, 5 Elizabeth I, c.4. The letters patent for the alien settlements at Sandwich and Norwich are perfect examples of the ambiguities both in the aliens’ circumstances and in how authorities should handle those circumstances. The Sandwich document is the oldest of all the settlement charters, dating from 1561. Aliens settling there were to engage in ‘facultie of making saes, bay and other cloth, which hath not used to be made in this our realme of Englonde, or for fishing in the seas,’ were to ‘inhabite and take houses for their inhabitacion and to have suche and as manie servants as shall suffice for the exercise of the said faculties, not exceadinge the nombre above expressed without any payne, forfacture or other losse, damage or hinderance.’46 Their privileges having been outlined, the most important phrase in the aliens’ charter came at the end:—‘any acte, statute, provision, usage, custome, prescription, lawe or other thinge whatsoever to the contrary hereof had or made in any wise notwithstandinge.’47 This single clause automatically invalidated all the previous restrictions made on aliens over the past three or four centuries, leaving any disgruntled natives without legitimate recourse to old alien restrictions. The Sandwich document is also the simplest of the charters. By their increasing complexity, later settlement letters patent reveal the Crown’s growing awareness of probable tensions between the economic interests of natives and aliens, even when the strangers were only to practice crafts not currently found where they settled. Only four years later, the settlement charter for aliens in Norwich stretched to several folios. The general form is the same, but each provision is spelled out with much greater specificity. For example, on the issue of where aliens could and could not live, this charter states that they could reside in ‘anie housse or howses.’48 The strangers could manufacture goods not already produced in Norwich ‘and none other,’ but no prohibition of retail trading of those commodities is specified. For the manufacturing and selling of their goods, the grant also permitted the immigrants ‘for those intentes & purposes [to] take to farme, dwellinge houses, Shoppes, messuages or tenements.’49 Lastly, the clause which virtually invalidated any previous restrictions on aliens contradictory to the privileges outlined in the charter was expanded to include the severall estatutes or acts of parliamente made in the first yere of king Richerd the thyrde, or in the xxxiith yere of the reigne of owr most noble & deare father kinge henri the eight, or anie other whatsoever acte.’50 Despite the exactness of these provisions, economic disputes continued to raise difficulties between natives and aliens throughout the rest of the century. Both national

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and local authorities vacillated on the issue of alien privileges versus restrictions, adding further to the confusion. As can be seen from the examples of Norwich and Colchester below, the positions of local officials varied widely. Corporation of London records show that hostility toward the immigrants was virtually continuous, as could be predicted since the Lord Mayor and aldermen were drawn from the London Companies. In fact, one gets the impression from reading the documents that the support and protection given to alien residents by the corporation officers came only at the urging of the Crown, and reluctantly then. Even the Queen and the Privy Council seem to have been of two minds about where the aliens stood. As mentioned above, the strangers were openly supported and protected, but privately suspected for a variety of reasons. The latter opinion revolved mostly around issues of religion and of national security for the central government, rather than around the economic fears which so dominantly colored the view many other Englishmen held of the aliens. Nevertheless, the Crown had to react to these fears and their outward expressions. That the articulation of the concern continued is evidenced by the number of orders the Privy Council had to issue demanding better treatment of aliens resident in the various towns. The fact that local authorities were not always disposed to follow strictly the directives of the central government proved to be a chronic problem for the Council. The councillors ordered Lord Cobham, warden of the Cinque Ports, to investigate a complaint from the aliens at Sandwich in 1581 that the mayor and jurats of that town had passed a law barring strangers from retail trade, despite the privileges afforded them by the Queen’s letters patent.51 To make matters worse, officers had Violently entred into some of their howses and taken awaye certen quantities of wares to a good value…by culler of the same decree.’ At this information, Elizabeth’s councillors did ‘not a little marvaile, not knowing by what authoritye the said Mayour and the reste maie lawfullye make and execute any suche decree.’ Cobham was ordered to supervise restitution.52 The Council, after learning in 1578 that the authorities in Rye had prohibited some strangers from exercising their trades, ordered the town officers to allow the immigrants to resume their crafts, ‘so longe as they shall not geve anye occacion of mislikinge, and further behave them selves otherwise conformablie to her Majesties lawes,’ and to notify the Council if the aliens contravened those laws.53 Despite their private misgivings, the royal governors openly protected the aliens, supporting them more often than not in these conflicts, and encouraging natives to welcome the refugees. It is not unreasonable to assume that the shared sense of religious kinship would have mitigated the traditional hostility displayed to the aliens, and it appears that it did, at least in the beginning. After all, the French and Dutch immigrants were Protestant victims who had fled to England for refuge, a phenomenon that certainly seemed reasonable in view of the international circumstances of the 1560s and 1570s. A pattern which repeated itself throughout the strangers’ story, both in London and in the various other towns where they settled, reveals that the situation was not as straightforward as one might assume. Initially, they were indeed greeted with a warmly eager popular response, but this warm reception chilled with the passage of time and quickly deteriorated into disillusion, suspicion, and often jealousy if the newcomers prospered, as they often did. This jealousy was frequently based more on perceptions than on reality. Many of the aliens did prosper, but many were poor. The majority were artisans, but only a small

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number of these arrived in England with a substantial amount of their goods and possessions, either because of the circumstances of their departure from their homelands, or because they believed that their migration was a temporary one. Those who had an unusual or particularly valuable skill to offer could earn a living and perhaps, as in a number of cases, become prosperous. Others, however, either had no skills—as was inevitably the case when dealing with such large numbers of people—or had skills in areas for which the demand was already adequately served by native artisans. These individuals usually had to choose between trying to compete with natives, learning a new trade, or continuing in a marginal existance.54 Even the impoverished alien proved to be a focus of native complaint. As Cunningham observed: All through the Tudor times the position of the unemployed was causing great anxiety, and there was a not unnatural indisposition to receive aliens who might be a burden, or who by their competition would injure the struggling native.55

ALIEN-NATIVE RELATIONS IN PROVINCIAL SETTLEMENTS Many natives held to the misconceptions that characterized all immigrants either as wealthy at the expense of natives or as poverty-stricken leeches on English society. A substantial number of people, however, usually individuals of influence and often in local or national government, protected and defended the strangers for a variety of reasons. We can illustrate the splits which developed in attitudes regarding the aliens by using such sources as private letters or petitions presented by various individuals or groups of citizens, and by examining case studies. The aliens usually endured an ugly rite of passage before natives more or less grudgingly accepted them as members of the community. Londoners seem to have held the longest and deepest animosities toward aliens, but the cities of Norwich and Colchester also provide striking examples of how the attitudes shifted from eager invitation and warm welcome to bitter disputes and deepening hostility. The worsted industry in Norwich had been in decline since the commercial depression of the middle of the century, and a severe winter in 1564–5 caused the distress to reach crisis point. Forage had been destroyed, many sheep had perished, and the mills and bridges had been damaged as well.56 Many houses stood empty, and with the breakdown of traditional ties between urban and rural areas it was common for citizens to be forced to go into the countryside to find food. This grim situation inspired the mayor and sheriff to invite alien handicraftsmen of the weaving trade to settle in Norwich. They petitioned the Duke of Norfolk to aid them in their suit to obtain the necessary letters patent from the Queen that would grant permission for the proposed invitation.57 The petition spoke eloquently of the great decay of the ‘comodities of woorsted makyinge,’ and the subsequent poverty suffered by the citizens, so that ‘the citye [was] lyke to decaye yf prudente polici did not assyste the same.’ The officials also made the point that this plan would offer shelter and a living to the strangers who ‘came over for refuge ageynste the persecution then raysed agaynste them by the power of the Duke of Alva, principall for the Kynge of Spayne.’58 Those letters patent on November 1, 1565 authorized a

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settlement ‘amounting in the whole to the nomber of thirtie Duchemen of the Lowe countries of fflaunders aliens borne, not Denizens, beinge all housholders or master workemen,’ along with their families and servants. They were to exercise the ‘makynge of bayes, arras, saies, tapestri, mockades, Staments, Carsey, and such other outlandish comodities as hath not bene used to be made within this ower realme.’59 Moreover, the same document allowed them to settle, hire both Englishmen and other aliens, rent houses and shops, and exercise their crafts ‘withoute anie payne, penaltie or other forfituire, Losse or damage to be incurred or forfyted…for the same.’ The alien families—twenty-four ‘Duche’ (Flemish) and six Walloon—settled in very quickly, repairing and inhabiting the decayed housing. Concomitantly, Norwich and the surrounding countryside grew steadily more prosperous. At first, they were welcomed by most of the citizenry, and wrote enthusiastic letters about this haven to family and friends still on the Continent: You would never believe how friendly the people are together, and the English are the same and quite loving to our nation…. Come at once and do not be anxious.60 Others also wrote glowing accounts of their new home, urging the recipients to join them, offering such temptations as ‘When you come to Norwich you shall have gold,’ and ‘It is very dear to hear the word of God peacefully.’ They often ended these letters with a blessing, such as ‘May God give you the same loving peace and riches as we have here at Norwich.’61 Unfortunately for this peaceful state, the number of immigrants began increasing very rapidly after 1567, owing in large part to the intensification of troubles in the Low Countries that resulted from the activities of the Duke of Alva and his ‘Council of Blood.’ This fresh influx, which brought substantial numbers of aliens to Norwich as well as to other English towns, quickly pushed the alien population far past the original limits set down in the grant of settlement. This rapid swelling of the alien colony coincided with the rising prosperity of those immigrants who were already established. As their wealth increased, they began to employ Englishmen from both the city and the countryside, aggregating a good deal of the city’s trade under their control. The success of the aliens was due primarily to the immense popularity of the new commodities which they provided. Although the city certainly benefited from these vigorous new residents, their very success aroused much jealousy, for not all the natives were properly grateful to the aliens for the new-found prosperity of the city. Their jealousy, coupled with the alarm sparked by the aliens’ rapidly growing numbers, helped cool the warmth of the original invitation and welcome and create an acutely xenophobic atmosphere. Thomas Whalle, mayor in 1567–8, tried unsuccessfully to have the aliens expelled, and his successor, Thomas Parker, imposed an eight o’clock curfew on the strangers.62 Even after his term as mayor had ended, Justice Whalle in 1569 ‘acquainted the Privy Council that there were continual differences between the English and the strangers (which he and the rest of his party were continually raising).’63 By 1570, complaints from other disgruntled citizens were being registered with the Council, but they insisted that the the strangers be allowed to conduct their business in peace. The discontented English workers in Norwich

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denounced this support, and their irritation was only intensified by Crown demands that they subscribe toward defraying the costs of suppressing the Northern Rebellion. The imprisonment of the popular Duke of Norfolk, under suspicion in connection with that uprising and with the cause of Mary Stuart, only made matters worse. Ultimately, John Throgmorton hatched a plot to turn the Queen’s officers out of the city at Midsummer. To gain common support, the conspirators made expulsion of the aliens their battle cry, planning to oust the immigrants and then to issue a proclamation against the Queen’s ‘evil advisors.’ The expected popular support never materialized, as the native workers proved unwilling to resort to treason to rid themselves of the aliens.64 As noted earlier in the chapter, although the uprising was a failure, it is nevertheless important. It shows that a significant level of anti-alien sentiment must have existed for the conspirators to have depended on its expression to ensure the success of their enterprise. This time Elizabeth herself wrote to Norwich officials on behalf of the immigrants, desiring their continued goodwill to the poor men of the Dutch nation, who seeing the persecution lately begun in their country for the trewe religion, hath fledd into this Realm for succour, and be now placed in the city of Norwich, and hath hitherto been favourably and jintely ordered, which the Quene’s Majestie, as a mercifull and religious Prince, doth take in very good part, praeing you to continue your favoure unto them so long as they shall lyve emongste you quyetlye and obedyently to God’s trewe religion, and to Her Majestie’s lawes.65 An uneasy peace was re-established, but by early 1571, the situation again reached flashpoint. The strangers had made some complaints of their own to the Council, citing exorbitant rents, and harassment by some citizens of Norwich. These protests by the aliens angered some city officials, for the Privy Council used the occasion to remind them of all of the benefits the city had gained by virtue of the aliens’ residence and industry. The reprimand did little to improve the situation, and in April the local authorities drew up the ‘Norwiche Booke of Orders for the Straungers,’ a lengthy document which closely regulated the immigrants and carefully defined their role in the community. Among its provisions were orders that the mayor and two aldermen would hold the power to settle disputes between aliens and natives, that no aliens could lodge any newly arrived immigrants for more than two nights, and that all strangers had to present to city officials annual certificates from their ministers of their names and trades, and evidence of their good behavior during the previous year. Also, any newcomers had to present themselves formally to the mayor within ten days of their arrival, and permission for them to remain would be at his discretion, based upon the number of aliens already resident at the time.66 As noted in Chapter 1, surveys of all the aliens in England were conducted in October of that same year in the wake of the discovery of the Ridolfi Plot. The return to London from Norwich in November showed 3,993 aliens resident. Perhaps more significantly, the wording in the document also indicates that at least the mayor, the sheriff, and all the aldermen were still ambivalent about the presence of the immigrants. They attested that most of the aliens were ‘of good and honest conversation,’ who kept ‘not only their own

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people, but many others at work, to the great advantage of the city and adjacent country.’ Nevertheless, they urged the Council to relocate those aliens who ‘though they are men of honest conversation, are not needful to the city, as tailors, shoemakers, bakers and joiners,’ implying that unless the aliens were economically beneficial, there was no room for them at Norwich. Even beyond that, the officials gave their ‘cimple opinions, [that] haven townes be no convenient place for straungers, nor yet anie place within the cownties of Norfolke and Suffolke, but muste needis be to the greate detrymente and hinderaunce of this common weale.’67 They apparently feared that the aliens secretly conveyed away commodities they manufactured, supposedly to be sold elsewhere for their private gain and to no advantage of the town.68 As time passed, however, the tension eased as most of the citizens became accustomed to the strangers’ presence. They even began to appreciate the aliens, who continually demonstrated their sobriety and civic responsibility and, most importantly, took more and more Englishmen into the production of the New Draperies. In a document that seems to be an evaluation commemorating the tenth anniversary of the aliens’ settlement, the officials of Norwich wrote praising them and listing their contributions to the city, citing their industry, the resultant expansion of Norwich’s economy, their employment of both alien and English workers, and their ready obedience to all laws and ordinances.69 The old cry of a trade monopoly by the foreigners was still occasionally raised, even as late as the last decade of the century. The most common complaints were still that ‘certeyne Straungers that are nowe Dwelling in this Citie…do vse bying selling & Retayling of all kynde’ and that ‘[aliens] also do enter into other trades that were here vsed before they were lycensed to Dwell in this Citie… contrary to ther lycens graunted them…to the greate Impovereshing hynderans and decaye of Diuerse & sundry naturall Inglisshe borne.’70 Aside from isolated expressions of xenophobia and occasional complaints about violation of old trade statutes, the strangers appear to have been integrated into the community. The atmosphere of strict regulation so clearly indicated by the ‘Booke of Orders’ was usually the result of outbursts of xenophobia, and neither the animosity nor the regulation to control it was a characteristic restricted to Norwich. In fact, the pattern of difficulties that prevailed in Norwich was more or less repeated in Colchester, Sandwich, Canterbury, Maidstone, and several other towns where the aliens had settled. As mentioned above, troubles between natives and aliens, accompanied by acrimony and implicit threats of violence, were not always immediately attendant upon arrival of the immigrants. A sort of brief and tentative ‘honeymoon’ period where theoretical goodwill still outweighed the practicalities of cohabitation was the rule. In Colchester this initial stage of smooth relations seems to have been quite extended, but the inevitable friction necessitating Crown intervention did appear. Some fifty individuals who had been part of the alien colony at Sandwich made their way to Colchester, seeking to set up the manufacture of bays and says. The civic authorities then requested and received permission for a larger settlement, stating that ‘sithence their first coming hither we finde them to be very honest, godly, civill, and well ordered people.’71 Both groups prospered, for the most part, in their new situation. Benefits for the town included the restoration and occu-pation of decayed properties, employment of many local poor, and a considerably increased trade thanks to the new commodities. The aliens

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were allowed to pursue their trade and their religion in relative peace and freedom. Local burgesses made some complaints in 1575, seeking to ensure that the strangers did not interfere with existing crafts but only practiced the new ones they had introduced. The immigrants promptly agreed, and the episode does not seem to have been dramatic or long-lived.72 In 1580, a request evidently was made to London for their expulsion, but the strangers were vigorously defended by many prominent members of the community. Dr George Wither, a friend of Sir Francis Walsingham, was one of those who wrote on behalf of the aliens, stating that willful men who will not see gods manieffold blessinges, doe by their inhumanietie towards poore afflicted straungers procure god’s wrathe upon themselues & others. The good ex[ample] bothe ffor liefe & religion generallie geeuen bie the straungers duringe their abide in Colchester have ben comfortable to all those that be godlie minded…73 Interestingly enough, the next controversy which arose in Colchester over alien workers involved a dispute with another town rather than between the two peoples. In 1577, a group of Flemings was invited to move from Colchester to the town of Halstead, about fifteen miles to the northwest. The aliens accordingly applied to the Council to obtain the proper permission, which was granted.74 Despite the fact that the prosperity which almost routinely accompanied the hard-working aliens soon came to Halstead, they were harassed constantly by some English weavers there who were jealous of the quality of the ‘Dutch’ cloths and the resulting popularity of the products. Geoffrey Martin dryly observes: ‘The clothmakers of Halstead wanted the Flemings’ skill rather than their company.’ Rowse puts it a bit more forcefully: ‘The idiot people resented their presence and drove them out.’75 After a few years of trying to live with the hostility of the local workers, twenty of the original thirty alien families decided to return to Colchester in 1580 rather than suffer any more abuse. By 1589, continued harassment persuaded the remainder of the Flemings to follow their brethren back to Colchester. Relating at length the benefits that would be lost to the town with the removal of the aliens, local officials pleaded successfully with the Council to order them to return to Halstead.76 Their petition was supported by similar petitions from eight neighbouring villages which had also benefited from the impact the Flemings had had on the area’s economy.77 The strangers refused, and the Council apparently did not pursue it as there is no further correspondence on the matter. The last recorded disturbance during the reign of Elizabeth concerning aliens in Colchester came in 1591, when a substantial number of the poor in the town petitioned the Queen for their removal, complaining that the excessive number of strangers in the town deprived them of jobs and sustenance. As the document also complained of the same results from the practice of enclosure, it would seem that the aliens were being used as a convenient scapegoat in a broad complaint about the general condition of the poor.78 The pattern described in the abovementioned examples also held true for the experiences of other towns containing alien colonies. The Canterbury colony was established in the summer of 1575 to absorb some of the overflow from Sandwich after

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an influx of Walloons in 1568 had raised the aliens’ numbers to the point where they comprised one-third of the town’s population.79 Canterbury’s economic fortunes had been in decline since Henry VIII’s break with Rome. The dissolution of the monasteries dealt a serious blow to pilgrimages to the shrine of St Thomas à Becket, pilgrimages which had formed the backbone of Canterbury’s economy. The settlement was carefully and deliberately planned by the Privy Council. Many details regarding the aliens’ position in Canterbury were worked out in advance by the Council and the local officials, including the dean and chapter of Canterbury. Perhaps due both to economic fear and to observation of the experiences of other towns with their alien colonies, certain restrictions were agreed upon before the move. The strangers were granted permission to manufacture various of the New Draperies, to worship freely in their own church and have their own schoolmaster for their children. They were not, however, allowed to conduct retail trade and were barred from becoming freemen. This was because ‘it was feared that they would steal the markets of the English merchants.’80 Trouble was not long in making an appearance. By November, the Privy Council had to warn the mayor and aldermen to use suche straingers as do inhabite in the saide towne charitablie and favorablie, and to punish all suche as go about to misuse them, so farre furth as the straingers do use themselfes orderlye and as they ought to do.81 As Oakley notes, the aliens’ relations with the native populace in Canterbury were good after the initial period of adjustment, but problems did continue. Rather than the ‘aggravation found in London,’ hostility was expressed in what she characterizes as ‘pinpricks.’82 She notes that natives occasionally reported strangers to the authorities for doing things they knew full well were allowed, apparently for simple harassment value. Evidence exists that in addition to these ‘pinpricks,’ there were occasionally more serious disturbances—serious enough, at least, to warrant attention from the Privy Council. In February 1586, the Council noted ‘some discontentment conceaved against the strangers (which theire Lordships thinke is alleged but for a coulor the more to cloke the ill disposicion of some sedicious spirittes).’ Their recommendation to the Canterbury authorities was to negotiate with some ‘of the better sort of those strangers,’ convincing them to go about their retailing ‘for [a] little season…with as muche temperance as they maie, for avoyding giving offence to the multitude, whereby they might take occasion of pretext to some other lewdnes.’83 As late as 1591, the Canterbury aliens were ‘dalie troubled and molested with informers…[and] they doe receave great discoragement and unjust trouble and vexacion,’ but these seem to be rather ‘pinpricks’ than indicators of serious unrest.84 Lord Keeper Bacon did not secure the desired expulsion of strangers he sought in his Parliamentary speech of 1576, but his text reveals a number of the concerns Englishmen felt about the presence of aliens in their homeland. While many English initially welcomed the aliens as ideological brethren fleeing persecution, they suspected them at the same time, for many were the subjects of the French or the Spanish kings. Moreover, holding office in national or local government often provided individuals with a broader and more longitudinal view of the aliens’ contributions. Many who did not enjoy that

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perspective resented the economic competition. Not even all office-holders were completely convinced of the benefits of the alien presence. During the interaction between the cultures, the respective points of view of natives and aliens alike necessarily changed in the light of past and continuing experience as well as events throughout the period, but xenophobic preconceptions and misconceptions made the adjustment difficult. Given the difficulties which periodically arose, some of the strangers may have occasionally wondered about the wisdom of their choice of a haven. They did, however, have their champions, they were not subjected to the persecutions they had experienced at home, and they were not expelled provided they conformed to English religion and laws.85 England’s reputation as a sanctuary was surely advanced by these very conditions, despite the difficulties, and evidence of alien amalgamation is striking given the fact that most of the Huguenots remained in their adopted land even after the publication of Henry IV’s Edict of Nantes in 1598. The great rise in the numbers of resident aliens—or at least the popular perception that it was extraordinarily large—caused a marked increase in overt expressions of xenophobia during Elizabeth’s reign. Ironically, this same envious antipathy compelled the government to make a decision. The Crown could revert to the patterns of the past, abandoning the welcome and protection of aliens as too politically hazardous. The alternative would be to sustain its long-term policies by maintaining order and control through the determined exercise of authority, and by overcoming its own misgivings about the security risks posed by a large alien presence in the realm. By choosing the latter course, the Queen and her councillors set precedents which fundamentally altered the ways in which future English governments formulated policies for dealing with immigrants.

3 THE PRESENCE OF ALIENS AND GOVERNMENT POLICY IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I Up to this point, I have primarily examined the relationship between aliens and the English government in terms of background to the Elizabethan period, or incidentally as part of the discussion of a broader issue. Government at every level, however, was at the center of all matters concerning aliens in England. As we have seen, there was a more or less sharp dichotomy of attitudes and opinions on virtually every alien-related topic. The tensions caused by the divergent concerns of natives versus aliens, local versus national interests, economic versus security benefits, and welcome versus fear weighed most heavily on government. The authorities, constantly called upon to keep the peace and yet determine what course of action would be most beneficial to the individual community or the nation at large, felt this bilateral pull very keenly. The Elizabethan government’s struggle to resolve both old and new problems related to resident aliens in rapidly changing domestic and international circumstances set patterns and precedents for future immigrations into Britain.

A SURVEY OF POLICY PATTERNS AND REACTIONS BEFORE ELIZABETH’S REIGN The patterns and policies established in earlier reigns provided a basic framework within which Elizabeth and her councillors could formulate their decisions, although the changed circumstances of the late sixteenth century often made reference to precedents a tenuously useful practice. Most of the legal determinations regarding aliens had been based on the fact that a sizable majority were merchants, and very broad safeguards for their liberty to trade went back at least as far as Magna Carta.1 They enjoyed special status and a number of privileges, especially by the reign of Edward I. The late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries were a crucial period in developing the role of aliens in England. Edward I (1272–1307) began to formulate policies designed to strengthen the position of the monarchy, and alien merchants provided him with one avenue of opportunity. Edward’s reign can be seen as the first wherein the Crown actively sought to take advantage of the presence of aliens in England through a judicious balance of privilege and regulation. The pattern of English monarchs balancing economic and political rewards and hazards by manipulating the status of aliens can be identified through much of the later Middle Ages. Precedents were not, however, always the result of deliberate policy-making; immediate circumstances usually played a more influential

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role. Edward I began to push for Londoners to grant more privileges to alien merchants resident in the metropolis, obviously with an eye to profits from the trade so many of them controled. Foreign merchants were useful to the king in a number of ways. Above all, they were the principal financial agents in the realm, owing both to their status as chief moneylenders to the Crown and to their organizations’ widespread and invaluable connections on the Continent.2 Moreover, as royal revenues became more and more directly tied to the volume of commerce through the collection of customs, Edward seized on the idea of stimulating trade to supply his ever-increasing demands for money. Among its many reforms, the first Statute of Winchester in 1275 began to shift the law merchant in England from customary to statutory, stipulating that henceforth no native should have his goods distrained as surety for the debts of another, as had been the custom.3 Although the statute did not address the issue of alien-owned goods, Crown pressure appears to have made the courts reluctant to apply the old distraints on alien merchants without royal writ. This and subsequent actions afforded a substantial degree of protection to alien merchants.4 In 1285, Edward issued the Ordinances for London, a set of directives designed to annul the mayoralty and place the metropolis under the immediate administration of royal officers or wardens. One of its most startling innovations was the clause which ordered immediate admission of alien merchants of good character to the freedom of the City, with all the rights of citizenship that such a privilege carried, including inspecting city balances and protecting land and debts, as well as providing at least half of the jury in cases involving aliens, particularly those regarding debts and distraints.5 As the same set of directives established a free-trade policy—despite opposition from the London burgesses—facilitating traffic between aliens and native merchants and giving them virtual equality in commerce, the intent is pretty clear.6 A pattern of balancing Crown advantages from alien trade against the hostility of commercial interests was being established, a pattern which would repeat itself throughout the later Middle Ages. As royal fiscal policies grew increasingly reliant on monies generated by the commerce of alien merchants, the jealousy of the native business community increased apace.7 The Londoners did not take these directives with equanimity. They viewed Edward’s protection of stranger merchants as part of a deliberate campaign to increase royal power and prerogative—and doubtless they were correct—at the expense of their liberties. They saw the king’s actions regarding the strangers as directed against the corporation, for they rightly or wrongly viewed alien commercial competition as harmful. Italians, Flemings, and Gascons in particular had grown powerful during the reign. The Italians and the Flemish dominated the export of English wool and the import of finished cloth, while the Gascons virtually monopolized wine imports.8 The extreme degree of royal favor shown to aliens during a period of struggle between Crown and City earned them little goodwill. In fact, their status became an issue of contention when Edward’s heavy taxation provoked a national crisis in 1297. The barons resented the constant demands for monies to support the king’s wars, and prevented collection of a tax to which Edward had persuaded a small, handpicked group of nobles to agree. Londoners openly expressed support for the barons’ actions. The ensuing controversy over exactly who had the ultimate right to levy taxes allowed

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other grievances to surface and be expressed, revealing a significant degree of resentment against the aliens as well as against Edward’s fiscal policies.9 The New Custom of 1303, which placed heavy duties on the wool and other articles exported by foreign merchants, attempted both to make up for shortfalls in Crown revenues and to mollify the London burgessess by convincing them that aliens also had to contribute. Alien merchants agreed to the New Custom in return for the protections afforded by the Carta Mercatoria that same year. These protections included unrestricted travel in and out of England, the freedom to live wherever they wished, and the right to participate on juries in cases concerning aliens.10 Probably the most important provision permitted them to ‘sell freely in cities, towns and market centres to all, whether in large or small quantities.’11 The monarchy guaranteed these privileges. A good deal of ill-will lingered despite the New Custom, especially among Londoners who did not recognize the Carta Mercatoria as applicable in the metropolis when it contradicted the ordinances of the City. Perversely, even as they complained about the freedoms being granted to alien merchants, they also complained that the New Custom would increase the price of imported goods, goods which native merchants could not supply in this period. Such refractoriness presented great difficulties for Edward II (1307–27), a king of much weaker character than his formidable father. A reaction against the controls imposed by Edward I was perhaps inevitable, but Edward II’s character flaws certainly exacerbated the situation. Although the most serious flaw was that he was ‘conspicuously deficient’ in ‘political good sense,’ the weakness which drew the most opprobrium was his dependence on favorites.12 This shortcoming seemed to be a virtual lightning-rod for the discontent caused by both his personality and his policies. Given the constant grumbling about aliens, particularly aliens in high places, one can assume that the fact that Edward’s first and principal favorite, Piers de Gaveston, was a Gascon aggravated the barons’ discontent.13 His father had Italian advisors as well as native, but Edward II was never able to intimidate complainers the way Edward I had. Gaveston was exiled in 1311 as part of The New Ordinances imposed by the angry barons, who were called the Ordainers. The Ordinances included stipulations that no aliens were to receive profits from customs, that those who had done so since the death of Edward I were to be arrested and held until account had been made to the Exchequer, and that Edward I’s New Custom was to be abolished.14 An assembly of citizens in London, encouraged by the Ordainers’ actions, drew up articles of reform designed to protect the City’s liberties. Among these articles, one stated that no alien was to be admitted to the freedom without the consent of the commonalty.15 Gaveston’s return later that year prompted open revolt, his own death and additional restrictions on Edward. The clause on admission to the freedom was restricted further to require that the men of a particular trade ratify an alien’s admission into that trade, a stipulation reconfirmed in the charter of 1319.16 In 1326 Edward’s queen, Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer, invaded from France in the name of the future Edward III.17 The ensuing chaos in the City included journeymen seeking out, attacking and killing aliens.18 How much of this action was part of the general frenzy, how much a reaction to the special royal favor alien merchants had been enjoying for over forty years, how much was economic jealousy, and how much was pure xenophobic fear or dislike is unclear. The charter of 1327, granted by the young

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Edward III and his mother in an effort to consolidate the support of London and restore stability, yet again followed the now familiar pattern of reconfirming both their own ‘ancient liberties’ and specific restrictions on aliens, as the Londoners requested. One item in this charter upheld a previously established constraint limiting residence by alien merchants to forty days, that time being deemed sufficient for them to sell their imports.19 Edward III (1327–77) is well known for his extensive dealings with aliens. He may be best remembered in this respect for the loans he took from the famous Bardi and Peruzzi banking-houses in order to finance the campaigns of the Hundred Years War and for the role his actions may or may not have played in the spectacular collapses of these banking concerns in 1346.20 He is also known for his experimental importation of Flemish weavers to assist in the development of the English cloth industry. Less well known is the fact that his reign is important for consolidating the framework within which alien merchants operated there. His actions regarding strangers continued and strengthened the pattern of using them as a tool for balancing economic and political concerns. Edward viewed trade as a diplomatic lever and as a source of revenue to support the Hundred Years War.21 His manipulation of trade for diplomatic reasons primarily took the form of periodic embargoes, especially when he wanted to remind his Flemish allies both of their obligations to him and of their dependence on English wool. He also had to stay mindful of the concerns of London merchants, whose goodwill he needed to maintain for reasons of both economic expediency and political stability during the war. These are the principal reasons behind the establishment of the Calais staple in 1363. Still another experiment in economic manipulation involving aliens was the aforementioned recruitment of Flemish weavers to settle in England.22 Beardwood states that by Edward’s death in 1377, the basic legal and economic outlines of the aliens’ position had been firmly established. She points out that controls on strangers were primarily intended to create economic restrictions.23 The principal disabilities of aliens in England concerned trade restrictions in England and the payment of higher custom. Alien merchants routinely paid custom which was double, sometimes triple, that of native merchants on imported and exported commodities. Edward III also required them to contribute to emergency subsidies, such as those levied in times of war, albeit at the same rate as natives. The routine requirement of double subsidies in addition to higher customs developed later. Aliens did not, however, have to pay the regular taxes required of natives unless they chose to take advantage of the privilege of denization, which gave them many, but not all, of the rights of native Englishmen.24 If, however, the strangers succeeded in becoming citizens of English towns, they could overcome most of the impediments against them in both wholesale and retail trade.25 After this point, immediate political expediencies rather than consciously applied policies were the driving force behind royal actions regarding strangers. The monarchy was on the defensive for virtually the whole period from the death of Edward III to the end of the fifteenth century as dynastic disputes and other discontents created almost constant instability. As a result, the Crown more and more frequently sought the support of London and often used restriction of strangers as bait. The aftermath of the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt during the reign of Richard II (1377–99) presents a good example. After the killing of some thirty or so aliens during the rioting in London, and the subsequent

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dispersal of the rebels, the hapless strangers must have again felt themselves wronged after the violence had been suppressed, but this time it was the Crown doing the injury. Badly shaken by events, especially by the near-loss of London, the regency government passed a number of new restrictions and reconfirmed the old ones against aliens, an obvious ploy to retain the loyalty and support of the capital. In 1382, for example, the statute 6 Richard II c. 10 prohibited all aliens, merchant or resident, from selling retail, except for victuals.26 Thereafter, aliens wishing to sell other merchandise by retail had to be admitted to the freedom before they could do so. As the fortunes of Richard II rose and fell toward the end of the century, so too did the trade restrictions on foreign merchants, a correlation impossible to explain away as mere coincidence. This strategy of using economic restrictions in times of shaky or unpopular government and as a bribe to obtain monetary support for wars or other projects became used with increasing frequency by the Crown. Restrictions continued to increase throughout the fifteenth century, and it is reasonable to connect this rise with the vicissitudes of the Lancastrian kings. Henry IV (1399–1413) could never live down the fact that he was a usurper; as a result, his position was insecure for most of the reign. To strengthen his position, Henry actively and eagerly sought the backing of Parliament and the City of London. As a result, a number of restrictions were placed on both transitory and resident alien merchants and artisans as part of the concessions made by a weak king seeking Parliamentary support.27 A law enacted in the first year of his reign reconfirmed the prohibitions on retail sales, and although it extended the traditional forty-day residency for alien merchants to three months, the statute 5 Henry IV c. 9 gave the burgesses a long-sought law forbidding aliens from any commercial dealings with each other, directing them to buy and sell only from Englishmen. The law further specifies that all alien merchants were to be assigned to English hosts and to dwell nowhere else during their stay in the country. 28 The long minority of Henry VI (1422–61), the subsequent concern about his competence, and the development of bitter factionalism in his court again created a weak monarchy heavily dependent on the goodwill of Parliament and Londoners. This situation led the Crown again to bow to pressures to curtail the activities of alien merchants even further, thus repeating the pattern which dominated the late Middle Ages. While the practice of lodging aliens with native hosts, and the prohibition of sales between strangers, were not new stipulations, the statute 18 Henry IV c. 4 in 1439 certainly went to new lengths to try to stiffen them with additional regulatory detail, especially regarding hostage. All merchant aliens newly arrived in any part of the realm had to report to local authorities within three days and be assigned to registered native hosts within another four, the said hosts being privy to all of ‘their’ alien’s dealings and transactions and responsible for reporting any improprieties in those transactions to the authorities. Penalties were even to be levied on natives who refused to act as hosts.29 The first poll-tax on aliens who had been resident past the previous forty-day limit was granted by Parliament in 1440 at the special rates of 16d a year on householders and 6d on aliens not householders. It was renewed periodically through the 1440s and then extended to include alien merchants whose residency had also exceeded forty days. It was then again renewed in 1453, but in this case the rates were increased.30 A reminder should be made here that most of the legislation relative to aliens up to this

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point was targeted specifically at alien merchants, although many restrictions were applied to resident aliens as well. This poll-tax is an important development in that it began as an assessment on resident aliens and was then extended to alien merchants, not vice versa. This is an early example of some differentiation being made in the general legal status of aliens in England, although the differentiations were seldom or never consistently applied. Again addressing the theme that weak monarchies formulated their policies on aliens largely to gain support from London and Parliament, one can argue that these new taxes served the purpose of mollifying the capital by allowing the king to enhance his revenues without burdening his subjects, thus avoiding any potential unpleasantness. Unfortunately for Henry, he would soon have an abundance of unpleasantness to face with the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455. Henry’s—and England’s—misfortune seems to have given the aliens a respite, at least in terms of restrictive legislation. By 1461, the civil conflict between supporters of the Lancastrian dynasty and its Yorkist challengers seemed to have been settled in favor of the latter, specifically in the person of Edward IV (1461–83). Edward’s overriding goals were to reconstruct England after the devastation of the Wars of the Roses and to recover the power and prestige of the monarchy. A primary facet of his domestic policy was his relationship with Londoners, with whom he was very popular. Edward’s relationship with the citizens of the metropolis must surely have been enhanced by his apparent willingness to regulate alien merchants, although the provisions enacted early in his reign point more to a further development of the protectionist policies which had emerged in the fifteenth century than to any effort to curry favor with Londoners. He proved, however, to be adept at balancing his own agenda of putting royal finances on a solid footing against the appearance of serving the economic self-interests of the City. The statutes of 1464 illustrate the point. The statute 3 Edward IV c. 3 is strictly intended to protect the small silk-working industry in London, commanding that no ‘Lombard, or any other person Stranger or Denizen’ bring into the realm finished silk goods. Immediately following it, 3 Edward IV c. 4 is an act prohibiting ‘importing Wares already wrought into this Realm.’31 This act contains a very long list of manufactured articles not to be imported, presumably to protect already well-established native industries or to encourage nascent ones. One particular stipulation within the document is also very revealing, especially when compared with the previously mentioned enactment. Finished silk products were not to be imported by aliens or denizens; the finished wares described in 3 Edward IV c. 4 were to be brought in by ‘no Merchant born a subject of [our said lord] the king, Denizen, or Stranger, nor any other person.’ This obviously indicates more Crown interest in any possibly detrimental economic effect of these competing commodities than in the nationality of their importers. Aliens were again, however, singled out for specific exclusion from important positions, such as royal aulnagers, in an act regulating the woolen cloth industry.32 When Edward died in 1483, law and justice were again firmly established, and the Crown was not only solvent, but had amassed a substantial fortune, due in part to revived trade.33 This economic good fortune was not, of course, restricted to the Crown. Native merchants benefited immensely, gathering ever-increasing amounts of trade into their own hands. Concomitantly, with the exception of the powerful Hanseatic merchants, the

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trade volume controled by other aliens steadily declined, perhaps a triumph of the ‘bullionist/mercantilist’ policies of Edward and some of his predecessors, perhaps despite them.34 Only one difficulty stood in the way of continuing and building on this promising base. The fact that the new king, Edward V (1483), was but twelve years old reopened the prospect of a lengthy minority. Little objection was raised when Edward’s uncle, Richard III (1483–85), assumed the throne, but he found any initial support rapidily dissipating when his two nephews disappeared soon after. Moreover, rebellions against his authority convinced him he must act quickly to garner support by any means at his disposal. Again, two patterns become apparent: that of a weak or unstable monarchy using the regulation of aliens as a means to secure popular support, and that of Parliament and the capital trying to take advantage of the Crown’s disabilities. Richard’s only Parliament passed fifteen statutes, many of which seem almost transparent in their attempts to gain support. Of the fifteen, two deal specifically with alien issues, and four more discuss the aliens’ role in the light of larger economic and legal matters. The two statutes dealing directly with the status of aliens in England, 1 Richard III c. 9 and 1 Richard III c. 12, are each preceded by a lengthy preamble which recites the many grievances supposedly suffered by England, her people, and her monarch at the hands of the aliens. The first, one of the longest of the fifteen in Richard’s brief reign, directs itself initially against Italian merchants, but quickly broadens its scope to create or reconfirm regulations applicable to all alien merchants and then to resident aliens as well. The second, entitled ‘An Act agaynst Straungers Artificers,’ is exactly the opposite in its focus, beginning with complaints about the numbers of alien artisans migrating to England, then concentrating again on the issue of importing finished wares, which it predictably prohibits. The wording of the statutes implies that the legislation is a reaction against greater numbers of aliens entering the realm in this period. Perhaps owing to the prohibition on imported finished wares, some aliens sought to turn the situation to their advantage by simply establishing their manufactures in England.35 His statutory inducements notwithstanding, Richard proved unable to muster the popular support he so badly needed to resist Henry Tudor’s challenge. Henry VII (1485–1509) spent the first fifteen years of his reign either suppressing a constant stream of uprisings or trying to consolidate his power or both. Nevertheless, his own deliberate character and England’s weariness of war and trade disruption served to mitigate resistance to royal initiative. The circumstances of aliens, both merchant and resident, reflect this dichotomous situation, wherein Henry had both strengths and weaknesses. The very first act of the reign regarding aliens reflected Henry’s careful nature in fiscal matters. The statute 1 Henry VII c. 2 was designed to extract revenues. It ordered that alien denizens would henceforth pay the heavier customs paid by alien merchants and non-denizens rather than paying at the native rates, as their original patents of denization had guaranteed Henceforth, the only monetary advantage to be had in denization was paying native instead of alien subsidy rates. This was reconfirmed and renewed by 11 Henry VII c. 14 in 495.36 The statute 1 Henry VII c. 10 is perhaps the most interesting and revealing of the acts on aliens and trade during Henry’s reign. It repeals almost all the heavy restrictions placed on alien merchants and other aliens just two years earlier in 1 Richard III c. 9, and

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it stands out from most of the other alien trade legislation enacted by his Parliaments.37 If one includes the two acts on denizens paying alien customs, there is a total of seven which in some manner restrict aliens in trade. This could indicate either that London business interests had advanced to the point where they could fill the vacuum if the alien merchants were severely restricted, or that Henry was not yet so sure of the capital’s support that he could increase customs revenues by allowing the aliens to increase their volume of trade. The statute 1 Henry VII c. 10 reveals that one or both scenarios are false; 1 Henry VII c. 9 (1485), 3 Henry VII c. 9 (1487), 4 Henry VII c. 23 (1488), 7 Henry II c. 7 (1491) and 19 Henry VII c. 21 (1503–04) are all protectionist measures reminiscent of earlier reigns: 1 Henry VII c. 10 stands in opposition to them all.38 Although England might benefit in time from expanding native control of the economy, English merchants had not yet advanced to that point. Despite the growing ascendancy of the Merchant Adventurers and the signing of the Intercursus Magnus with Burgundy in 1496, the time had not yet arrived. Henry VII, like Edward IV, had to reconfirm the privileges of the Hansards, or Easterlings as they were often called, despite pressure from London and Parliament. Lloyd observes that Henry’s reign saw some minor ‘whittling away of the edge’ of Hanse privileges, but English merchants gave ‘no major commercial opposition to the Hanseatics at that particular time’ in the important and lucrative Baltic trade.39 By the later decades of the fifteenth century the Hansards began to draw a larger share than previously of the jealousy and hatred of Londoners for alien economic competition, very probably because of the wholesale reconfirmation of their very broad privileges at a time when English merchants were desperately eager to compete with them. The guildsmen and merchants of London frequently petitioned for restrictions on the Hanse, seizing particularly on the issue of finished silk wares, which apparently attained cause célèbre status in the economic struggle, if the amount of parliamentary attention it drew over several reigns is any indication. The merchants of the Hanse maintained that their privileges exempted them from the prohibition against importing such merchandise, and they ‘brought into the realme such wares as they were wont and accustomed to do,’ taking advantage of a temporary suspension of export trade in 1493, much to the fury of the London companies.40 This fury was expressed in violence by apprentices and journeymen of the Mercers and Haberdashers Companies, who had been laid off from work by the stoppage. These workers attacked the Steelyard and beganne to rifle and spoyle such chambres and warehouses as they could get into: So that the Easterlynges had muche ado to withstande and repulse theym oute of theyr gates. And when their gates were fermed and closed, the multitude russhed and bete at the gate with clubbes and leuers.41 The ensuing investigation found ‘aboue .lxxx. seruantes and apprentices (and not one housholder) whyche were confederate together to make this attempt’ and sent the ringleaders to the Tower.42 Virtually disregarding the opposition, the Hanse merchants continued to conduct their business ‘as they were wont and accustomed to do,’ secure in their preponderent share of London’s overseas trade, a security guaranteed by Henry’s aforementioned confirmation of their privileges in 19 Henry VII c. 23.

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Despite the occasional outbursts, the last decade of Henry’s reign was a peaceful and prosperous one, even for aliens. The status of aliens, whether merchant or resident, does not appear to have been a priority at first in the upper levels of Henry VIII’s government (1509–47), save for the now standard payment of double rates on subsidies. By 1513 and 1514, however, a running dispute began between the London Cordwainers and some alien cordwainers that would end up having consequences for virtually all aliens. Native jealousy of aliens, whether merchants or artisans, continued to build through the late fifteenth and into the early sixteenth century. As improving economic conditions allowed the English to assume a steadily increasing proportion of trade and commerce, the position of the alien in their society and economy became less and less acceptable, and ill-will increased accordingly.43 Growing native confidence actually seemed to amplify the hostility as the English sought to exclude aliens completely from all sectors of their economy. By Henry VIII’s reign, the major quarrels were no longer between the native and alien merchants, but now primarily between London crafts and alien artisans; the issue no longer revolved around importation of silk goods, but focused on the broader issue of the London companies’ right to inspect and regulate the manufactures of alien craftsmen. Disputes over regulation of resident aliens’ manufactures came during a period in which Henry was moving ever closer to wars with both France and Scotland and was counting on subsidies from Parliament to help finance these endeavors. The issue and the increasingly hostile atmosphere it exacerbated finally culminated in the infamous Evil May Day of 1517. In his Chronicle, Hall notes that ‘the multitude of straungers was so great about London, that the poore Englishe artificers could skarce get any lyvynge’ and the strangers were ‘so proude, that they disdained, mocked and oppressed the Englishemen.’ He goes on to cite individual clashes between natives and aliens in which both parties acted imprudently, apparently pushing the situation to flashpoint. During Easter week, a certain Dr Bell, who had become involved in the dispute, preached a sermon lamenting that the aliens ‘eate the bread from the poore fatherles chyldren, and take the liuynge from all the artificers, and [that]…the craftes men be brought to beggary,’ going on to proclaim that Englishmen should ‘hurt and greue aliens for the common weale.’ City authorities, fearing exactly what soon did happen, ordered that servants and apprentices be kept off the streets, but when the authorities were compelled by violators of the curfew to enforce it, a scuffle occurred which quickly swelled into a riot in which aliens were viciously attacked.44 Although the government quickly restored order and punished the malefactors, the atmosphere did not improve. The London companies continued to cry for severe restrictions on aliens, both merchants and artisans. Again, Henry’s foreign wars played a significant role in deciding the matter. In 1523, the statute 14–15 Henry VIII c. 2 enacted the most restrictive regulations on aliens since 1 Richard III c. 9, forbidding aliens to take alien apprentices or to keep more than two alien journeymen. It also stated that henceforth any alien exercising a craft in London was subject to search, inspection, and regulation by the members of that established craft. The only aliens exempt from this act were those of the liberty of St Martin’s le Grand, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and alien joiners and glaziers in the employment of the nobility. It is no coincidence that Henry was in the middle of his second war with France and that the statute 14–15 Henry

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VIII c. 26 granted him a substantial subsidy against ‘the hostile Conduct of the French king,’ a subsidy in which the aliens all again paid double the rates of natives.45 These concessions did not satisfy the Londoners for long, and the aliens apparently aggravated the situation by circumventing the laws by taking advantage of lax enforcement. In 1529, after a complaint made in the Star Chamber by the artisans of London, led by the Cordwainers, the statute 21 Henry VIII c. 16 renewed 14–15 Henry VIII c. 2 in perpetuity and revived the restrictions of 1 Richard III c. 9; 21 Henry VIII c. 16 also added provisions ordering that all aliens must swear allegiance to the king and requiring aliens at the universities to limit themselves to ten journeymen. Ironically, the same preoccupation with Continental wars as inspired Henry to offer restrictions on strangers as bribes for war subsidies also inspired him to import alien experts in ordnance and battery, in a concentrated effort to establish native industries in these areas. By this point, roughly in the middle of the reign, circumstances both outside England and in the king’s personal affairs began to add new complexities to the difficult balancing of policies concerning aliens. The Protestant Reformation had begun in 1517, and by the late 1520s small numbers of religious refugees from the Continent began to enter the realm, although they could hardly have expected a warm welcome. When Henry forced the break with Rome in order to marry Anne Boleyn, the number of refugees increased, despite Henry’s basically anti-Lutheran position and extremely conservative brand of Protestantism. The lands and buildings confiscated in the dissolution of the monasteries after 1539 attracted many aliens, who sought to take advantage of the ancient privileges, or liberties, connected with these locations. Little of this changing religious climate—which impacted on aliens as much as it did on everyone else—is reflected in any official documentation regarding strangers in the later years of Henry’s reign. Most of the remainder of the parliamentary legislation is once again economic and specifically protectionist in tone, as it had been under earlier monarchs. In fact, mentions of aliens are less and less frequent in state documents in the 1540s. Even the two restrictions on aliens passed by the Reformation Parlia-ment dealt specifically with narrow interests, protecting the ancient English pewter craft and encouraging the fledgling native book-printing and binding crafts.46 The single important exception, 32 Henry VIII c. 16, which reconfirms 14–15 Henry VIII c. 2 and 21 Henry VIII c. 16 among others, extends the same restrictions to alien denizens, notwithstanding any provisions or protections made in their letters patent of denization. Not surprisingly, the same Parliament later passed a healthy subsidy to run for two years in which natives were assessed at 6d to the pound, and aliens at 1s to the pound, or double the rate paid by natives. Aliens worth less than 20s were still to pay a poll-tax of 4d.47 The paucity of legislation regarding aliens for the remainder of the reign indicates that the restrictions had been enough at least to repress hostility if not actually to alleviate it. Perhaps the severity of the regulations even benefited the aliens by sufficiently mollifying the English for the time being. Some evidence exists which may support that hypothesis. When Henry was preparing for an invasion of France in 1544, he ordered all non-denizen Frenchmen to become denizens or depart the realm. Substantial numbers preferred to apply and pay for the letters patent rather than leave.48 Crown policy concerning aliens in England during the reign of Edward VI (1547–53) primarily revolved around the direction the new Church of England would take during

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this period. The precociously intelligent boy king, as titular head of the English Church, was given a Protestant education, one which quickly moved toward a much more radical theology after his father’s death. Lord Protector Somerset’s openness on the religious issue, along with that of Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, encouraged prominent Continental theologians to immigrate to England very early in the reign. There the foreign divines found at the court an eager and avid reception for their doctrines. These reformers, men such as Peter Martyr, Martin Bucer, John à Lasco, Valérand Poullain, and Bernardo Ochino, came either to escape persecution on the Continent, or at Somerset or Cranmer’s express invitation, a policy continued throughout Edward’s reign.49 Following their leaders, religious refugees also began to migrate to England. They probably met for worship informally from the beginning, but their growing numbers and the worsening situation in Europe created a pressing need for their own churches. Lasco presented the petition of the refugees to the king, who in July 1550 granted the former monastery of Austin Friars to be used as the strangers’ church, with Lasco as superintendent.50 It soon became apparent that there were too many Dutch and French refugees to worship at Austin Friars, a situation exacerbated by language difficulties. In October, the former hospital of St Antony in Threadneedle Street was turned over to the French for their services.51 At this point, there is virtually no evidence of any substantive expressions of opposition from the native Londoners at this turn of events, sympathy apparently overriding hostility for the time being. Mary I’s brief reign (1553–1558) centered on one or two matters, to the near-exclusion of all others. First and foremost for the new queen was the goal of returning England to the Catholic fold. Before 1553 ended, however, settling the provisions for her upcoming marriage to Philip of Spain took precedence over all else. The first mention of aliens in Marian Parliamentary legislation comes in the statute 3 Mary I c. 2, which outlines the final articles of negotiation regarding the proposed union. Although Mary got her cherished article naming Philip joint sovereign upon the marriage, most other articles jealously protected England’s position relative to Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Aliens, for example, were expressly forbidden from holding public office in England.52 As the marriage plans became public, protests sprang up in all quarters, most especially in London and the south-east. The most famous, and dangerous, of these protests was Wyatt’s Rebellion, a rising which sought to prevent Spanish domination of England by Philip. Attitudes and perceptions about aliens expressed by the conspirators echoed the implication explored in Chapter 2, that xenophobia was a powerful force, a force they hoped to tap. The popular support that they had hoped to garner by rousing xenophobia against the Spanish—Wyatt told the men of Devon that the Spaniards were going to ravish their women—never materialized, not because of any lack of xenophobia, but rather because most anti-alien sentiment in the countryside remained largely directed at the French, the traditional enemies of the English.53 The rebellion’s near success nevertheless illustrates how deeply many Englishmen felt about a foreigner of any kind as king. One of the most worrisome aspects of this Spanish alliance was the fear that England would somehow be dragged into the interminable wars of the Habsburg-Valois rivalry, despite the prohibitions against such an eventuality in 3 Mary I c. 2. In February 1555, the first of some three hundred Marian martyrs went to the stake,

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creating a wave of popular revulsion. The floundering economy and sharp decline in the native woolen cloth industry added to growing discontent. In the summer of 1557, Philip successfully convinced Mary to enter the war against France, at great expense and at the eventual cost of the loss of Calais. Very shortly thereafter, the statute 4–5 Philip and Mary c. 6, ‘the acte tenquire of the behaviour of Frenchemen being Denizens,’ reconfirmed the major restrictive regulations against aliens of 1 Richard III c. 9, 14–15 Henry VIII c. 2, 21 Henry VIII c. 16, and 32 Henry VIII c. 16, the last of which applied all the former to denizens as well as to other aliens. The act almost seems apologetic, as if revoking letters of denization ‘upon Proof of any Offence against the Laws of the Realm’ and expelling all unlicensed French and other aliens from the kingdom for the duration of the war could gain her people’s forgiveness for decisions Mary felt had been made with her kingdom’s best interests at heart.54 The statute won her little if any support; when she died in November 1558, Londoners celebrated. Elizabeth came to the throne in a period of considerable instability. She faced a severe economic slump, an unstable religious picture, an extremely unpopular war, and Continental Catholic powers eager to see her fail. Aliens and issues concerning them were rather far down the new monarch’s list of priorities. The changing nature of the alien population, however, and both the advantages and the disadvantages attendant upon these changes, soon drew the Crown’s attention. The immigration of Elizabeth’s reign was of a different kind as well as on a much larger scale. The pressures and opportunities of this new situation, entangled with complex domestic and foreign circumstances, presented Elizabeth and her councillors with the task of formulating policies which would simultaneously deal with the impact of the aliens’ presence and take best advantage of it.

THE LEGAL STATUS OF ALIENS The bottom line throughout all this development remained that the position of the alien in England depended solely on royal pleasure. Holdsworth notes that ‘in fact the crown was very free to treat him as it pleased’55 Before Edward I’s pivotal rule, aliens had Virtually no enforceable rights,’ and the Crown protection extended to them was ‘originally specific to individuals, and conferred by royal letters of safe conduct.’56 It was Edward I who apparently took the first steps in transforming aliens into English subjects, the first such instance being that of Elias Daubeny in 1295, by means of a grant of the king’s grace.57 From that point on, considerable debate ensued in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries on both what constituted an English subject, and what various relative positions the alien could hold. Denization was a limited sort of citizenship obtained by royal letters patent, carrying with it certain privileges not available to the average alien resident. Naturalization, which conferred all the rights and privileges of native Englishmen, was much more rare and required an act of Parliament. The actual distinctions are fairly precise. Naturalization, the bestowal of full subject status, became a matter of debate during the reign of Edward III, when the issue of the status of children born abroad to English parents became pressing owing to the exigencies of plague and war. In 1351, the statute 25 Edward III c. 2 confirmed the right of these children to full subject status, and reserved the process of

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this confirmation to Parliament, since this might involve an alteration of the status of other subjects. Denization had a much more limited effect. By the fifteenth century, royal letters patent ‘could give to the alien the right to hold and acquire land’ but not purchase it. Nor could he ‘inherit from his father, and only his issue born after he had become a denizen could inherit from him.’58 The denizen could also initiate lawsuits, which was denied the non-denizen except in certain cases related to commerce, and avoid the special customs paid by aliens. Cases of denization were far more common than naturalization until the eighteenth century, but even more common were those aliens who chose to pursue neither. Throughout the high and late Middle Ages, this was most probably because the majority of aliens were merchants of temporary residence and felt no need for such measures. The time and expense involved in both processes were enough to deter most of the remainder of the resident alien population.59 Despite the early royal protection, by the end of the fourteenth century the atmosphere had definitely changed As seen above, laws restricting aliens were repeatedly enacted in efforts either to curtail such outbursts of hostility as the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 or to gain support for a weak or timorous government, especially from Londoners. In 1523, for example, when Henry VIII needed a subsidy from Parliament to continue his wars on the Continent, Parliament was persuaded to enact the statute 14–15 Henry VIII, c. 2, which placed all alien artisans ‘under the Serche and Reformacion of the Wardens and Felowshyppes of handy craftes withyn the said Citie of London.’60 This gave the wardens of every London company full authority to inspect and seize the alien craftsman’s products, a formidable weapon in an atmosphere of economic competition. The statute went on to insist that aliens could no longer take any apprentices except those who were English-born. Although other restrictive statutes were passed as well, it is important to note that the situation for aliens, while limited in some respects, was by no means as dismal as one might infer. The strangers often avoided the penalties for violation of such acts by settling in the liberties in and around London. These areas, such as St Martin’s le Grand, Blackfriars, and St Katherine’s, were formerly the sites of religious establishments before the dissolution of the monasteries, and as such, enjoyed a considerable number of privileges, chief among them exemption from many laws. So long as the aliens remained here, the mayor and officials of the Corporation of London could not disturb them. Also, most of the statutory restrictions were seldom enforced very rigidly even outside of the liberties except during periods of popular agitation, or when it was necessary to appease the business community, or for the collections of customs. Frequently, the strangers overcame these difficulties by obtaining royal licenses to circumvent the regulations.

DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY IN THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD: NEW CIRCUMSTANCES AND NEW DIRECTIONS Elizabethan officials, whether at the local or the national level, by the nature of their office often found themselves in the unenviable position of mediating between natives and alien groups. This was not an especially novel circumstance for government given the lengthy history of alien residence in the realm, but the increased numbers and

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concentrated presence of foreigners magnified perceived difficulties as well as intensifying reactions to whatever response the authorities might give. Mediation frequently took the form of simply settling minor everyday disputes, such as the type that might arise between individual natives or aliens, or between individuals of both groups. On occasion, however, the disputes escalated into active hostilities, often in the wake of some circumstance with which aliens might or might not have had any connection, the Peasants’ Revolt being a perfect case in point. The Crown sought to formulate and put into practice means for establishing and maintaining stricter regulation and direction of alien activities at the national level. Surveys became a popular means of gathering information about the alien population, information crucial to the formulation of any policies by the central government. Limited surveys had been made, and would be made again, for the collection of subsidies, but after 1561 the government apparently began to perceive a need beyond such reasons as determining the tax-base to know the extent of the entire alien population.61 This need grew with the passage of time, and its growth is evidenced by the increasing exactitude of the information collected by the searchers, which resulted from the greater specificity and complexity of the search articles issued by the government. Surveys of the alien population were conducted in London periodically throughout the decade of the 1560s, increasing in exactitude and frequency as time passed and the flow of immigration increased.62 This pattern of census-taking clearly indicates that Elizabeth’s government felt a progressively stronger need to count, classify, and generally understand the dimensions of alien migration into the realm. While these censuses are invaluable to the researcher and statistician because of the raw data they contain, the surveys also serve another useful purpose. They provide some indication of the attitudes held by the government toward the aliens. Indicative of the significance of these searches is that no corresponding record was made of the native populace, certainly suggesting that there were special concerns connected with the immigrant population. In a letter to Secretary Cecil dated May 11, 1568, Edmund Grindal, Bishop of London, forwarded some articles of enquiry used in a previous search, and commented that he noticed that ‘the matters now complayned off, have [before] from tyme to tyme ben regarded.’63 What these ‘Matters’ were is apparently summarized in the comments he made on the enclosed sheet of articles. He expressed great concern about the possible presence of strangers ‘suche as shalbe founde culpable or vehementlie suspected either of heresies or errors,’ and those of the ‘frenche and duche nation…which adioyne nott theim selffes to the frenche or duche churche in london.’64 Obviously, heresy and even lack of church attendance were equated with disorder or treason in an age where the principle of the ruler determining the religion of his or her territory dominated The fact that Elizabeth was supreme governor of the Church of England naturally reinforced this perception. Of course heresy was not limited to aliens, but immigrants were unknown quantities, and most of them emigrated from areas which were governed by Elizabeth’s overt or suspected enemies. Even beyond these religious-political concerns, Grindal worried about social disorder as well, fearing the effect of strangers who had committed ‘grevous crymes, as treasons, murders, fellonies or suche lyke’ before their immigration. In sum, England’s governors appeared to be troubled by the prospect of this large permanent alien presence in the realm.65

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Although the government was extremely conscious of England’s status as Europe’s most prominent Protestant state, there were unavoidable risks that accompanied a policy of providing a haven for religious refugees. There was the traditionally hostile popular response to strangers which resurfaced shortly after the initial rush of sympathy subsided and enthusiasm waned as a result of day-to-day contact. Another complicating factor was the sometimes violent hostility of the business community, which naturally saw alien competition as harmful, despite any general gains that might be made to the economy from the introduction of new commodities and an expanded domestic market. The convergence of both these difficulties can be seen in two examples where either the government took an active role as protector, or where an alien relied upon that role enough to request assistance. In 1565, the government negotiated with a German, Daniel Höchstetter, about mining for copper in Cumbria, using both German and English miners at Keswick. Harassment of the foreigners was apparently a grave difficulty, for not only was a safe-conduct for them to Keswick required, but the Privy Council had to issue special orders for their protection after the murder of one of their number.66 The Accounts Various contain a petition by a Genoese merchant, Vincentio Giustiniano. He was being accused and harassed by an English informer and his attorney for alleged failure to pay customs, and Giustiniano requested Burghley or his deputies to investigate. He doubtless would not have brought the matter to the Lord Treasurer’s attention had he not been innocent and anticipated protection from the government.67 As these examples illustrate, this popular hostility and concomitant harassment created very real concerns for any local or national government trying to maintain peace and prosperity at their respective levels of power and responsibility. But an issue that was apparently at least as compelling—in the view of the Queen and her councillors—was the possible threat to national security posed by this floodtide of aliens. The Elizabethan government’s policies on alien residents, while of necessity focusing on domestic concerns, also owed much to considerations in the arena of international relations. As already mentioned, most of the immigrants came from the Low Countries and France, and many of these aliens were specifically fleeing religious persecution conducted at the orders of the Catholic rulers of these areas. Consequently, Elizabeth’s sheltering of these individuals necessarily came into play in her foreign as well as her domestic policy-making for virtually the entire reign after about 1565. MacCaffrey characterized the first fourteen years of Elizabeth’s reign as the ‘testing time of the regime.’68 The issue of Protestantism versus Catholicism directly impacted on the legitimacy of Elizabeth’s position on the English throne, and this was an important reason for the firm establishment of Protestantism in the Elizabethan settlement. The ballooning importance of religion in international relations created serious concerns about national security—which was understandable, particularly in the context of an era marked by endemic religious-civil wars and the shifting of traditional diplomatic alliances. As time passed, the struggle between Catholic and Protestant intensified the magnitude of the upheavals which were part and parcel of the relative instability of the period. No one could foresee what shape these upheavals would take, but most feared their coming as diverse forces began to alter the face of international politics. During the first half of the sixteenth century, Western European politics had been dominated by the wars and rivalries of France and the Habsburg Empire. Both countries had been ruled by strong

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and aggressive leaders. Scotland, hostile to England, had been firmly allied to France since the fourteenth century, while England had been allied to Spain since the days of Henry VII, Elizabeth’s grandfather. The abdication of Emperor Charles V, the death of Henry II of France, and the accession of Elizabeth all fell within a few years of one another. Elizabeth saw her former brother-in-law, Philip, as her ally in what had become the traditional diplomatic alignment. This old system, however, was crumbling under the stress of changing realities. A new system loosely based more on Protestant and Catholic divisions was gradually evolving. The ‘Auld Alliance’ between Scotland and France had been seriously undermined by the Scottish Reformation. England had usually benefited when the Habsburg-Valois rivalry heated up, but after 1559 France was weakened by a series of ineffectual kings and an even more damaging series of religious-civil wars between Catholics and Huguenots. These internal convulsions seriously reduced France’s position as a worthy opponent of Philip’s Spain. Philip had offered a rather condescending friendship to Elizabeth at her accession, but relations underwent a gradual cooling as the years passed As the heir of los reyes catolicos, the Spanish king viewed himself—and indeed was viewed by many European Catholics—as the champion of Catholicism. Consequently, he was extremely vexed when England under Elizabeth established a Protestant state church in 1559. English aid to Huguenot rebels in France was an open ‘secret’ after 1562 which also served to drive the ideological wedge deeper between the courts of Elizabeth and Philip as it made the Queen’s commitment to Protestantism clear. Signs of strain began to appear in other areas of Anglo-Spanish relations as well. Trade with the Low Countries had been disrupted for a brief period in 1564, when the government at Brussels struck a blow against Elizabeth with a trade embargo. Cardinal Granvelle, the head of Philip’s government in Brussels, saw the English court as ‘the fountainhead of heretical conspiracy and the patron of political discontent.’69 English merchants made a relatively easy and moderately successful switch to the ports of Emden and Hamburg, loosening the economic bonds with the Low Countries. The embargo ended when Flemish discontent forced Philip to recall Granvelle. Even after this disquieting encounter, Philip made no overt moves against the English Queen, still preferring her to Mary, Queen of Scots. Although Mary was a devout Catholic, she was half French, the widow of Francis II, and obviously bound to French interests. The pace of rising tension began to accelerate in 1567. Iconoclastic rioting had started in the Low Countries in 1566, sparked by fiery sermons from Calvinist preachers. In response, Philip ordered a severe military repression of the violence with about 3,000 locally recruited soldiers. In August of the next year, the Duke of Alva arrived in Brussels with an army of 10,000 Spanish veterans. Although the Duke’s declared aim was to reassert the king of Spain’s authority in his own dominions, neighboring Protestant countries nervously suspected more sinister motives. The rapid expansion of Alva’s army to over 25,000 men through German, Italian, and Walloon levies hardly eased their fears.70 Despite Philip’s professed concern for domestic order, it was a disturbing situation for both France and England. Philip’s actions, and other subsequent developments, soon necessitated a reappraisal of English foreign policy. For centuries, France had been the traditional enemy on the

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Continent, while Burgundy had been regarded as the natural ally. Now, Alva had seemingly suppressed the initial Protestant revolt and had an invading army, in potential at least, camped as it were on England’s doorstep. Dutch and Huguenot privateers, sailing under letters of marque from the prince of Orange, leader of the resistance to Philip, were terrorizing ships in the Channel. The upheavals in the Low Countries created difficulties for the maintenance of normal business in the Antwerp cloth and money markets. Elizabeth and Cecil also feared that the disruptions in the Netherlands would weaken the area and leave it vulnerable to invasion by the French, whom they wanted to keep out of the region at all costs. In reality, France feared Alva’s proximity as much or more than did England, but the French were incapable of mounting a challenge against Spain. The Queen and her secretary faced a double threat. France was the traditional foe, but England’s friend, Spain, seemed to be engaged in a determined campaign to exterminate Protestantism. Cecil, ever on the alert against Catholic conspiracies, feared that England might be the next target. The one possibility he dreaded most, despite the remoteness of it ever occurring, was a united effort by France and Spain to put the Catholic Scottish Queen, Mary Stuart, on the throne of England. That possibility grew even more remote when Mary arrived in England in 1568, seeking her cousin’s aid in regaining the throne of Scotland, which she had lost through her own miscalculations. Elizabeth’s prompt and prudent response was to give the Scottish Queen hospitality in the form of benevolent incarceration. Mary immediately began to intrigue against her hostess. However, the most crucial issue—the control of Mary’s person—had already been settled in Elizabeth’s favor. With Mary Queen of Scots safely under lock and key, Elizabeth and Cecil could and did keep a close watch on her. They would also be able to monitor and intercept any plots undertaken against Elizabeth on Mary’s behalf.

THE DICHOTOMY IN GOVERNMENT ATTITUDES It was in this charged international atmosphere, with economic, religious, and diplomatic issues inseparably bound together, that the English government had to deal with the substantial alien presence in the realm. The rising numbers of refugees seeking respite from religious persecution or economic dislocation provoked concern on several fronts, the crucial ones being the religious beliefs of the aliens, the potential participation of the strangers in actions against the Queen, and what international consequences would follow a policy of sheltering the refugees. In July 1568, Sir William Cecil wrote a letter to the Lord Mayor ordering him to undertake another survey of the aliens in London. In the letter, Cecil clearly indicated two primary concerns of the government regarding the large influx of strangers: first, that ‘with so great a multitude,’ strangers would come into the realm from France, Flanders and elsewhere ‘uppon pretence of fleing for persequcon for ye cause of relligon;’ and, second, that the peace of the realm would be disturbed by ‘suche as ar reported to be lewde & evill disposed personnes.’71 That the Queen herself had similar concerns about the sorts of people coming into the realm can also be seen in a letter she wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Elizabeth did not simply worry, as did Cecil, about their numbers and the dangers of aliens falsely

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claiming religious asylum; she also expressed concern that some were ‘infected with Dangerous opinions, contrary to the faith of christs church as Anabaptists and such other Sectarys or that be gilty of sum other horrible crymes of rebellion murder, Boggerys or such like.’72 In October 1568, the Lord Mayor, having received orders from Cecil that ‘their shalbe no more repair of Straungers to london for abode by them their, because of infection this Daungerous tyme of plage…as also for avoydinge of some offence growne to hir majesties people,’ wrote in return that he had ordered the aldermen to prohibit any strangers from repairing to the City and making any abode ‘longer then a day and on night, not forbidding souche as come for religion.’73 Presumably, sincere religious refugees were immune from the plague. This dichotomy of concerns between sheltering refugees for conscience, and fearing for national security, can also be readily seen in an example from July 1570, when thirty Flemings landed on the coast near Rye seeking to immigrate. When local officials wrote to London to request instructions, the Privy Council’s reply spelled out the criteria that were central to policy-making decisions regarding aliens. The councillors sent word that if ‘they be cume out of their countrye for religion & for the safeguard of their conscience, & that they be such as may be beneficiall to that towne, and be…within the nomber of straingers limited by the Queen’s Majestic to inhabit there,’ then they could remain.74 A survey of the City of London and the suburbs in 1573 reflects the extent of the abovementioned governmental concern that these policy criteria were being met. The articles of inquiry in this alien survey are devised specifically to determine how many strangers had come and settled in London for the sake of religion, and how many had not.75 There are no names or trades, or any of the other data usually to be found in the surveys by this date. A total number of 7,143 strangers is given from figures taken both by the ward officers and by the elders of the various churches.76 Of these, 889 claimed to be of the English church but were found to have no church, and 1,763 belonged to the Dutch, French, or Italian churches. Of the total number of strangers in the search, the church elders determined that 1,828 ‘by their owne confessione’ came not for religion but ‘to seeke a lyvinge.’ The wards, asking the same question, came up with a figure of 2,561. Furthermore, there was an effort to determine which of the aliens were permanent residents, and which were not. The number of householders was put at 1,165, but ‘the trewe nomber is not certified, for that many of their bookes be vnperfecte.’77 Apparently, officials regarded the transient strangers as more of a threat on the issue of religion, as they tended to be the individuals whose church attendance was not all the government would have liked This may very well be indicative of a concern which grew in importance after 1568, a concern which posed the greatest potential danger of all: the possibility that a small number of undesirables, who earlier in this century would have been termed ‘fifth columnists,’ would infiltrate the country. This problem grew in importance with the increasing tension between Elizabeth and Philip of Spain, from whose dominions many of the refugees had come. Correspondingly, governmental apprehension that members of the alien community might be engaged in intrigue and treason peaked in 1571 with the discovery of the Ridolfi Plot, a proposed operation which had as its primary component a foreign invasion of England coordinated with an internal rebellion. Suspicion regarding the strangers was also peaking in that year, as illustrated by actions such as the creation of the ‘Booke of Orders’ in Norwich

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and the Crown’s extensive use of alien surveys in that same year. Consequently, governmental authorities tried to observe and to control the movements of the alien population within the realm as well as those of strangers who attempted to enter or depart.78 As demonstrated in Chapter 1, the central government’s employment of surveys can be seen as a reasonable barometer of concern about the strangers. This barometer clearly shows 1571 to be an exceptionally uneasy year for the government in its perception of the aliens. Surveys were ordered for no fewer than six centers of alien population outside London, all in May of that year.79 Two comprehensive surveys were also ordered for London in November and December following the public disclosure of the Ridolfi Plot.80 The government considered the issue of aliens falsely claiming religious asylum to be too troublesome to let its precautions rest with delaying the immigrants’ entry into London and restricting their stay once there. Consequently, the Crown instituted other means of observation and regulation as well. In October, the Council had sent letters ‘to sundry ports within the realme touching the dailie excessive repaier of straingers;’81 and, still suspecting ‘some daungerous coverte mischief,’ in January 1572 it ordered the aldermen of London to ‘make a secret & yet a generall serche’ in order to ferret out any persons not known in their wards and who ‘cannot yeld good reason of there comynge here.’82 Crown concern over aliens even reached the point of controlling the flow of Thames traffic, when William Bourre, captain of the ship Phoenix, was hired for that entire year, ‘aswell for the garding and safe keaping of the Ryver of Theames as also for the staying of all straungers and other suspected persons passing out of the same into enny other forren Countries and not sufficiently licensed.’83 Although free passage through the Thames was later restored, the government maintained its vigilant stance in closely regulating traffic in the ports. A letter from the Council in February 1576 to Lord Cobham, ordered the examination of ships’ masters regarding what aliens they had transported into the realm, whom they had put out in places other than the usual ports, and where those aliens had gone after disembarking. After this point, the captains were ordered to report such matters so that ‘if any occasion of mistrust be, order [could] be taken accordinglie’.84 Evidence of this vigilance can still be found in very specific, detailed orders to the same effect as late as 1585. By this time, there was considerable Crown concern over the possibility of a Spanish invasion and the feared alien involvement, concern prompted by Philip II’s reaction to the Treaty of Nonsuch concluded by Elizabeth and the Dutch rebels.85 The actions of the strangers themselves on occasion only served to heighten governmental anxiety. In June 1568, Lord Cobham, Warden of the Cinque Ports, sent William Crispe to Sandwich, directing him to investigate rumors of the ‘passing ouer of strangers with furnyture of armure & weapon towards the low countries.’ Although Crispe found that none had actually done so, he was informed by city officers that earlier some thirty Flemings and Walloons from Maidstone, Norwich, and London had gathered about a mile outside the city, where they ‘shewed themselfs in array in manner of muster…[with] their usuall weapon of rapier & dagger & for their better furnyture diuers had daggs & Curriors.’ It was also reported that the aliens had tried to hire a ship to take them to Emden, presumably to return home and join the fighting against Philip, and had actively solicited the aliens resident in Sandwich to join them in their enterprise. Town

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officers dispersed the gathering without incident, but order was given ‘for better care to be had’ at the ports.86 At this point in time, Elizabeth was in a precarious position in her foreign relations. As noted above, her relations with the Spanish court grew increasingly tense after 1560. She feared Catholic Philip’s intentions as much as she feared those of the traditional enemy, the French. Her solution was to profess amity while covertly offering encouragement to those who supported the efforts of the rebels in the Low Countries and of the Huguenots in France. This encouraged the consistories of the stranger churches, who for ‘some years’ had been providing ‘aid, men and money’ to the Dutch Sea Beggars, William of Orange’s privateering fleet which harassed the ships of Spain and her supporters.87 Elizabeth did not, however, dare offer open support at this point, and the subsequent military failures of Orange further dampened her enthusiasm. This made it somewhat easier for her to accede to Spanish demands that she forbid her subjects to assist the Sea Beggars. The English government’s suspicions steadily increased after 1568, and in the crisis year of 1571 the Privy Council gave instructions to George Winter and John Hawkins, ‘being in commission for maritime causes,’ to search to find if any aliens do ‘harbor or victual any of the said Freebooters or rovers contrary to the orders’ previously given.88 On March 1, 1572, again at the urging of the Spanish, Elizabeth ordered the Sea Beggars out of her ports altogether.89 Apparently, some aliens had been defying the orders against supporting the rebels and continued to do so. Late that same year, about thirty-five refugees, armed with ‘arquebusses,’ were sent to Flushing in a thirty-ton vessel by the aliens in Colchester for service with Orange.90

DEVELOPMENT OF A PROACTIVE POLICY After 1571, the Council moved to regulate more carefully the movements of the alien population in various towns, especially where that population exceeded the limits imposed by the original grants of settlement. This situation grew even more acute with the fresh wave of immigrants sparked by the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572. Many of the residents of Dieppe, for example, together with a large number from Rouen, poured across to Rye and Winchelsea. Others landed at Sandwich and Dover, and, of course, great numbers crowded into London. The Council directed the Lord Mayor in 1573 to disperse the strangers in some areas where ‘moche infection grewe by reason that many families of the said straungers dwelt pestred up in one place.’91 The councillors also took this opportunity to eject some of the foreigners altogether, ordering that ‘where it was informed that divers straungers were there that professing no religion nor frequenting any Divine Service used in this realme, her Majesties plesure was that they shuld be dispatched out of their jurisdictions.’92 By early in 1574, the Council was coordinating the removal of strangers from overcrowded port areas such as Sandwich into less crowded areas, ‘more remote from the seaside,’ like Canterbury. This was not just a simple policy for the relief of overcrowding. The authorities paid careful attention to the nationality, the trades, and the churches, and to the room available at the intended point of relocation.93 In the relocation

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from Sandwich to Canterbury, for example, the Walloons resident in the city were willing to move, and the Council agreed, contingent upon whether Canterbury would be able ‘to receave them by Esther or Midsomer next, and at what prices.’ The mayor of Canterbury understandably expressed concern about the type of individuals who were to be settled in his city, and the Council accordingly ordered that regard be given ‘that they may not be of the meanest sort, but choice to be made of such as be makers of bayes, grograines, &c.’94 Not all moves were necessary, or even desirable, in the eyes of the government, as is illustrated by the case of some of the strangers in Norwich, who in 1574 petitioned the Council to be allowed to remove to Lynn: they were told that they would not be permitted to do so, but were to remain in Norwich as orderly citizens or else depart the realm altogether.95 Obviously, there were many reasons for governmental concern regarding the aliens and security during these first years, but the picture was by no means one of unrelieved suspicion. In fact, Cecil and others of the Council recognized very early the positive role certain individual aliens could play in a long-term policy designed to reduce England’s dependence on imported material. England was industrially backward in comparison with her European neighbors in the sixteenth century, particularly in the manufacture of armaments, and precedents had already been established for employing foreigners to alleviate this deficiency. Faced with the dual difficulties of underdeveloped technologies and an increasingly tense international situation, Elizabeth was content to follow the example of her predecessors, albeit much more aggressively and on a much larger scale. One of the first areas to which she gave close attention was that of extractive technologies, a vital area for an island kingdom trying to reduce its dependence on imported goods. The government actively courted Continental experts, offering enticements such as patents and monopolies, as well as a considerable amount of government cooperation. The government’s determination for self-sufficiency in armaments spurred them on in encouraging the fledgling copper industry, and that of manufacturing artificial saltpeter for gunpowder, among others.96 Clearly, not all aliens were perceived to be threats to security, and by the late 1570s the government began to develop limited ways in which the strangers could participate in national defense. Still, even though individual aliens made contributions in defense technology, as a group the immigrants continued to cause considerable worry. This underlying concern continued, as evidenced by two separate expulsions, in 1573 and in 1574, of strangers professing no religion; but, simultaneously, aliens came to be expected to contribute to military preparedness, initially through payment of subsidies for troops and provisions. The years between 1575 and 1588 saw a considerable growth in the government’s perception that, since the immigrants benefited from English protection, they should aid in the realm’s defense as did native subjects. The fact that large numbers of the aliens were now assimilated into English society reinforced the notion that the aliens had a duty to participate in preparedness.97 This view went a long way toward ameliorating the suspicion with which the strangers were regarded as a group, even though fresh immigrants arrived regularly throughout the rest of the reign. As early as April 1578, the Privy Council ordered the Lord Mayor and aldermen of London to assess strangers as well as Englishmen to train and furnish 2,000 men for ‘the seruice of her maiestye and

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defence of this Realme, yf nede shall requyre.’98 In June, the Queen amended the earlier precept, ordering that strangers from the Low Countries who were not free denizens should not be charged, and that any monies collected from them should be returned. Apparently, the government considered these aliens ‘greatelye charged for the present warres there,’ and therefore already doing their part on another front.99 This trend toward requiring alien involvement in defense preparation intensified during the 1580s, despite the fact that the undercurrent of suspicion always remained, and, indeed, was heightened by the mounting tension between England and Spain. As the long-awaited clash approached, however, the government considered the aliens more as another resource to be mobilized for the struggle than as a menace. The Privy Council again ordered strangers, usually those in London, Westminster, and the liberties, to contribute to the charges for the training and furnishing of men. They were assessed for 3,000 men in February 1580, and for 4,000 in July 1585, the year England finally committed troops to the Dutch war.100 As the war, and the need for men, escalated, so did alien involvement. In March 1587, the government required the strangers of the French and Dutch churches in London to contribute towards the levying and training of 10,000 troops. Officials were still suspicious of strangers of no church, taking their names and putting them under watch in 1581, but aliens who willingly cooperated in the contributions appear to have been regarded as part of the effort both to support the Dutch rebels and to counter the assault that Elizabeth knew would eventually come once she had concluded the Treaty of Nonsuch. Alien participation moved beyond the payment of subsidies as the Armada crisis approached and England braced for the onslaught. A certificate in December 1587 of able men in London aged sixteen to sixty lists the numbers by wards of such individuals. The document distinguishes between natives and aliens but makes it clear that they all were expected to serve. Out of 21,719 available men, 923 were resident aliens.101 Although aliens represented less than 5 per cent of the total, this share roughly reflects their proportion of the London population. Their inclusion in this certificate demonstrates that the government now considered them an available manpower resource, thus establishing their position as part of the mobilization against the Armada far more firmly than can be deduced from monetary contributions. The document is interesting for another reason as well. Alongside the counts by wards of able-bodied Englishmen and strangers is another column of persons whose religion was suspect. The numbers are very low, ranging from zero to nine per ward, for a total of 41. Of these, only seven are specifically identified as strangers. This is quite a departure from most documents of Elizabeth’s reign concerning aliens suspected on religious grounds, or aliens who did not attend divine service. The authorities regularly inquired about church attendance, as part of both the regular and the specialized surveys of strangers who professed no religion. Most of these indicate sizable numbers of suspects—as many as 334, the number found in London in 1581, during the last such survey.102 That the reported number had dropped to seven by December 1587 suggests several possible conclusions: that the numbers had dropped in actuality; that the government was no longer so concerned about such matters by late 1587; or that the Crown was willing by then to overlook all but the most blatant cases, ignoring aliens who were ready to participate in national defense. As it is unlikely that over 300 strangers considered questionable by the government would have departed London during these

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years, and equally unlikely that Elizabeth no longer cared about intrigue by internal enemies, it seems that alien integration into defense planning had occurred by the Armada year.103 Although there is little evidence that aliens actually participated in the battle in the Channel against the Spanish, or that they were in the army gathered at Tilbury to repel the enemy if the Royal Navy failed, they continued to play an important role in the war effort in the eyes of the Crown.104 Troops were levied in September, when the government feared a siege of Bergen op Zoom, and among those troops were 500 men from the strangers’ churches under the conduct of a Captain Medkerke.105 Now that England had committed herself to the Dutch war, the aliens represented an obvious resource to be utilized in the struggle. Additionally, the government played upon the lingering attachment of the aliens to their native lands, actually resorting to threats, if needed, in order to obtain even more cooperation. By December 1600 the Queen issued letters to aliens from the Low Countries ordering a forced loan after the leaders of the United Provinces requested a delay in repayment on a loan they had received from her earlier. Seeking to make up the shortfall, the Queen ‘thought it convenyent to vse now the helpe of such strangers, resydent within our Realme…specially [those who have] lyved in freedome of their consciences, and to whom doth redound the comfort of the defence of their Countrey.’ She trusted that the aliens would be willing and ready to expresse the thanckfulness they owe vs by lending vs…such reasonable sommes of money, as we shall requyre of them.106 Also, the recipient of such a ‘request’ was urged to be cooperative ‘rather than to drive vs to vse any severe course against…ye vnited Provinces by way of…[the] withdrawing of our good will from them.’ Loans evidently replaced subsidies for troops as the major means of alien participation in England’s defense for the remainder of Elizabeth’s reign. Over the course of that reign, the government seems to have been of two minds about the role of the immigrants in matters of national security and about virtually all other aspects of their position in English society. From the earliest years of Elizabeth’s reign, she and her councillors simultaneously welcomed strangers and felt threatened The conflicting views were officially resolved by government support of the aliens, through allowing them to settle, protecting them from native hostility, and permitting them a degree of religious freedom not given to natives. The Crown also pursued a deliberate and public policy of taking advantage of the technological skills the strangers brought with them. Less overtly, England’s governors suspected them at the same time, for many were the subjects of France and of the Spanish Empire. Owing largely to this perception that the aliens constituted a political threat which might outweigh ideological kinship or economic benefit, the government sought to regulate and control the strangers. As the years passed, however, and the feared consequences of tolerating such a large foreign presence in England never materialized, the concerns slowly subsided. The aliens were gradually integrated into the Crown’s preparation for the long-awaited clash with Spain through production of material and provision of manpower and financial resources. The wisdom of the government’s decision was proved by the event. In 1588, there was no ‘fifth column’ working for the Spanish in England, and the aliens had become an important part of the fabric of sixteenth-century British history.

4 ALIENS, POLICY, AND THE ELIZABETHAN ECONOMY One of the most striking impacts of the immigration of Elizabeth’s reign was the effect it had in the economic sphere. A number of historians have characterized it as a critical juncture in England’s economic development. Ephraim Lipson passionately declared that the arrivals of the Elizabethan aliens enabled the island kingdom ‘to wrest from its rivals the secrets of important industries and become a workshop of the world; while the national fibre was strengthened by the infusion of new blood.’ Carlo Cipolla more prosaically notes: ‘The refugees who moved to England…found an extremely fertile ground,’ and ‘ingenious local imitators…, by pursuing their ideas along original lines, further developed the foreign techniques and opened the way to more innovations.’1 Elizabeth and her counsellors would have been gratified at Cipolla’s assessment because it neatly summarized the role they sought to establish for the strangers in Crown economic policies. Most previous monarchs had enacted only rather sporadic and haphazard measures regarding the role of aliens in the English economy; indeed, many of these measures were restrictions intended more to curry favor at home than to make use of the aliens. Elizabeth and Cecil recognized the unique opportunity afforded by the arrival of the strangers. Consequently, they sought to formulate policies which would maximize the advantages to be had from the immigrants. They also determined to see the policies through, even in the face of predictable popular hostility. Although this event in English history is best known as a massive movement of Protestant refugees fleeing both confessional persecution and the civil-religious wars on the Continent, a large number of the participants in the movement had motivations other than religion. In 1571, for example, a survey of aliens in London and the suburbs, which included among its articles of inquiry a query about the strangers’ motives for immigration, reveals that 2,561 of 7,143 came for economic, not religious, reasons.2 Many of those who came to England, whether they were from Flanders, France, the Empire, or Italy, brought valuable skills and expertise which could benefit the English economy, both in innovations in existing trades and in the introduction of new ones. The role these new residents would play in English society and its economy was by no means clear. An uncomfortable dichotomy existed between the economic expansion caused by the aliens’ establishment of new crafts and industrial techniques, and the variety of problems that arose when the aliens’ presence and competition stimulated a powerful English xenophobia, a pattern already well established by the reign of Elizabeth.

CROWN ECONOMIC POLICY BEFORE ELIZABETH: ALIEN MERCHANTS AND TRADE

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Benefits and problems in England stemming from the economic participation of aliens were not phenomena new in the time of Elizabeth I. The presence of aliens had been an element of considerable economic and social importance in English life for centuries, particularly in London and other south-eastern coastal urban centers. The majority of these medieval aliens were engaged in international trade, importing a variety of goods ranging from victuals to finished commodities, and exporting wool and other raw materials.3 Different nationalities dominated this commerce in various centuries. The Flemish were the leaders of the thirteenth century; Italians and later the Hanseatic merchants predominated in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and Italians and French competed for precedence in the first half of the sixteenth, as the German Hanse entered a decline which culminated in the revocation of their privileges during the reign of Edward VI, and Elizabeth’s closing of the Steelyard in 1598. The economic story of these earlier centuries began and ended with overseas commerce largely in the hands of alien merchants. Native merchants gradually assumed an ever larger share of this business by slowly becoming more experienced in the carrying trade and concurrently developing English manufacturing. The latter increased at an even slower pace, particularly when compared to developments on the Continent. Naturally, in order to limit the share of trade in the hands of foreigners as much as possible, native commercial interests struggled against the strangers, often in the face of Crown displeasure. After Edward I, customs on wool and other exports provided an increasingly high proportion of royal revenues, as seen in Chapter 3.4 Acting as a counterpoint to the Crown’s need to supplement its ordinary income was the development throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of a protectionist strain in government economic policy-making, as rulers or their advisors became aware that the welfare of the state and that of the economy were inextricably linked. Repeated enactments in the fourteenth century protected various alien merchants whose commerce was still irreplaceable, but these were gradually supplanted by statutes with provisions requiring alien merchants to pay customs in bullion yet take their profits in English commodities rather than cash. This reflected a developing concern about the maintenance of a supply of specie and the balance of trade with the countries whose merchants crowded into London. A case in point was Edward III’s establishment of the Calais staple in 1363. This staple was intended to guarantee a steady supply of wool to Flanders—gratifying Edward’s Flemish allies—but it would be maintained on English soil. Its establishment required all merchants, alien or native, carrying wool to the Low Countries to trade through the staple; but Englishmen obtained a ‘quasi-monopoly’ through the establishment of the Company of Merchants of the Staple, thereby appealing to ‘the group of prosperous Londoners who might hope to profit by it.’5 The duties of the Merchants of the Staple included arranging convoys, imposing quality standards, and determining conditions of sale to aliens.6 It was also in this period that the duties on wool exported by aliens reached crippling levels, as Edward and his successors down to Edward IV attempted ‘to make the wool trade their chief supplier of bullion.’ Bullionism, the ‘monetary policies designed to increase a country’s supply of gold and silver,’ was a recurrent policy through the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. English as well as other rulers equated ‘bullion with

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wealth and wealth with power,’ particularly relating bullionism to ‘meeting the cost of war.’ The Calais staple was obviously an element in the continuation of bullionist policies, especially since as early as the 1340s, Parliament had attempted to require the delivery of two marks of silver plate to the mint for every woolsack exported by aliens.7 This approach to a bullionist, and later mercantilist, policy of sorts was by no means restricted to England, but the political upheavals of the fifteenth century placed urban interests in a position to be heard and, in many cases, heeded by the monarch. Englishmen fearing—probably irrationally—a complete domination of the economy by aliens sought to limit them strictly to carriage, and to exclude them entirely from internal trade. London burgesses adhered unwaveringly to the position of restricting aliens only to wholesale trade, limiting their length of residency and placing them under native supervision. ‘Rooted in this urban xenophobia, opposition to government liberalism gained ground. Every possible charge was levied against the foreigner: he took bullion out of the realm, formed rings to rig prices, spied for the king’s enemies.’8 In 1436, a poet voiced many of the contemporary criticisms of alien merchants in ‘The Libelle of Englysche Polycye.’ He lamented that the luxuries brought by aliens rendered English resistance to buying foreign goods ‘frayle as glasse,/And also bretylle,’ and that the merchant strangers ‘destroy the polycye of this londe,/By gifte and goode, and the fyne golden clothes,/And silke and othere.’9 The poet leaves the impression that the alien merchants were destroying the fabric of English society as they conducted their trade. Although his vituperation spared no group, from the ‘Hyghe Duche’ to ‘Esterlynges’ to the ‘Januays’ (Genoese), his special criticism is reserved for the latter and other Italians, who tempted and distracted the English ‘Wyth thynges not endurynge that we bye.’10 The poet, like many others of the day, decried the lax enforcement of some restrictions and the impermanence of others, calling for stringent application of the forty-day residency limit for aliens, and insisting that they live with native hosts in order to be under better surveillance.11 Logically enough, since he had little else to boast about, he also brags of Flemish dependence on English wool, stating that the latter ‘Susteyneth the comons Flemmyngis.’12

CROWN ECONOMIC POLICY BEFORE ELIZABETH: THE ROLE OF ALIEN ARTISANS It made sense from the standpoint of native commercial interests that statutes should be passed designed to restrict the activities of alien merchants, particularly if the English aspired to take over trade to and from England. This natural but myopic concentration on the foreign merchants failed to consider other strangers present in the realm, and most of the statutes were phrased to apply to all aliens. In addition to foreign traders, small numbers of artisans also settled in London and a few other cities. Moreover, some skilled aliens had also been deliberately encouraged to settle in England. The vast majority of aliens in England in the high and late Middle Ages were indeed of the merchant class, as discussed above, but small numbers of alien artisans had also been present for a very long time. Most, if not all, came to earn a living. In 1331, Edward III

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conducted his well-known economic experiment, inviting a Flemish master, John Kemp, and other foreign weavers to settle in England in order to revive the decaying native cloth industry. Although Postan ably argued against the traditional view that the king pursued this course in order to reduce wool exports and importation of finished cloths by revitalizing a stagnant English cloth-making industry, the fact remains that Kemp and others did immigrate, adding their hands and skills to an already expanding native industry.13 Although a small number of Flemish weavers accepted the invitation, settling in London, York, Norwich, Bristol, Winchester, and Abingdon in the 1340s and 1350s, May McKisack and others point out that ‘their numbers cannot be assessed, even approximately’ and it is impossible ‘to discover the nature or extent of their influence.’ She concludes that their immigration was ‘a symptom [of English economic expansion] rather than a primary cause,’ and that their influence seems to have been limited to a few technological improvements. Edward protected the immigrants against the not unexpected hostility of native weavers, but, as the industry had already ‘lost much of its urban character,’ it does not seem to have been an issue for the wealthy London commercial interests, whose goodwill late medieval kings strove so hard to maintain.14 The design, if not the implementation, of introducing foreign weavers into the kingdom did not originate with Edward III, but was already present in the minds of English rulers at least two generations before.15 Nor did it end with Edward III. Henry VIII, despite the substantial amount of anti-alien legislation demanded and gained by commercial interests during his reign as he sought financial support for his wars on the Continent, also encouraged select groups of foreign artificers to immigrate into England and introduce their skills to native craftsmen. German armaments experts came in 1543 to organize the ironworks in the Weald, where cast-iron cannon were manufactured with the help of French craftsmen as well.16 In 1549, the Protector Somerset’s fascination with ‘social experimentation,’ and desire to give stimulus to a rapidly failing economy, led him to work to establish and foster in the town of Glastonbury a substantial settlement of Walloon weavers, consisting of about 230 people. The colony served a dual purpose, for it was intended not only to revive the area’s stagnant cloth manufacture, but also to serve as an experiment in planted communities. Despite some initial difficulties, the settlement was established with Englishman Henry Cornish as its appointed business supervisor. The settlers quickly found themselves in financial straits after the fall of the Duke and were forced to petition the Council for assistance. The Council granted a loan and other privileges to assist them, but just as the colony was getting its affairs in order, the death of Edward and the accession of his Catholic half-sister, Mary, convinced the Walloons that a move to Frankfurt would be prudent, especially since the new queen had ordered it. The tensions, discontents, and political upheavals of the 1540s and 1550s, combined with the debilitating effects of costly wars, repeated debasement of the coinage, inflation, and a stagnation and decline in the English woolen cloth market, caused a significant downturn in the economy. This in turn produced a substantial amount of unemployment and a general rise in poverty. Vagrancy rose to levels which even famine and severe epidemics could not cut, as evidenced by the increase of laws attempting to deal with beggars and poor relief, apparently without much success. English trade declined as these factors resulted in a steady loss of international credit and subsequently reduced spending-power. This eventually led to the closing of the Antwerp entrepôt to English

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merchants.17 Moreover, despite the richness of natural resources like tin, coal, iron, lead, and, of course, raw wool, England was perennially backward industrially compared to her European neighbors. Henry VIII’s gunfounders and Somerset’s weavers represented attempts to correct this situation.18 These actions also represented an ever-deepening concern in government with ‘preserving treasure’ and redressing an unfavorable balance of trade. Perhaps the best-known expression of this is the Discourse on the Common Weal of this Realm of England, written in 1549 by John Hales, who served as Clerk of the Hanaper during the Somer-set regency. The Discourse echoes the ideas of the Libelle on Englyshe Polycye, but without the same amount of vitriol. Hales, like the Libelle poet, held that England produced and exported solid, sensible materials and goods, but that foreigners imported non-essential or luxury commodities that, besides being expensive, were not durable or even useful.19 The emphasis was changing, however, in terms of finding a solution to this unhappy circumstance. Whereas the Libelle deemed it unpatriotic to purchase these goods and that the best way to keep them from England’s shores was to control rigidly the English Channel, and alien merchants even more rigidly once they were in the realm, the Doctor in Discourse proposed that native industries should take over the manufacture of these luxury goods now being produced abroad, often from English materials.20 Moreover, he points out, the development of these industries would afford a splendid opportunity to put many of the unemployed poor to work, as well as to rebuild England’s fading international economic position. Somerset’s Glastonbury experiment stands as an attempt to fulfill those goals. The artisans of London, however, blamed their woes not on international circumstances they did not understand, but, rather, on alien competitors they could see before them every day. They complained angrily and frequently to the Lord Mayor and aldermen to intercede with the Crown on their behalf to rid the country of these foreign artisans who stole the livings from the natives to whom the occupations naturally belonged.21 The new circumstances precipitated greater degrees of both contact and conflict than had been obtained in the past. Rightly or wrongly, foreigners were usually the first to be blamed for misfortune, and this concomitant resentment could escalate into violence. Given the pattern of correlation between xenophobia and economic resentment, the government would have been foolish not to expect unrest resulting in part from the rapid upsurge in alien residency.

ELIZABETHAN POLICY: ADAPTING PAST PATTERNS FOR PRESENT AND FUTURE BENEFIT Despite the difficulties posed by popular sentiment, Elizabeth and her chief advisor, Principal Secretary Sir William Cecil, faced with crippling economic circumstances, were basically content to borrow from the policies of their predecessors, modifying them in an attempt to maximize the benefits of the alien immigration. One part of this modification was a scaling-up of the number of alien settlements such as that at Glastonbury. Somerset tried one; Elizabeth and Cecil inaugurated at least a dozen. This escalation can reasonably be attributed to the simple increase of immigrants,

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and the necessity of incorporating them into the economy, but circumstance alone is insufficient to explain the rising level of active government involvement and interest in the strangers’ welfare. The economic situation of the 1550s had profoundly affected Cecil as he served Edward VI, first under Somerset and then under the latter’s arch-rival, the Duke of Northumberland, probably spending a good deal of time with fellowadministrators Sir Thomas Smith and John Hales. An economic program was a high priority for the secretary when he came to power in 1558 as the first servant of Elizabeth. His agenda for industrial development, given to Parliament in 1559, addressed many of the abovementioned difficulties.22 Cecil was very conscious, apparently to an even greater degree than his predecessors, of the benefits to be gained through the introduction of new commodities, increasing trade, expanding the domestic market, and, above all, reducing dependence on imported goods, particularly in times of war. The last was a very important consideration for an island kingdom, especially as England’s growing reputation both as the leading Protestant nation in Europe and as a destination of choice for the swelling tide of religious refugees drew her inexorably closer over the years to open conflict with the leading Catholic power, the Spain of Philip II. This was Cecil’s vision. The circumstances were purely fortuitous. The aliens coming into the realm proved the perfect tools with which to implement his program.23 Elizabeth’s government was quick to realize the advantages of the unexpected influx of alien artisans, and the part the newcomers could play in the planned recovery; various local authorities echoed the central government’s enthusiasm. Throughout the 1560s and into the early 1570s, authorities in Norwich, Sandwich, and other towns requested letters patent from the Queen permitting the settlement of aliens for ‘the exercise there of the faculty of making says, bays, and other cloths which have not been used to be made in this our realm of England.’24 These towns sought to incorporate Dutch, Flemish, and French textile workers into their local economies, primarily desiring the establishment of bay and say weaving, these two being the most popular of the ‘New Draperies.’ Officials in Maidstone were more ambitious, requesting permission to invite weavers skilled in the making of seventeen different varieties of cloth, but also Spanishe lether, fflaunders potts, pavinge tyle and bricke, Brasiers, white and browne paper, corseletts and hedde peces and all kynde of armor, Gonne pouther, and many other artes and sciences which are not there knowen beinge both necessary and profittable for the comon Wealthe.25 This sort of initiative surely pleased the government as the request fitted in well with its own plans. All the requests were granted. In addition to welcoming the skilled refugees, the government made concentrated efforts similar to those made sporadically in previous reigns to invite foreign craftsmen to establish their trades in England and to foster and protect them by a variety of means. Perhaps the most enticing and potentially rewarding lures encouraging select alien artisans to settle in England to establish their craft were Crown licenses, usually grouped together as patents and monopolies.26 These royal patents were to encourage entrepreneurs and inventors by granting them sole use of a new technique, or sole manufacturing rights of a new product, a grant intended to compensate the immigrant

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entrepreneurs for the expense of startup costs, training workers, and the like. These patents of monopoly had restrictions as well as benefits. They typically required foreign craftsmen importing new industries to remain in the country for twenty-one years, a period designed to give enough time for the techniques to be taught to Englishmen and become solidly established. More will be said about individual examples in the discussion of the alien contributions in different industries.27 Despite the great encouragement given to foreign immigrants by the government, there were also economic restrictions which were designed to apply strictly to aliens. As has been shown, many of these restrictions dated back to the Middle Ages in one form or another, and varied widely in degree of strictness and enforcement. Such regulations were repeatedly enacted in efforts to curtail xenophobic outbursts or to appease the unruly but powerful business elites of London, thereby gaining support for a weak government or an unpopular course of action. The basic forms of these restrictions were designed to regulate the medieval alien merchant class, and included residency limitations of varying lengths, the hosting of aliens, the sale of their goods to the English but not one another, and the prohibition of sale by retail. The fact that the nature of the majority of the immigrants in the sixteenth century was changing from a transient merchant class to a permanent artisan class greatly reduced the applicability of most of the restrictions, and, as a consequence, although the enactments remained on the books, they were only sporadically enforced. In fact the government usually enforced these decrees only at the insistence of native craftsmen, and even then only loosely. This lax enforcement during the reign of Elizabeth caused a substantial amount of complaint by fractious native artisans, especially in London. A good example is that of the running dispute in 1577–8 between the Company of Cordwainers and the alien leatherworkers settled around the City and its suburbs. The tension between the groups was by no means a new or unusual situation. The first act dealing with the matter was 3 Henry VIII c. 10, wherein the Tanners’ and Cordwainers’ crafts complained that the aliens purchased unfit leather ‘in Innes Corners & other secrete places’ in order to produce ‘disceytfull wares…for theyr singler lucre & advauntage…to the greate damage and universall hurte and disceite aswell of all other your liege people.’ The act forbade such practices and ordered aliens to purchase leather in open markets and submit their leather for inspection, but it fell short of requiring similar inspection of their finished products. The alien cordwainers of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Trinity in Blackfriars responded that these restrictions hurt their trade. This protest eventually garnered them, as well as aliens from Spain and the Empire, an exemption in 5 Henry VIII c. 8, but they still had to buy in open market and could not establish any new markets.28 In Elizabeth’s reign, the wardens of the company complained to Cecil that the aliens were selling to each other and by retail, refusing the company the right to inspect all leatherwork and to impound faulty work, imposing fines on its maker. The wardens demanded these concessions from the foreign leather-workers, citing their statutory rights to do so by virtue of 3 Henry VIII c. 10 and 21 Henry VIII c. 16, despite the fact that those statutes had been overturned for the aliens under Elizabeth.29 In return, the aliens declared that the Cordwainers had no right to enforce these regulations at all, much less in the exempted liberties where most of the aliens carried on their businesses; that the

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Cordwainers resorted to violence and ‘outrageous & undecent speaches’ in the dispute; and that the wardens only sought the ‘utter destruccion & undoinge’ of the foreign shoemakers through the said impoundments and fines.30 The Cordwainers denied malice, again petitioning Cecil and re-emphasizing their ancient rights, this time referring specifically to actions taken on their behalf by Henry VIII in ‘the one and twenteth yere of his raigne.’31 These claims were again rebutted by the alien leather-workers. Cecil’s ultimate decision is not recorded, but the episode is typical of the feuding which resulted from competition in established crafts, especially when ancient legislation had not been updated to fit current circumstances or was conveniently ignored, as in this case.32 The important point to be gleaned from this dispute is that Elizabeth and Cecil had deliberately disallowed many of the earlier restrictions against alien manufactures, and seem to have maintained their position despite the very active opposition of the native London business interests. Londoners in particular seem to have held grudges against their alien competitors, in the face of, or perhaps because of, government support of the strangers. As has been shown, this pattern of heightened hostility, especially in the metropolis, dated back to the reign of Edward I and beyond. By the sixteenth century, the Corporation of London officials had gained their own powers of independent legislation in the City itself, which were legally binding, except in the liberties and where they did not contravene acts of Parliament or royal decree. In 1574, taking advantage of this power, the Common Council passed an act which included a virtual ‘grandfather clause,’ stating that no citizen was to take as an apprentice ‘anny personne whose father beinge not the childe of an Englisheman borne ys not or shall not be borne wthin the quenes Domynions or [els— lined out] whose father hath bynne ys or shalbe of thallegeaunce of anny forren Prince or State.’33 The justification was apparently the nature of the aliens themselves, because such children borne of suche straungers [haue] an do reteyne an inclination and kinde affection to the Countreys of their Parentes and partely for that naturall Dispoticion, and partely [for—lined out] by thexamples of their fathers Whose steppes they followe manny of them haue become and shewed them selues verry hurtfull members to the Comen Weale of this Realme and specially of this honourable Cittie.34 Naturally, this proposal would debar virtually everyone in London’s immigrant community from employment in a craft, as it affected all the aliens who were recent arrivals, all the aliens who had not received denization or naturalization, and those born in England to parents who were in either category. The aldermen rescinded the act after pressure from the Privy Council and a number of other influential individuals. As late as May 1587, the Lord Mayor and the aldermen petitioned the Privy Council not to grant aliens free admission to the London cloth market, as had been proposed. They declared that the proposed admission would ‘tend directly to the prejudice of the City and the Liberties of the same’ by ‘great hazard and disturbance of the common peace and state of this City.’ They further stated that the Council was not aware of ‘what griefs have been conceived and libelled of late against the strangers inhabiting among us,’ precisely because the aliens were claiming a share of business ‘which otherwise would grow

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wholly to the freemen of the City,’ and that giving them any additional privileges would aggravate an already volatile situation. Despite their objections, however, ‘inasmuch as by Her Majesty and your Lordships it is thought expedient,’ the officials were willing ‘to submit ourselves in all duty and humility, as preferring your pleasures and the public benefit (if it shall be found) before our own private.’35 The government did indeed find it expedient and beneficial to promote the alien craftsmen, and this position had become a firmly established policy long before 1587. As a result of this official encouragement, foreign skills contributed a great deal both in innovations in traditional trades and in the introduction of new ones. The alien workers made their greatest impact in the textiles industry, with the Continental innovation known as the ‘New Draperies.’36 The traditional woolens made in England, which became known as ‘Old Draperies,’ were heavy, durable, high-quality, relatively expensive cloths, requiring a long and elaborate process of production. Worsteds were similar, but whereas woolens generally used fine short-staple wool, worsteds used medium-length, and whereas woolens were very heavily fulled, producing a felt-like product, worsteds were not fulled after weaving.37 Kerseys were also short-staple woolens, but were fulled less heavily. Both worsteds and kerseys were a bit lighter and cheaper than the traditional woolen, but still heavy enough to be classified as Old Draperies.38 New Draperies were substantially lighter and cheaper than the traditional English products, using coarse, medium- to long-staple combed wool unsuitable for good quality woolens, and not fulled. As indicated by the seventeen types of cloths mentioned in the settlement petition for Maidstone, there was a variety of New Draperies, all of lower quality and less durable than standard English woolens, but therefore cheaper, more accessible and often with exotic patterns and textures not hitherto available.39 Thus they appealed in a number of ways. The relative cheapness attracted the poorer urban consumer, the variety appealed to the fashion-conscious consumer, and the lighter texture was more suitable for export to the warmer Mediterranean markets than the heavier woolens.40 The newly expanded market caused by the introduction of the New Draperies saved the textile trade in a number of towns, most spectacularly in the cities of Norwich, Colchester, and Sandwich.41 Citing the example of bay-making, the most wide-spread of the new manufactures, Kerridge notes that natives in all these towns and others proved very ‘quick to take advantage’ of the innovation, and that bay-making rapidly spread even to towns in which no aliens had settled.42 Although the New Draperies were the most dramatic success and are hence the bestknown example of imported alien technology, other areas of textile or textile-related manufacture were established as well. Despite a brief period of concentration on bays, Maidstone’s alien community turned its attention to thread manufacture, soon making Maidstone thread famous throughout the realm, a position it held into the eighteenth century. Needle-making began first in London and Colchester, then spread to the Midlands by the early seventeenth century.43 As noted in Chapter 1, a small silk industry had existed in London since at least the second half of the fifteenth century, but the Elizabethan immigrants once again brought innovative technology which made so substantive a difference that some historians have mistakenly credited them with the founding of this industry.44 The second wave of refugees, who arrived in the seventeenth century, however, made even more significant advances and ensured the craft’s

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permanence. Another trade long established in England which saw innovation due to foreign technology was that of glassmaking.45 Native glassmaking had been practiced since the Middle Ages but was generally of a very coarse type of bottle glass which corroded easily. No window glass or fine glassware was being produced. The arrival of aliens and their technology in the 1560s, however, both expanded the output and improved its quality. Most of the foreign glassmakers came from Lorraine, Normandy, Flanders, and Italy. Cecil listened favorably to suggestions that quality and quantity could be improved, and in 1567 petitions from Frenchman Pierre Briet, and Flemings Jean Carré and Antony Becqu, resulted in royal patents for founding glassworks ‘similar to those in Venice’ manufacturing ‘table glass, such as is used in France’ and ‘glass for glazing…such as is made in France and Lorraine.’46 These early glassworks were established mostly in the Weald, for they needed space for the furnaces as well as ready access to a substantial supply of timber for making charcoal. The chief workmen in the glassworks were aliens who had migrated in the wake of these masters, but native workers later came to the trade.47 Carré seems to have been the dominant figure, and Becqu and a Venetian, Jacob Verzelini, were both associated with him. Not long after Carré’s death in 1572, Verzelini obtained a patent and established a crystal works in London, and soon he was successfully producing drinking-glasses comparable to those of the Italians. The success of all these enterprises by the end of the century is indicated by several factors, not the least of which was the determined effort by Sir Jeremy Bowes to have Verzelini’s crystal patent reassigned to himself when it expired in 1595. Bowes apparently saw it as an appropriate reward for his service as Elizabeth’s ambassador to Russia.48 The extractive industries were another traditional area which saw substantial leaps forward in technology, but the advances were so great that it would be more accurate to describe the developments as new industries rather than innovations. Cecil was anxious to obtain German expertise in order to develop more fully the richness of England’s natural resources. The government negotiated with a German, Daniel Höchstetter, about mining for copper in Cumbria, and issued a patent to him and Englishman Thomas Thurland to establish the same at the mines in Keswick. The project got off to a difficult start in 1565 because Höchstetter found ‘greate want of skilfull and experte Arts menn,’ so the Privy Council agreed to let him procure ‘from partes beyond the Seas, iii or iiij hundreth Arts menn Straungers…to be broughte hither from tyme to tyme as we shall have occasion to use them.’49 Although the enterprise eventually succeeded, there were still more difficulties to overcome, both because ‘of the Laysie woorking of the Englyshe men,’ and the harassment of the foreigners by these same English workers. As Höchstetter wrote in October 1566: I feare me we shall not be Able to kepe owre men Longe… for that they will not hasard theire Lyves in souche sorte, consideringe that they have no more wagies heare (with this danger) than they might have at home with quyetnes, ffor the offendours goe heare daylie up and downe before our facies, bragginge and thretninge oure men of furder mischiefe.50 After the murder of Leonarde Stoultz, one of the foreign workmen, the Privy Council

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issued orders for the protection of the ‘Almaynes,’ as the Germans were called, because the government was especially committed to this industry’s survival.51 As noted earlier, Henry VIII had instituted the manufacture of cast-iron cannon in the Weald, but iron ordnance was recognized as inferior to brass, and the government’s concern for selfsufficiency in armaments spurred it on in its encouragement of the fledgling copper industry. Making brass was impossible, however, until the discovery in 1568 of calamine, the ore of zinc which had to be mixed with the copper.52 It must be noted that not all aliens were eager to come to England to share their skills and knowledge, despite the enticements of Elizabeth’s government. German expertise in the manufacture of armaments still far outstripped that of the English, and the government made overtures through Thurland in the early 1560s to the leading battery expert, Hans Lowver, of whom it was said that ‘ther is not one knowne In all germany that hathe the free knowledge of theis arts, but this mann only.’ The early wooing was unsuccessful, as Lowver would not ‘forsake his Cuntry and becumm Englysh for xxj yeris;’ nor would he ask any Germans to accept English apprenticeship to accompany him.53 This reference to twenty-one years is that standard condition Elizabeth and her councillors placed on the patents intended to lure foreign expertise to England. Lowver’s refusal to have his craftsmen accept apprenticeship refers to the Statute for Artificers (5 Elizabeth c. 4), which required that no one should work at a trade without being apprenticed for the standard seven years. Although it applied to all artisans in England, attempts to enforce it with regard to alien craftsmen were almost useless, as most simply refused to repeat their apprenticeship under English masters who were often less skilled than they. Others eager to take advantage of the undeveloped potential of England were not so hesitant. The government soon issued a patent to a group led by the German Christopher Schütz to introduce the arts of wire-making and battery, and it was his group that was also responsible for the eventual calamine discovery in the Mendips.54 Lowver was ultimately persuaded to immigrate, and both men were named in patents incorporating the Society of Mines Royal and the Mineral and Battery Works. Of the twenty-four shares of the Society, eleven were held by Höchstetter on behalf of himself and a number of other Germans, and the other thirteen were held by English partners, including Cecil (2), Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (2), Thurland (2.5), Benedetto Spinola (2), and four others.55 Coleman states that both entities were probably ‘over-capitalized, wasteful, and inappropriate in structure for what they were trying to achieve. Nevertheless, they represented a scale and type of undertaking quite unknown in the England of a century earlier.’56 The demand for ordnance provided by the navy and the improvement of southern coastal defenses created in turn a desire to decrease dependence on imported gunpowder.57 Gunpowder is a mixture of six parts of saltpeter (potassium nitrate) with one part each of sulphur and charcoal. Saltpeter was not found naturally in Western Europe, but by the mid-sixteenth century its artificial manufacture was well established on the Continent. England had to import hers, a situation not at all to Elizabeth’s or Cecil’s liking. As early in the reign as October 1560, Cecil directed the furnishing of sulphur to ‘certain strangers’ at the request of Sir Thomas Gresham, to finish an amount of gunpowder; in 1561, a German captain named Gerard Henrick undertook to establish

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firmly the making of gunpowder in England, and within a year five powder mills were in operation.58 Still another advance in technologies associated with the extractive industries and metallurgy came when a cooperative group of English and German craftsmen successfully manufactured good-quality steel in Sussex in 1565, although it was too expensive at this stage to compete with Baltic steel.59 This examination has been primarily limited either to the areas where the aliens had the greatest impact, or to areas whose development the government specifically fostered. This list, however, goes on much further, including: paper manufacture, printing and bookbinding, alum and copperas mining, sugar-refining, salt-making, the making and use of starch, various aspects of gardening and agriculture, and many others.60 The aliens’ contribution in new industries (or at least major innovations revivifying old ones) to the English economy is indeed impressive, but there are other areas where important contributions were made, albeit not in so spectacular or dramatic a fashion. Beyond the simple exercise and dissemination of these trades, the aliens quickly became integral parts of the economic life of their communities in general, shouldering much of the fiscal responsibility, as would any good citizen. An examination of documents from authorities in towns such as Norwich and Colchester shows the extent to which the strangers participated in this respect, and also illustrates the amount of indirect economic impact on a community as a result of their industry. In Norwich, as mentioned in Chapter 2, the worsted industry had virtually collapsed, and by the 1560s ‘people became poore, many Lefte ther howses, and Dwelte in the countrye, that howses Decayed for lacke of fearmes and that they were Letton at small prises, and the Citye Lyke to Decaye.’61 Due to the immigrants’ exercise of such ‘commodities as have not been wrought here before…many ruinous houses are ‘redified,’ the city profitted, the poor maintained by working from begging.’ In fact, a survey of 1583, which gives 4,679 as the total alien population of the town, notes that ‘653 dwelt in Colgate Ward and paid for the rents of their houses (most of which before stood empty) 292. 15s. 4d. a year.’62 Besides pumping rent into the local economy, the strangers contributed to all subsidies, taxes, watches, ministers and churches, wages, and poor relief, as did all citizens. In fact, as aliens, most of them still paid double in subsidies, one practice which had not altered with the coming of the new immigrants of Elizabeth’s reign. Moreover, because they were aliens, they also paid ‘to the Cittie of Norwiche every yeare (as a yearely rent and Revenu unto it gratis) for sayes bayes and other commodities above the som of fower hundreth pounds.’63 Before the coming of the strangers, Norwich was hit very hard by unemployment, but after their arrival ‘they do not onely set on worke their owne people but also do set on worke our owne people within the cittie as also a grete nomber of people nere xxti myles aboute the cittie, to the grete relief of the porer sorte there.’64 As in London, however, the participation of aliens in the local economy was not entirely appreciated by all the citizens of Norwich. Despite the praise given to the strangers by officials, some people were unhappy, and the authorities sometimes took measures to appease them, much in the same vein as the occasional actions of the Crown. After a complaint that the aliens ‘do vse the buyeng of great quantytee of corne wthin the countie of Norff [olk] and nere this citie to the great rayse & inhauncyng of the pryces,’ allegedly shipping the said wheat overseas to the ‘generall grudge and myslykyng of pore

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people,’ the Mayor’s Court forbade the aliens to buy any corn except for private household use.65 The old provisions that no strangers ‘shall vse eny retayling of wares or merchandize in ther howses nor yet in ffayer or market’ were also periodically called out, but restrictions of this sort usually fell again into disuse after the initial complaint had died down.66 Much the same story—albeit with less apparent native disgruntlement—can be told for Colchester, where the aliens likewise employed a great number of native workers and ‘with liberall rewards [them] relieved which were ydle & miserable poore, into which estate by the absence of thes strangers they are lycke to retorne.’ Prosperity came quickly to Colchester, prompting the bailiffs and commonalty on April 25, 1575 to permit the aliens to buy their wool direct from whomever they pleased, in market or out, any previous restrictions notwithstanding. Some burgesses felt that the aliens were getting too prosperous and made complaints, but they apparently represented a small minority’s opinion.67 As seen in Chapter 2, the strangers were regularly assessed for the maintenance of their own poor in order that they not be a burden on the community. The increased trade stimulated by the new commodities was seen as evidence that ‘for ther sakes, god doth blysse that Townne…with plentye of all things [at] reasonable pryces.’ Here, too, a number of houses were repaired and inhabited which had formerly ‘stoode voide & tenantes coulde not be gotten for them at anie reasonable rent.’68 These increased rents, however common in the towns where the strangers settled, were not always well received. Such was the case in Sandwich. The Earl of Leicester, sent there to investigate charges of unrest between the aliens and the natives, wrote that although ‘the naturall towne[dwellers] are well contented to yealde unto the straun[gers] their dwelling and trade here… I fynde that yf they may [be] suffred to take up the howses, and shoppes [in the] towne, and use that trade they requyre [they] will eat the naturall townedwellers out.’ He did not so much blame the aliens, however, as he did ‘some 4 englishmen themselves having the best [hou]sing and other thinges in their handes, for gayne, do lett and sell them rather to straungers and privily mainteyne their sins against their owne countrymen.’69 As can be seen from the brief overview of examples, the contribution of aliens to economic development in Elizabethan England was substantial and many-faceted. Industrial development in this period owed a great deal to foreign influences, whether they were introduced by deliberate invitation or fortunate accident. The aliens’ role in disseminating technical knowledge which already existed elsewhere in Europe made them a critical and invaluable resource both to a country that was rich in natural resources but relatively backward in technology, and to its leaders, who were determined to make England as economically strong and independent as they could. These leaders—Elizabeth and her councillors—sought to formulate policies which would maximize the opportunity afforded by the presence of large numbers of skilled aliens. They also determined to see the policies through, even given the obstacle of popular hostility. Despite the reputation held by Britain as a haven for European immigrant and the fact that many Englishmen welcomed the strangers as ideological brethren, the tradition of xenophobia, perhaps caused and certainly exacerbated by the fear of commercial competition, threatened the aliens’ welcome. It was the recognition by the national government of Elizabeth I, and by many provincial governments as well, of the aliens’ critical contribution that enhanced

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the hospitality these authorities offered to them, as did their own behavior and responsibility. Other than increased production in some industries like that of the New Draperies, the quantifiable impact of the strangers on the Elizabethan economy is difficult to assess. Many people of the time certainly perceived the aliens’ presence to be economically beneficial, as can be seen from writings described in this chapter and in Chapter 3. The Elizabethan immigrants had a positive effect, whether in introducing new sciences, in applying technological advances to old ones, in simply contributing as hardworking and industrious people, or in inspiring the government to a new level of policymaking. The strangers’ contributions—and the governmental protection which enabled them to be made—helped shape the path of England’s future economic development.

CONCLUSION When Elizabeth I came to the English throne in 1558, she and her councillors faced the bleak prospects of an economy in decline, an unpopular war against France to aid Spanish allies, the religious divisions rending the Continent that came also into her realm, and dangerously shifting diplomatic sands off her shores as the forces of Protestantism and Catholicism lined up for battle. When she died forty-five years later, many of the same conditions appeared to prevail, but there were critical differences. Now the English fought the Spanish in the Dutch war, Catholicism in England had been repressed if not eliminated, and, although the economy had again gone into a decline, there were many indicators that England was no longer technologically a ‘poor relation’ to Continental countries. Most tellingly, Elizabeth died in her bed, a woman who had ruled for nearly half a century with her power intact. This study’s principal mission has been to examine the complex interaction between the presence of the aliens, perceptions about that presence, and the subsequent formulation of Crown policy in the Elizabethan era. The interplay between these factors and the decisions born of that interplay constituted an important part of the Elizabethan success story. Governmental policy-making was influenced by the aliens, by native reactions to them, and by historical circumstances which were marked by continual upheaval and change, and shifting realities. These were all in turn influenced by policy. The Queen and her councillors largely broke with the past by deliberately pursuing policies with an eye to long-term advantages rather than pandering to short-term political expedience. Nevertheless, they also had to consider the immediate consequences of their policies as they sought to achieve security and prosperity while maintaining order and control. Given the realities of the era, their success was remarkable. Good luck surely played an important role, but the formulation of stable domestic and foreign policies was paramount as Elizabeth and her councillors sought security above all else. They saw three things as crucial for attaining this security: order within the realm, control to impose and maintain order, and the self-reliance needed to concentrate on both. Elizabeth and her councillors were fortunate on all scores. The arrival of Continental immigrants on a scale massive by the standard of earlier periods was a fortuitous circumstance that the Crown could not have manufactured. This immigrant stream was generated by both religious and economic upheavals on the Continent, and was not only larger than that of earlier periods, but different in composition as well. The strangers were no longer the transient merchants of the past, but artisans who brought with them technical skills not known in England. Elizabeth and her councillors were quick to recognize the potential advantages of the presence of such a population in the realm, and formulated royal policies which publicly supported and encouraged the aliens and their endeavors. Not willing to rest on fortune alone, the Crown also actively recruited skilled aliens to emigrate to England to establish various crafts. While the immediate, quantifiable impact of the aliens on the Elizabethan

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economy may be questionable, many Elizabethans in positions of local or national authority certainly perceived that impact to be substantial. The presence of aliens brought problems as well. The unusually large number of aliens in London and other south-eastern towns brought the legendary English xenophobia to the surface on many occasions. These expressions of anti-alien sentiment ran the gamut from propaganda to organized complaints by citizens, to harassment and assault in the streets and at the workplace. The central government, however, persisted in its policy of supporting and protecting the strangers, even in the face of considerable native animosity and the Crown’s quiet reservations about the aliens’ trustworthiness. England’s governors privately worried that providing sanctuary to subjects of the kings of France and Spain was a dangerous course in such hazardous times for national security. The cold war between Elizabeth and Philip as the recognized champions of Protestantism and Catholicism respectively made the motives of the refugees appear problematic at best, an issue with which Elizabeth and her councillors struggled for decades. Even though Elizabeth continued her policy of sheltering the aliens despite these private fears, the fears prompted her government to seek to regulate and control the alien population. Elizabeth could look to the policies of her predecessors regarding aliens in England, and there is evidence of some continuity as she selectively borrowed from the past. The rapidly changing realities of the late sixteenth century, however, forced the Crown to adapt and modify these policies, creating in essence, if not in fact, a new framework for the role of aliens in English society. The policies established during the decades of the 1560s and 1570s continued throughout the remainder of Elizabeth’s reign. A majority of the English who had to live and deal with the aliens on a daily basis viewed them with mild antipathy, which occasionally escalated into more violent expressions of xenophobia. The government’s attitude toward the aliens was a mixture of the recognition of their utility and economic contributions with genuine concern for the problems their presence created, or at least was perceived to create. The ratios of the mixture’s components depended greatly on the fluctuations in the international political climate, with concern and subsequent regulation peaking during times of national crisis. The regulations and policies formulated during these decades continued to be guidelines used by the Elizabethan government for handling this substantial alien presence in their midst. These policies also set important patterns and precedents for the future evolution of immigration policy in Britain. The Elizabethan legacy resonates in the actions taken by the Stuart monarchs regarding aliens in their realm. In 1621, James I ordered the appointment of Commissioners for Aliens, whose responsibility was to conduct annual surveys of the resident alien population. The echoes are very strong in the years surrounding the Huguenot dispersal caused by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Charles II issued a proclamation as early as 1681 offering denization to refugees who took up permanent residence in England, and William III extended royal protection and assistance in finding employment to the same.1 Throughout the seventeenth century, alien artisans and engineers were employed in many capacities on various projects, such as draining fenlands. This pattern also has its roots in the Elizabethan era. From Roman, Saxon, Danish, and Norman invaders to mer-chants from various areas of the Continent, aliens had played a role in English history for centuries before the reign

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of Elizabeth I. The Elizabethans’ struggle to resolve both old and new problems related to resident aliens in rapidly changing domestic and international circumstances provided the foundation upon which future monarchs and governments would model their actions, adjusting them as the situation required. Lambert has characterized immigration and the issues attendant on it as ‘a persistent public policy problem,’ and endorses the value of examining these issues through a ‘longitudinal look.’2 Migration issues are not restricted to the modern era. This study will, one hopes, contribute to filling this scholarly vacuum.

APPENDIX A— COLCHESTER CONTRIBUTION BOOK TO THE POOR (1582–92) This fairly lengthy book reads like a virtual telephone directory of the residents of Colchester, giving the amounts they were assessed for the maintenance of the poor in the town. Natives and aliens alike were expected to contribute. Aliens were consistently designated in the margins ‘Dewche,’ whatever their origins. As noted in the text, most were in fact Flemish. Moreover, not only were they, like the natives, listed by parish, but also by the exact location of their residence and if they rented a house or boarded with natives. I have extracted the ‘Dewche’ entries from the 1582 listings in the book, the first year of over a decade of the systematic recording of contributions. Prominent alien members of the community whose names appear in the Poor Book include the families of De Hane, Casire and Everaert. I have also included Wynkyn Grenerice in my excerpt because of his foreign birth, even though he was one of the ‘Old Strangers’ discussed in the text and was listed as a native because he had been given the freedom of the town.

[f. 2r] Anno regni…xxiiiio All Scts The dewche

Iacob Rubin – frauncis fferman – Peter Pryme – Iames Dehene – Iohn [C?] allon – hedder [G?]a[ ]sed Iohn Lambe – [f. 2v] Re[s]ten wooke – Peter woulde –

id ob ob ob ob ob id id ob

Trinitie The dewche

[f. 3r] Mathew Debrew in Mr Brocks house Andrew Younger in Mr midletons house Iacob Valender in Makin house

ii d id ob

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Dewche

Dewche

Iacob Aporte Engle Aporte} in debell house [Clire] Aporte Ia[]se Aporte} Iohn Megrum} Mathewe Bisker in Tompsons house [f. 4r] Olde hithe Peter Lambe – Samuell Clampe – Giles Squeker – Peter Shews – Iohn Mawshew – Iohn Brewer – [f. 4v] [St Marie’s] Malliard venock & [woollowe?] Iohn Venock – widdowe fforrest – Dewche Cardemaker – henry [ ]araden in webbs house – Iacob in thother wells house – Dewchmen in [ ] Simpsones howse – []ferfeckcolde & Iohn the cock sone – Iohn Evered in howberies howse – [f. 7r] [St Botolph’s] Iohn van nixon – Iacob m[ar]tin – Adrean Bartelous – widowe La mott – Baldwin ffromoton – Charles massallae – George holloden – Peter Burges – Iohn Langley – widowe Topps – Peter Candeley –

87

id

ob£ ob ob iii d ii d [] [] id

ob

id

ob

ob

id id id ob id ob ii d id id id id ob ob ob ob ob ob

Appendix a— colchester contribution book to the poor (1582–92)

Dewche

ffrauncis Vandale – ffrauncis [ffacthampon] – The dewchemen in Mr Rams house – henry van brocke – Giles Belshire – [f. 8r] [St James] Willia[m] Casier – Ia[s?]e derood – Iohn Vangaver –

88

ob ob id ob ob iii d ii d id

[f. 8v] St Nicholas iiii d Winken Greneryce – [NOTE He is listed under English contributors since he had been granted the freedom of the city.] [f. 9r] [St Nicholas] DewcheMathew Bo[n?]ewall – id Peter Rebowe – id Peter ffoxe – id Iohn Verbeck – ob [– out] id Iohn Prynne – ob Iohn [Mawshew?] – [] Iohn [Brewer] – [] [f. 10r] [St Peter’s] Iames Brewnell – id sen ii d Nicholas dehane – ii d George hynes – ii d ffrauncys Lamott – id Ioyse ockar – Iacob arneld – id Christean massew – id ffrauncys vancaster – id Thomas Evered – id Iacobe vandale – ob ii d wydow kinge – Iacobe deBrewne – ii d Nicholas Dehane – id Andrew Hoat – ob Iohn Mathewe – id

APPENDIX B— NORWICH BOOK OF ORDERS FOR DUTCH AND WALLOON STRANGERS, 1564–1643 [NRO MF/RO 31/1] This remarkable and lengthy manuscript documents the major events touching the aliens after the 1564 invitation to settle and their subsequent 1565 settlement in Norwich. I have excerpted the section beginning with the eight original articles of regulation imposed on the strangers shortly after their settlement and ending with the selection of twelve ‘governors’ to represent and oversee the Dutch and Walloon communities after complaints against them by some natives. These folios well illustrate the cooling of relations in the early period of adjustment and the subsequent restrictions placed on the aliens as the municipal authorities sought both to maintain peace and to profit by the strangers’ presence.

[f. 18v] Master Thomas Sotherton Maior the better order, was Drawne oute (withe their consente after the mannor of their countrye certayne orders for them to be observed and putte in execution: the contents be as hereafter ensewethe Articles agreed vpon at the straungers fyrst cominge hether, and were then observed and put in execution. i article In primus, it is ordeygned, that twoo aldermen wherof one to ii ald [ermen] to be a Iustyce of the peace shall have to hearinge of all matters of here all their contravercie (yf anie suche maye happen to arise) and beinge cawses & appease thervnto required shall Do their indeavoure to them

2 article ye admitted Alyans to p[re]sente themselves to ye major & ii ald [ermen] and be admytted 3 article to yerely present

appease and quyete the same so muche as in them shall Lye. It[em] that everye suche parson or parsons, as shalbe admitted to enhabite within this Citye, shall presente themselves to master maior for the tyme beinge and the seyde twoo aldermen: And to brynge a token from thelders of their companye, of his or her good conversacion and their names and facultyes to be enetered into a boocke, and then to receyve their admission accordinge vnto the Quens mats graunte, Duringe the tyme of his or her good behaviour: It[e]m shall presente (yereleye) befor the maior for the tyme beinge all suche offycers as shalbe chosen for the viewe and

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ther offycers, and to searche of the comdityes made or to be made: And they to be sworne to ye take order their othe befor the seyde maior for the vpright offycers trewe and Lawefull Dealynge in the seyde facultyes. 4 article It[e]m ye shal without anie collusion or cowllor, paye to the ye alians to paye churche wardeyns of everye parryshe wherin ye do inhabite, the churche duetye, for the Dyschardge of all monnor of Dewetyes growinge to viz of everi the preste or the clarke for the same parryshe, at suche tyme shyllinge A penye as they Do accustome to collect the same, after the rate that ye Do paye for yo[ur] houserente or fearme: That is to saye, of everye shyllinge a penye for the whole yere. And also in To paye tyme of yere, for Watch monye, when, and so ofte as yo[ur] Watchmonye Lotte Do falle, accordinge as other Citezins Do vse 5 article It[e]m ye shall not occupye buyenge and sellenge of anye ye alian not to buye kynde of marchauntdise, or anye forreigne comodityes, other then suche as you shall worke and make within this Citye: & sell m[er] chaundize nor to And suche stuffe as shall nor sell in open shops, anye comoditye {other retale to anye serve (onelye) to the workinge, makinges, and to sell in gross} cowlloringe of the same MS damaged] Ye shall not retale, Cutt or sell (by the yerde) privelye or aparte, otherwise then to you[r] own nation for their necessarye and needefull wearinge. Ye shall not sell in open shoppes anye manner of comodityes. Provided allwayes that yt shalbe Lawefull for you, to sell in grosse, by the pece or half pece, or greatter quantitye, all suche Comodityes (as shulde here [be— wrouwghte) to anye manner or parson wych [MS damaged] and for wante of vente here, to [MS damaged] [f. 19r] M[aste]r Thomas Sotherton Maior pleasure ellsewheare, so it be solde grosse and not ells, eyther in for want of fayre, markett, or other place. vente, to sell elsewhere 6 article ye It[e]m ye shall everye quarter, yelde accoumpte vnto the seyde Alians to yelde twoo aldermen and chamberlayne of the Citye, or to anie of accoumpte of y them, of all suche customes, rights and Dewtyes as shalbe then [our] Doings dewe, of and for the comodityes here wrouwght and to be wroughte, in manner and forme followenge. The rates of their Of everie whoale fflemishe clothe – ii d commodities to Of everie halfe fflemishe clothe – id be solde Of everye whoale baye – ii d what the dewtye Of everye halfe baye – id

Appendix b— norwich book of orders for dutch and walloon strangers, 1564–1643

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is

Of everye Double saye – ii d Of everye Sengle saye – id ii d Of everye Double stamet – Of everye Single stamet – id And of all other Comodityes hereafter to be made as shalbe 7 article The servante of rated by the foreseyde twoo aldermen and the elders of yo[ur] ye haule in to haue ye xxti companye Of whiche some [&??] sommes of monye, the knape of the haule have for the accompte kepinge, the twentiethe pennye: penye the Citye to haue The reste shall go to the chambre of the Citye. ye reste 8 article It[e]m the knape of the haule shuld kepe a booke of all forfytures The servante Deemed and iudged at the vpper and nether Leade: And which of haule forfeictures must be Devided in manner and fourme ffollowenge: to kepe a That is to saye, The knape of the haule to haue the fyvethe penye, booke of the and the reste to be Devyded equallye: The one halfe to the forfyturs, & hechamber and the other halfe to the Companye. to haue ye 5 peni, ye reste to ye Citye & ye companye All these lawes beinge parfyghted and a copye therof Delyvere[d] vnto them: theye Dyd verie wyllinglye obeye During this maiors tyme, and the nexte, whiche was master Henrye bacon maoi[r], in whose tyme, was no newe ordenaunce made, but the former observed. The tyme of Master Thomas Whalle Maior ye maiour In the tyme of this maiour, cam dyverse complaints of the Citye movinge to artizans agaynste the straungers. Whome he wyllinglye harde avoide ye (havinge no Lykinge of the straungers resorte hyther) and made strangers wch protestacon therof aswell in the chambre as to the assemblye to ye ald[ermen] amove them from the Citye (whiche by no meanis) the more parte of the aldermen wolde not consent thervnto. Whervpon he wolde not parmytted no [stra—MS damaged]ngers to be alowed accordinge an [dmg.] to the orders in his tyme: [dmg.] ye [dmg.] rdered people manie [dmg.] increased, so they beinge [dmg.] re, greatter compleynts came, and [dmg.] people weare [dmg.] whiche occasions, was newe conferences [dmg.] [dmg.] maio[r] and his bretherne. And to [dmg.] b[e] hadd, ther was added to the orders aforeseyde [f.19v]

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Thomas Parker maior aforeseide, the articles hereafter ensewinge. An bycause yt was so nere the goenge of, of master Whalle maiour, the same was confirmed by master Thomas Parker then maiour, as after appearethe The tyme of m[aster] Thomas Parker maior an ordenaunce made for the Alyans straungers. The 8 and 4 It[e]m that owte of yo[ur] whoale companye, ye shall elect & appointed to name to the maio[r] for the tyme beinge, Eight parsons for the overse the reste Dutche congregation, and fower for the Wallownes, that shalbe gou[er]noures to the whoale companye: And shall take vpon The 8 and 4 to be them the chardge and awnsweringe, for suche as shalbe founde yereli presented remysse and neclygente in parfourminge the articles afore (for Enie of them straungers) specifyed, or anye article or order hereafter thought Dienge or meete and necessarye to be kepte and observed. And those departe ye Citie, Eight and fower parsons shall yeerelye be presented to the others to be maiour for the tyme beinge, within seaven Dayes after the appointed in vii maiour shall have taken his chardge. And yf anye of the wighte dayes No Alian and fower, shall fortune to Departe eyther owte of this Citye or to Lodge other, ellis shall Dye: That then within seaven dayes after his or their above one night, Departure of this Citye, or their Deathe: the resydewe of the but to present eighte and fower, shall (in the name of the whoale companye) them present vnto the mayour, the name & names of hym or them, so elected & chosen anewe It[e]m that neither you nor anye of you, shall receyve, harbrowe or Lodge any Alyan Straunger of the Dutche or Wal lowne nation, which shall repaire to this Citye, above the tyme and space of one nighte, but that everye of you shall certifye the maiour (for the tyme beinge) therof, aswel of the name and names of them, as also from whence they came and wherfor: And Lykewise, of what scyens, occupations or trade, he or they shalbe.

NOTES INTRODUCTION 1 This study will use the terms ‘alien,’ ‘stranger‘ and ’immigrant‘ interchangeably. The designations ‘alien’ and ‘stranger’ were used in the early modern period to refer to foreignborn individuals residing in the realm but with none of the franchises of native Englishmen. These are still used interchangeably in the scholarship on the topic, with ‘immigrant’ being used the most infrequently. A ‘denizen’ was an alien who had been granted limited rights, such as the right to hold and acquire land and to sue all manner of actions in the courts, by royal letters patent. Naturalization, which gave the alien all the rights and privileges of the native-born Englishman, could only be granted by act of Parliament. Aliens could also gain admission to the freedom of individual towns under various conditions, usually including lengthy residence. Further discussion of the statuses indicated by these terms will follow. 2 Although other scholars have pointed out that xenophobia in the preindustrial period was by no means limited to England, England’s reputation for this among contemporaries seems well-established in the documentation, as will be discussed in later chapters. 3 T.H.Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, 1157–1611 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 109. 4 As will be detailed later, as many as 15 per cent of the aliens resident in England were not members of any established religious community. Consequently, there always existed a fairly substantial element for whom the foreign churches played little or no role.

1 ‘STRANGERS SETTLED HERE’ 1 A brief list of examples would include documents written by Englishmen expressing this dislike, which are now in collections such as the State Papers Domestic, Elizabeth (hereafter SP) the Repertories of the Court of Aldermen and Letter Books (Corporation of London Record Office; hereafter LRO), and similar collections from the records of towns like Norwich and Colchester. Contemporary foreigners also commented on this matter, as can be seen in W.B.Rye’s England as seen by Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James I (London: James Russell Smith, 1865). 2 Roger Finlay, Population and Metropolis: The Demography of London 1580–1650 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 67. As is most often the case, Finlay deals with the aliens as a small segment of a much larger study, and he states on the same page that this immigration is ‘one of the least well known episodes in English social history.’ Burn and Cunningham did write broad studies, painted with very sweeping strokes, but these both date from the nineteenth century. Virtually all the other numerous studies have concentrated on one ‘national’ group, one limited English location, or one narrow area of focus, such as religion or economics. They do, however, almost unanimously characterize this immigration by terms such as ‘unprecedented,’ ‘flood’, and ‘influx.’

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3 Describing the merchants of the Hanse and of Italy as ‘the largest of the medieval groups’ is somewhat misleading as they were primarily merchants of various German and Italian cities. English contemporaries, however, tended to classify them broadly by language and refer to them as national groups. I use the term ‘German Hanse’ here, but will simply use ‘Hanse’ in succeeding chapters, taking my spelling and terminology from T.H.Lloyd, who has done the most current work on the Hanse in England. Lloyd and others note that there were fraternal organizations of merchants who employed the term ‘hanse’ before the members of the German Hanse did, but for the sake of simplicity, I will use it only to refer to the German Hanse since it was by far the most important. See T.H.Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, 1157–1611 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), pp. 1–2. 4 Sylvia L.Thrupp, The Merchant Class of Medieval London, 1330–1500 (Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1948), pp. 219–20; Alice Beardwood, Alien Merchants in England, 1350–1377: Their Legal and Economic Position (Cambridge, Mass.: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1931), pp. 10–11. 5 Gwyn A.Williams, ‘London and Edward I,’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, fifth series, 2 (1961): 99. 6 Many of the abovementioned legal restrictions, especially those concerning length of residency, were specifically aimed at alien merchants. Resident aliens who were not merchants, however, were by no means free of resentment or restriction. Throughout the later Middle Ages, Parliament complained about the privileges and perceived accumulation of great wealth by alien priories. Resident alien craftsmen’s numbers remained so low that complaints specifically about them were much more rare. Contemporary expressions of antialien sentiment frequently lumped all strangers together without regard for their differing statuses. Contemporaries did not, however, include resident Jews in their complaints about aliens. Although Jews were indeed another focus of much hostility before their expulsion in 1290, they were consistently referred to as a separate group. This fact is the primary reason that I have chosen to omit them from this study. Lastly, it should be mentioned that determining precise numbers or varieties or immigrants is difficult to assess. Sylvia Thrupp is virtually the only scholar who has attempted it for the late Middle Ages, and even the data available for the Tudor period have important lacunae and debatable accuracy. 7 Thrupp, Merchant Class, pp. 50–1. The use of the term ‘Italians’ may be considered anachronistic, but I am basing it both on contemporary usage and on usage in the literature of the field. In English documents from the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, the terms ‘Italian’ and ‘Italians’ are commonplace. References to these individuals are also frequently broken down by cities of origin. Usage in the historical literature likewise follows no consistent pattern. A similar situation exists for individuals from Germany. Contemporaries use a variety of terms such as ‘Germans,’ ‘Almaine’ and ‘Easterlings,’ but also occasionally break these down to specific towns or regions. I will use ‘Italian’ and ‘German’ unless the situation makes specific usage more appropriate. I should also note that although Thrupp’s scholarship is dated, it is still virtually the only source available for the period and as such is frequently cited in the field. 8 Ibid. See also Sylvia Thrupp ‘A Survey of the Alien Population of England in 1440,’ Speculum 32:2 (1957): 267. 9 Montague S.Giuseppi, ‘Alien Merchants in England in the Fifteenth Century,’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, new series, 9 (1895): 93. These two ports had a high degree of contact with aliens of short-term stay, but few permanent alien residents. Alwyn A.Ruddock, ‘Alien Hosting in Southampton in the Fifteenth Century,’ Economic History Review, first series, 16:1 (1946): 30–7.

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10 Sir W.Gurney Benham, The Oath Book or Red Parchment Book (Colchester: Essex County Standard Office, 1907), pp. 158–78. John L’Estrange and Walter Rye, eds, Calendar of Norwich Freemen 1317–1603 (London: Elliot Stock, 1888). Perhaps Mr L’Estrange had a very personal interest in compiling this calendar. D.M.Palliser, Tudor York (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 95, 130–1. 11 William Page and Horace Round, eds, The Victoria History of the County of Essex, volume II (London: Archibald Constable, 1907), p. 381. Some of these aliens had their origins in the Flemish weavers invited by Edward III to immigrate in 1331. These settled in London, York, Norwich, Bristol, Winchester, and Abingdon, among other locations. For more details, see Chapter 4. 12 Andrew Pettegree, Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 78, n. 6. 13 R.E.G. and E.F.Kirk Returns of Aliens Living in the City and Suburbs of London from the Reign of Henry VIII to that of James I (Lymington: Huguenot Society Publications, 1900), volume I, pp. 158–201. Moreover, these subsidy rolls occasionally already included women, either as wives of listed alien men or as widows or servants on their own, such as ‘Cheburs wydowe’ or ‘Grete, his woman’ ibid., pp. 163–4. 14 Ibid., pp. 158–248. A survey of January 20, 1562/3 lists 4,534 for London and some suburbs, which is apparently consistent with the levels maintained at mid-century. See below. 15 E.E.Rich, ‘The Population of Elizabethan England,’ Economic History Review, second series, 2:3 (1950): 247. 16 David Yaukey, Demography: The Study of Human Population (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1985), p. 258. 17 Finlay, op. cit., pp. 67–8. Greengrass, ‘Protestant Exiles and their Assimilation in Early Modern England,’ Immigrants and Minorities 4:3 (November 1985): 70–1. Scouloudi, ‘Alien Immigration Into and Alien Communities in London, 1558–1640,’ Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London 16 (1937–41): 29–33. 18 London, British Library (hereafter BL), Lansdowne MSS, volume 10, number 5, ff. 16r-60v. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume I, p. 365. A common error in this period was to lump all Dutchmen and Flemings together under the designation ‘Dutch,’ doubtless owing to language similarities. Not all surveys and assessments made this mistake, but the miscategorization was frequent enough to warrant caution. For example, in the cases both of the ‘Dutch Hall’ of Colchester and of the Book of Orders for the Dutch and Walloon Strangers in Norwich, the ‘Dutch’ in question were virtually all Flemings. Parker notes that most languages in the Low Countries were dialects of either Dutch or French, but that by the time Charles V had completed the building of the Habsburg Netherlands with the annexation of Gelderland in 1543 provinces speaking Oosters and Fries had been included as well (Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977), pp. 30–6). These distinctions surely made categorization of the aliens difficult for the English surveyors. Another eccentricity guaranteed to confuse the issue further was the occasional use of the classification ‘Burgundian,’ which indicated not the province of east-central France, but rather the hereditary estates of the dukes of Burgundy. 19 William Page, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England, 1509– 1603 (Lymington: Huguenot Society of London, 1893), p. xxxviii. 20 Protestantism became strongest in London and the south-east, particularly among the upper classes, while much of the rest of England remained Catholic. It is no coincidence that the vast majority of the Protestant refugees settled in the south-east. 21 Refugees also fled in substantial numbers to Switzerland and the towns and cities of the

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23 24 25 26 27

28

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Rhineland, beginning as early as the 1530s. Some of their settlements became quite large, such as those in Geneva and Frankfurt. In the later decades of the century, many fled France and the southern Netherlands for the northern cities of Holland and Zeeland, while other Frenchmen and Italians continued to move to Switzerland (Frederick A.Norwood, Strangers and Exiles: A History of Religious Refugees, volume I (Nashville, Tenn., and New York: Abingdon Press, 1969), pp. 309–37). Gwynn observes that this pattern also held true for the Huguenot refugees of the seventeenth century following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (Robin D.Gwynn, The Distribution of Huguenot Refugees in England,’ Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London 21 (1969): 434). Norwood, op. cit. Ephraim Lipson, The Economic History of England (New York: Macmillan Company, 1929), volume I, p. 448. Details of the background of aliens in England before the reign of Elizabeth in this chapter are taken from this source unless specifically otherwise noted. I draw primarily on this source because Lipson treats the aliens more extensively than do more modern scholars. Page, Letters of Denization, p. xxix. J.D.Mackie, The Earlier Tudors, 1485–1558 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952), p. 502. Carlo M.Cipolla, Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000– 1700 (New York: W.W.Norton, 1976), p. 260. Ibid., pp. 259–60. Ibid., p. 178. Any of these factors can cause impelled or forced migration, where individuals are either directly compelled by the authorities or indirectly compelled by intolerable circumstances to relocate (David Yaukey, Demography: The Study of Human Population (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1985), pp. 264–78 and 334). Peter Clark and Paul Slack, English Towns in Transition, 1500–1700 (London: Oxford University Press, 1976), pp. 92–3. Lee put forth a similar idea in 1966 in a discussion on migration motivation. He describes making the decision to migrate in terms of comparing ‘plusses’ (positive conditions) and ‘minuses’ (negative conditions) in both the sending and the receiving countries. Many perceived plusses in the receiving country would be a ‘pull,’ while the minuses at home would ‘push’ the potential migrant into making the decision and acting upon it (Everett S.Lee, ‘A Theory of Migration,’ Demography 3 (1966): 47–57). Although the evidence does not indicate that any of the Elizabethan immigrants were actually expelled from their homes during the upheavals of the late sixteenth century, the circumstances caused by those upheavals might still be characterized as creating impelled migration. Petersen defines impelled migration as a circumstance where various pressures encourage flight but ‘the migrants retain some power to decide whether or not to leave’ (William Petersen, ‘A General Typology of Migration,’ American Sociological Review 23:3 (June 1958): 261). Much of the Elizabethan migration can be classified thus, the principal factors here being those of religion and of economics. The depressed economic picture in Antwerp in the early to mid-1560s, for example, provides just the background Petersen identifies as providing the pressures causing impelled migration. Elizabeth imposed an embargo on shipping English cloth to Antwerp in 1563, a very harsh winter in 1564–5 caused rising food prices and unemployment, and wages began to fall. This was followed by the Iconoclastic Revolt in 1566 and the beginning of Philip II’s repressive measures shortly thereafter (G.Asaert, ‘From the earliest days until the Burgundian period,’ in F.Suykens, G.Asaert, A.De Vos, A.Thijs and K. Veraghtert, Antwerp: A Port for all Seasons, second edition (Antwerp: MIM NV, 1986), pp. 75–6. London, Public Record Office (hereafter PRO), SP 12/82, ff. 4v and 6v. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume II, pp. 2–5. These examples taken from the document’s very first parish list—

Notes

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32 33 34

35 36

37 38

39

40

41

42 43

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that of St Bride’s in the ward of Farringdon Without—well illustrate the diversity of European peoples who chose to pursue their fortunes in England even in this period of uncertain economic opportunity. SP12/82, ff. 6r, 7v, 12r, 13v, 14r-v, and 32v. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume II, pp. 4–37. This extraordinarily detailed survey reveals many other motives as well. The examples here reveal economic motives, the desire to join family and friends, and what might be described as curiosity or restlessness. I have selectively chosen these examples to support this section’s points. As can be seen from the examples of Browne, Shero, Sage, and Bewfatt, the precedent of family and friends already resident in England provided both incentive and opportunity (some of Lee’s ‘plusses’), which encouraged further immigration, a phenomenon called chain migration. LRO, Journal of the Common Council, volume 17, f. 332r. Contemporaries used the terms ‘survey’ and ‘search’ interchangeably as both nouns and verbs. I shall do likewise. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 10, number 45, f. 147r. The liberties in and around London were formerly the sites of religious establishments before the dissolution of the monasteries, and as such enjoyed a considerable number of privileges, chief among them exemption from many laws. This limited degree of protection attracted aliens of earlier reigns to settle in these areas, and the pattern of established foreign residence helped bring other aliens to these areas during Elizabeth’s reign. SP12/27/19, 20. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume I, p. 293. LRO, Journal, volume 18, f. 361r. ‘Severing’ the householders from the servants helps break the aliens down by socioeconomic status, for only the most prosperous aliens could own houses, and only then if they were denizens. Most often, the aliens rented houses or lived as boarders. Page, op. cit., p. xxxv. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 10, number 5. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume I, p. 365. The compilers’ addition in this document is confusing. In the tallies at the end, there are two totals given for the total of the ‘book,’ as the surveys were often termed. These are 3,324 and 2,730. The former is consistent with previous patterns, but the latter is given again at the end of the document in a notation in Cecil’s hand, which also correctly cites the number of the most recent arrivals—232. S.Haynes, A Collection of State Papers relating to Affairs in the Reigns of King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, from the Year 1542 to 1570 (London: William Bowyer, 1740), volume I, p. 461. I arrived at these figures by adding up the wards, totals individually. The final tallies on the document itself show 3,760 and 1,252, respectively. Interestingly, two ‘blackmores’ were reporting living in London at the time of this survey. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume III, p. 439. This document is a perfect example of the categorization eccentricities of the surveyors I mentioned earlier. The document reports 111 Venetians and Italians, but separately lists 19 Florentines, 8 Genoese and 2 Neopolitans; 23 aliens are called ‘Germans,’ probably because of language more than specific place of origin. I personally would like to know the origins of the two ‘barbarians’ on the list. SP12/47/28. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume III, p. 440–1. The best evidence to support this is the sheer volume of immigrants in such a short amount of time and the additional consideration of dispersals to various south-eastern towns. LRO, Journal, volume 19, f. 31v. I say ‘at least’ because some of the surveys are apparently no longer extant. Page, op. cit., p xxxix, notes that the government, ‘being apprehensive of danger from the large number of

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44 45 46

47 48 49 50 51

52 53 54 55

56

57

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foreigners in London,’ ordered a census in 1577. This census found 6,492 aliens, 2,302 of them were Dutch, 1,838 French, 116 Italians, 1,542 Englishmen of foreign birth, 447 of other nations, and 217 whose nationality was not certified. Page cites Maitland’s History of London for this survey, but I have found no other verification. I found no extant copy; evidently nor did Kirk and Kirk. Wallace MacCaffrey, The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968), p. 412. Ibid., pp. 408–11. SP12/84 and SP12/82. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume I, pp. 402–79, and volume II, pp. 1– 139. November and December results are both included in SP12/82. Various references indicate that the central government ordered simultaneous surveys for all of the provincial alien settlements as well, but none of these appear to be extant. Ibid. Ibid., volume 20, part I, f. 219v. SP12/160/67. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume II, pp. 376–77. Irene Scouloudi, Returns of Strangers in the Metropolis, 1593, 1627, 1635, 1639: A Study of an Active Minority (London: Huguenot Society of London, 1985), p. 23. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 74, number 31, f. 63r. Farringdon Within included the liberty of Blackfriars, and the name of the latter was occasionally substituted for the former, as in this case. Counts for Aldersgate included the liberty of St Martin’s le Grand. Portsoken included that of St Katherine’s, although the latter was apparently sometimes counted as part of Tower Ward instead. This must have happened regularly, for the numbers of aliens reported for each of the two wards went up and down frequently, and a rise in one ward’s alien resident numbers almost invariably paralleled a fall in the other’s. Pettegree, op. cit., p. 18. Scouloudi notes that small as St Martin le Grand was, at least 100 aliens resided there; its size probably made the concentration of aliens seem even greater (Scouloudi, op. cit., p. 80). BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 202. Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume III, pp. 362 and 375. Thrupp notes that in the fifteenth century, strangers ‘were not segregated from the English and did not cling together physically in national groups. They might be at one end of a small town, but they would be there together with English forinseci’ (Thrupp, ‘Alien Population in England in 1440,’ p. 269). Forinseci were natives who did not hold the freedom of the town or city in which they resided. As I have attempted to show through the text, map, and tables, strangers throughout the Elizabethan era followed consistent patterns of settling in concentrated groups. Gwynn notes: ‘When and if a refugee reached his chosen destination, it was natural that he should live near his fellow countrymen.’ He also points out that ‘the stress placed by Calvinism on ecclesiastical organization and the system of charity distribution through the churches’ reinforced this natural tendency (Robin D.Gwynn, ‘The Distribution of Huguenot Refugees in England,’ Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London 21 (1970): 404–5). Andrew Pettegree,’ “Thirty Years on:” progress towards integration amongst the immigrant population of Elizabethan London,’ in J.Chartres and D.Hey, eds, English Rural Society, 1500–1800: Essays in Honour of Joan Thirsk (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 298. Marston and Van Valey acknowledge the role of prejudice and discrimination in the host community as an important influence in immigrants’ choice of residence. They also note, however, citing Claude Fischer: ‘The larger the ethnic group, the greater…is the possibility of supporting institutions that reinforce ethnicity: churches, newspapers, stores, clubs,

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59

60 61 62

63

64

65 66

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political organizations. These institutions link people to their groups, exercise authority over the members, protect them from outsiders, help attract fellow ethnics, and constantly remind them of their identity’ (Wilfred G.Marston and Thomas L.Van Valey, ‘The Role of Residential Segregation in the Assimilation Process,’ Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 441 (1979): 23; Claude Fischer, The Urban Experience (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1976), p. 131, as cited in Marston and Van Valey. Finlay, op. cit., p. 68. As I stated at the beginning of the chapter, determining the size of historical populations is at best an imprecise science, and the variety of opinions about the size of Elizabethan London bears this out. Finlay estimates the population of the metropolis at approximately 100,000 for most of the Elizabethan era, increasing to a maximum of 150,000 only in the 1590s. Rappaport and Scouloudi accept Finlay’s estimate. Beier and Doolittle, however, place the figure as high as 250,000 by the dawn of the seventeenth century (Steve Rappaport, Worlds within Worlds: Structures of Life in Sixteenth-Century London (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), p. 5; Scouloudi, op. cit., p. 76. A.L.Beier, ‘Social Problems in Elizabethan London,’ Journal of Interdisciplinary History 9:2 (1978): 205. I.G.Doolittle, The City of London and Its Livery Companies (Dorchester: The Gavin Press, 1982), p. 1). C66./1102, no. 392, 13 February 1573, as cited in Calendar of Patent Rolls (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1973), volume VI, pp. 91–2. This document is a royal patent which permits forty men from Flanders, Holland, and Zeeland who were masters of fishing and of other crafts or trades to settle in Boston with their families and servants. The content of the document indicates that this settlement of alien masters was intended to foster the trade of fishing. As was often the case with other settlement grants, the patent required the aliens to instruct natives in their methods of fishing. Parker, op. cit., p. 119. The stories of the various settlements are related in more depth in Chapter 3. For the purposes of this chapter, only brief details are given for continuity. Sandwich holds the position of being first, with a settlement patent dated July 6, 1561. E.E.Rich, op. cit., p. 263. Mark Greengrass, op. cit., p. 72. John Patten, English Towns 1500– 1700 (Folkestone: Dawson Archon Books, 1978), p. 69. D.M.Palliser, The Age of Elizabeth: England Under the Later Tudors, 1547–1603 (London: Longman, 1983), p. 57. Palliser holds that the aliens numbered about 6,000 by 1579, but he gives no source, and the 1578 plague (see below) militates against this position. W.J.C.Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich: Their History and Registers, Huguenot Society of London, Quarto Series, volume I (Lymington: Huguenot Society of London, 1887–8), p. 34. This survey was one of those ordered in the wake of the discovery of the Ridolfi Plot. Also, similar to the London residency pattern, the aliens of Norwich were for the most part concentrated in wards that also had high percentages of native poor. This is most likely due to the fact that in the original settlement the aliens repaired and inhabited the town’s ‘decayed’ housing. Basil Cozens-Hardy and Ernest A.Kent, Mayors of Norwich, 1403–1835, being Biographical Notes on the Mayors of the Old Corporation (Norwich: Jarrold & Sons, 1938), pp. 59–60. Although this ‘mortality’ also killed 2,335 native citizens, the proportion of dead among the aliens was obviously much higher. Norfolk Record Office (hereafter NRO), Proceedings of the Mayor’s Court, volume 11, p. 227. NRO, Proceedings of the Mayor’s Court, volume 11, p. 224. This later survey confirms the same types of settlement patterns as seen in the case of London. W.C.Moens, Register of Baptisms in the Dutch Church at Colchester from 1645 to 1728, Huguenot Society of London, Quarto Series, volume XII (Lymington: Huguenot Society of

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68

69

70

71 72

73

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London, 1905), p. iii; L.F.Roker, ‘The Flemish and Dutch Community in Colchester in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,’ unpublished MA thesis, University of London, 1963, p. 85. ‘Dutch,’ or Flemings, represented 177 of these aliens; four were French, and four Scottish. This is a convenient place to note that even the designations of ‘alien’ and ‘native’ were inconsistently applied. Greneryce was listed as native on official records, but was also called an ‘Old Stranger’ despite a residence of over forty years. Further examples are provided by brothers Jean and Maximilian Poutrain. They came to England from France in 1585 and 1595, respectively, and even anglicized their surname to Colt. Despite all this, they were still designated aliens in a survey of 1635 (Lionel Gust, ‘Foreig Artists of the Reformed Religion Working in London from about 1560 to 1660,’ Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of London 7 (1905): 76. The listings are by parish, but frequently go beyond that, giving the actual residence of individuals if they board with natives, with entries such as ‘Peter Beck in taycotts house,’ ‘Cornelles millsham in m[ist]ris Cooles house’ and ‘Will[ia]m caseirs sonn in law in m[ist]ris ffludds house.’ Colchester, Northeast Essex Record Office (hereafter NERO), Colchester Contribution Book to the Poor, 1582–1592, f. 24v. Ibid., passim. Moens also notes this general situation, but makes no mention of this document (Moens, Colchester, p. iii). In fact, I have found no other references to it, and I am assuming that no other use has been made of it, at least not in the context of the resident aliens. Nigel Goose, ‘The “Dutch” in Colchester: The Economic Influence of an Immigrant Community in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,’ Immigrants and Minorities 1:3 (November 1982): 263. Anne M.Oakley, ‘The Canterbury Walloon Congregation from Elizabeth I to Laud,’ in Irene Scouloudi, ed., Huguenots in Britain and their French Background, 1550–1800, (Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble, 1987), p. 62. Ibid., pp. 62–3. Cecil even donated a house in Stamford to assist and encourage the project. I have been unable to discover if or for how long the colony survived. Thirsk merely notes that the intended economic expansion did not occur, because in 1584 Richard Shute was ‘engaged in setting up [sic] “the profitable science and occupation of clothing” ’ (Joan Thirsk, The Rural Economy of England: Collected Essays (London: The Hambledon Press, 1984) pp 315–16). Valerie Morant, ‘The Settlement of Protestant Refugees in Maidstone during the Sixteenth Century,’ Economic History Review, second series, 4:2 (1951):212.

2 DICHOTOMIES IN ENGLISH ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ALIENS 1 BL, MS Additional 33,271, f. 16r-v. Bacon’s speech was directed specifically at French denizens but was apparently indicative of his sentiments toward all native Frenchmen resident in England, judging from the virulence of the rest of the speech. This particular sixteenth-century ‘Catch-22,’ however, is splendidly indicative of the dilemma facing even the aliens’ supporters. See below for further discussion. 2 Robin D.Gwynn, Huguenot Heritage: The History and Contribution of the Huguenots in Britain (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985), p. 43. 3 Palliser characterizes this xenophobia as ‘inevitable’ (D.M.Palliser, The Age of Elizabeth: England under the Later Tudors, 1547–1603 (London: Longman, 1983), p. 21). Page notes that ‘Complaint and jealousy of the aliens by the middle and lower classes never seems to have died out in the Tudor period’ (William Page, Letters of Denization and Naturalization

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5 6

7

8

9 10 11

12 13 14

15

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for Aliens in England, 1509–1603, Huguenot Society of London, Quarto Series, volume VIII (Lymington: Huguenot Society of London, 1893), p. xli). Cunningham asserts that a ‘deepseated dislike of aliens’ was ‘engrained in the English mind’ (William Cunningham, Alien Immigrants in England, second edition, Reprints of Economics Classics (New York: Augustus Kelley, 1969), p. 138). Ramsay notes that while Antwerp also had large numbers of resident aliens in permanent colonies, it ‘was free from the xenophobia that disgraced London’ (Peter Ramsay, Tudor Economic Problems, Men and Ideas series, volume I (London: Victor Gollancz, 1963) p. 56. John of Gaunt, Richard’s uncle, was the dominant figure among the young king’s advisors. Luckily for Gaunt, he was in the north negotiating with the Scots at the time of the revolt— luckily because he was apparently a principal target (Anthony Goodman, A History of England from Edward II to James I (London: Longman, 1977), p. 180). McKisack notes that the rebels killed ‘lawyers, Flemings and other unpopular persons’ (Mary McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307–1399 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), p. 410). R.B.Dobson, The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (London: Macmillan, 1970), p. 162. Goodman refers to. Anonimalle Chronicle as ‘the most reliable literary source’ for the revolt (Goodman, op. cit., p. 178). This source is called the Anonymous C in other places, but Dobson, Goodman, McKisack and others prefer Anonimalle Chronicle. Numbers of reported dead varied, but not by much, which intimates a roughly accurate estimate. Thomas Walsingham in his Historia Anglicana cites thirty Flemings ‘executed in the open street’ before Austin Friars, followed by seventeen more from another London church. In the official records of the aftermath, the City clerk notes in Letter Book H that ‘In the Vintry… there was a very great massacre of Flemings, and in one heap there were lying about forty headless bodies of persons who had been dragged forth from the churches and from their houses’ (Dobson, op. cit., pp. 175 and 210). Indeed, it should be noted that xenophobia may even have been involved directly in the targeting of the ‘evil counsellors,’ owing to the tradition of including foreign merchants as advisors, particularly in matters of trade and finance. It has been noted that the similarities in and-alien sentiment among the rural and urban lower classes could be accounted for by the latter’s spread of prejudices into the countryside since peasants routinely emigrated to work in the city, and urban workers returned to the countryside at harvest time. This is much less probably the case in the fourteenth than in the sixteenth century, as mobility of both classes increased dramatically in the latter period. SP15/15/29, 29 I., f. 275r. See below for further details of the uprising’s events. Andrew Pettegree, Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 282. C.W. Chitty, ‘Aliens in England in the Sixteenth Century,’ Race 8:2 (1966): 142. These statements alone provide two ‘single examples.’ Page, op. cit., p. xxxix. John Southerden Burn, History of the French Protestant Refugees (London: 1846), p. 10. This measure was prompted by a complaint from London tradesmen about the practice of aliens using retail trade. The very fact that a bill was introduced into Parliament to prevent this is significant in itself, as it implies that they had been doing so without hindrance from the authorities. This issue played a significant role in the exacerbating of anti-alien attitudes and the exact legal circumstances of the question were very much in doubt. Details of the 1593 bill debate are from Sir Simonds D’Ewes, A Complete Journal of the Votes, Speeches and Debates both of the House of Lords and House of Commons throughout the whole Reign of Queen Elizabeth (London: 1708), pp. 505–9, as cited in Chitty, op. cit., pp

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17 18 19 20

21 22

23 24 25

26

27 28

29 30 31

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141–2. Details of the debate and subsequent events are taken from Chitty’s account unless otherwise specified. Chitty, op. cit., p. 141. Ronald Pollitt,’ “The Refuge of the distressed Nations:” Perceptions of Aliens in Elizabethan England,’ Journal of Modern History 52:1 (March 1980): D1018. My identification of the speaker as Wolley is taken from Pollitt, but the text of the quotation is taken from Chitty. Pollitt, op. cit., p.D1018. Burn, op. cit., p. 10, states that the bill died owing to a dissolution of Parliament, but he gives no source for his information. Chitty has taken the texts of this warning and the verses mentioned subsequently from John Strype, Annals of the Reformation, (London: 1824) volume IV, number 108, pp. 234–6. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 74, number 31, f. 63; R.E.G. and E. F.Kirk, Returns of Aliens Living in the City and Suburbs of London from the Reign of Henry VIII to that of James I, Huguenot Society of London, Quarto Series, volume X, pt 2 (Aberdeen: Huguenot Society of London, 1902), p. 443. As noted in Chapter 1, the aliens of 1593 actually represented an even smaller proportion of the City’s population than the decrease in raw numbers would indicate. Findlay estimates that London’s population was about 90,000 at mid-century, and about 200,000 in 1600 (Roger Findlay, Population and Metropolis: The Demography of London 1580–1650 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 51). Burn, op. cit., p. 191. Although he does not give the citation, Burn is drawing upon Strype’s Annals for his information, in this case, volume IV, p. 236. Frances Consitt, The London Weavers Company (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), volume I, pp. 312ff., as cited in Frederick A.Norwood, Strangers and Exiles: A History of Religious Refugees (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1969), volume I, p. 364. Details of the 1595 uprising are taken from Strangers and Exiles unless otherwise noted. John Stow, Survay of London (London: 1598), p. 303, as cited in Burn, op. cit., p. 12. LRO, Repertories of the Court of Aldermen, volume 18, ff. 173–173b. LRO, Letter Book Z, ff. 137b, 138, and 138b. The timing of these admonitions coincides with the arrival of the French commissioners come to conclude the contract for Elizabeth’s marriage to the duc d’Anjou, so at least part of the severe tone may have been to impress the French. LRO, Analytical Index to the Series of Records Known as the Remembrancia preserved among the Archives of the City of London (London: E.J.Francis, 1878), p. 257. This episode seems to have provided the occasion for the survey found in the Cecil MSS, 210/11 (Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., pp. 258–314). The Kirks were obviously unaware of this Council order, for they assign a date of 1582–3 to the document based on the fact that the only chronological identification within the survey itself is that it names Thomas Blanck as the Lord Mayor. He served in that capacity from November 9, 1582 to November 9, 1583, as noted on p. 258. Logic would indicate that the survey was conducted early in April 1583. LRO., Journal of the Common Council, volume 22, f. 97. John Strype, Annals of the Reformation, volume II, pt 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1824), p. 252. It is a valid criticism that much of the evidence presented to support the view that the lower classes held a special resentment for the aliens is drawn from court circles and the educated elite. This situation cannot, however, be remedied, because those are the only sources available. Ibid., pp. 252–3. As will be shown below, there were natives from all classes who expressed dislike or distrust. Frederick A.Norwood, The Reformation Refugees as an Economic Force (Chicago: The

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American Society of Church History, 1942), p. 86. 32 L.F.Roker, ‘The Flemish and Dutch Community in Colchester in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,’ unpublished MA thesis, University of London, 1963, pp. 207–8. While some wealthy aliens may have indeed lived in ‘the fairest houses in the city,’ the majority lived in the poorest wards and suburbs, as discussed in Chapter 1. Again, the status of aliens in regard to these laws was fairly confused. 33 ‘Clannishness’ is Roker’s term for the aliens’ tendency in the various stranger communities to concentrate in particular areas, usually as near their foreign churches as possible. 34 BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 94, number 19, f. 37r. As a result, even though they did exercise a significant degree of freedom, Elizabeth’s government placed the stranger churches under the jurisdiction of Anglican bishops. The virtually complete freedom they had enjoyed under Edward VI was no more. The suspicion about sects was evidently not confined to sixteenth-century Englishmen. Blomefield accused the aliens of being ‘the persons that introduced these wicked blasphemies, and gave rise to many sects, which till then were never known here.’ (F.Blomefleld, An Essay Toward Topographical History of Norwich, volume III (Norwich, 1806), p. 293. Burn dismisses the accusation as born of Blomefield’s ‘zeal for religion’ and unsupported by any historical evidence (Burn, op. cit., p. 69). 35 Norwood mentions that anti-alien sentiment increased in the aftermath of the Armada (Frederick A.Norwood, The Reformation Refugees as an Economic Force (Chicago, Ill.: The American Society of Church History, 1942), p. 42. This raises the interesting question of how much of this rising hostility was due to security fears, and how much to a nascent nationalism being fostered by this time of national crisis. Aliens were simultaneously suspected and called upon to assist in defense, again illustrating a remarkable dichotomy in attitudes toward their presence. More routinely, England’s governors feared that aliens resident in the realm might very well have immigrated ‘under color of religion,’ when in reality they were spies or assassins. This fear can be seen clearly in episodes like the Ridolfi Plot and the government reactions to them. 36 Although Gwynn does not use the term ‘xenophobia,’ he does comment on constant native ‘fear’ and ‘unrest’ regarding aliens, noting that foreigners ‘were to be distrusted.’ Gwynn, op. cit., pp. 113–15. 37 Raphael Samuel, ‘Introduction: The “Little Platoons,” ‘in Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, volume II (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1989), p. xxviii. 38 Gwynn notes ‘a general dislike of Frenchmen, reinforced by political, religious and economic fears and inflamed by exaggerations and rumours regarding both their numbers and their evil intentions’ (Gwynn, op. cit., p. 115). He makes this statement about the situation of the late seventeenth century, but the idea certainly holds true for the Elizabethan period. Indeed, many patterns of the sixteenth-century aliens’ experience repeat themselves during the seventeenth century. 39 Malcolm Letts, As the Foreigner Saw Us (London: Methuen, 1935), p. 3. 40 Ibid., pp. 5–6. 41 Ibid., p. 28. Interestingly enough, Perlin reserves his strictest censure for naturalized Frenchmen resident in England, calling his expatriate countrymen ‘a cursed and wicked sort of Frenchman’ (ibid., p. 29). 42 Ibid., p. 15. 43 LRO, Letter Book V, f. 35b; Repertories, volume 15, f. 488b; Repertories, volume 21, f. 442b; Letter Book Y, f. 280b; Repertories, volume 22, f. 36. 44 LRO, Letter Book X, f. 288; A.L.Rowse, The Age of Elizabeth: The Structure of Society

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(Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1978), p. 204. 45 Roker, op. cit., pp. 206–8, passim. 46 SP12/18/9, as cited in R.H.Tawney and E.Power, Tudor Economic Documents (London: Longman, Green, 1924), volume I, p. 297. Without a doubt, the natives were on sure ground when they complained that the aliens’ numbers did indeed exceed the numbers specified in their grant. This was the case as well in Norwich, Colchester, and all but the smallest and shortest-lived settlements. On ‘saes’ and ‘bay’, see n. 60 below. 47 Ibid. 48 BL Lansdowne MSS, volume 7, number 81, f. 194v. W.J.C.Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich: Their History and Records, 1565–1832, Huguenot Society of London: Quarto Series, volume I (Lymington: Huguenot Society of London, 1887–8), pp. 244–5. Moens included as an appendix item a copy of this charter which he found in the archives of the French church at Norwich. The two copies are not exact duplicates, but all of the basic provisions are the same. All quotations from the Norwich charter are drawn from the Lansdowne document. 49 BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume, 7, number 81, f. 199r. 50 Ibid., f. 198v. These particular statutes severely restricted the commercial activity of alien merchants and artisans, creating or expanding restrictions meant for one group of aliens to apply them rather indiscriminately to both. These two statutes were the favorites for discontented native businessmen and workers to call upon when complaining about aliens, which is what probably prompted this specific reference in the document. 51 ‘Jurat’ is the equivalent of ‘alderman.’ ‘Jurat’ was the preferred term in Sandwich, Canterbury, and some other towns. 52 Acts of the Privy Council of England, new series (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1894) (hereafter APC), volume XIII, p. 277. Another factor which may have been coming into play might be a struggle of local governments against the authority of the center. The case of dealing with the aliens’ position presented a predicament for the Crown if indeed these developments did have a role in the aliens’ difficulties with local authorities. 53 APC, volume X, p. 208. 54 The numbers of the latter group were surprisingly large in some cases. As discussed in Chapter 1, many of these aliens settled in the poorer sections of London and other communities, not being able to afford the wealthier areas. 55 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 138. 56 Moens, op. cit., pp. 17–18. 57 R.H.Tawney, and E.Power, Tudor Economic Documents, volume I (London: Longman, Green, 1924), p. 298. Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, proved very amenable to aiding the aliens’ cause in Norwich. He even played a role in helping the strangers get their own church (A.Hassell Smith, County and Court: Government and Politics in Norfolk, 1558– 1603 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974), p. 31). Perhaps despite his own Catholicism, he recognized the potential economic benefits, which in Norwich’s case were so desperately needed. 58 Smith, op. cit., p. 31. 59 BL Lansdowne MSS, volume 7, number 81, f. 199r. ‘Bays’ and ‘says’ are woolen cloths of a finer and lighter texture than their modern derivatives, baize, and serge. These were the two primary fabrics to be given the name ‘New Draperies.’ ‘Arras’ is a rich tapestry fabric in which scenes and figures are woven in colors. ‘Mockade,’ or mockado, is another variety of woolen cloth used for clothing, as is ‘stament,’ or stammet. ‘Carsey,’ or kersey, is a kind of coarse, narrow cloth, woven from long wool and usually ribbed.

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60 W.J.C.Moens, The Walloons and their Church at Norwich: Their History and Registers, 1565–1832, Huguenot Society of London, Quarto Series, volume I (Lymington: Huguenot Society of London, 1887–8), pp. 220–3. Remember that although contemporaries lumped all these aliens as ‘Duchemen,’ most were actually Flemish. As was discussed in Chapter 1, of the thirty original stranger families settling in Norwich, twenty-four were ‘Duche’ (Flemish), and six were Walloon. 61 Ibid., p. 221. It should also be noted that these glowing accounts were written in the very earliest years of settlement. As I discuss below, this happy situation was short-lived, and extant examples of this type of letter are not commonly available after about 1570. 62 Ibid., p. 20. 63 Burn, op. cit., p. 64. 64 NRO, Book of Orders for the Dutch and Walloon Strangers, 1564–1643 (MF/RO 31/1), f. 23r. 65 Burn, op. cit., pp. 64–5. 66 NRO, Book of Orders. 67 Blomefield, op. cit., volume III, p. 290–1; Burn, op. cit., p. 67. 68 Blomefield, op. cit., p. 291. 69 SP12/20/49. 70 NRO, Norwich Assembly Minute Book, volume 5, f. 83v. 71 Burns, op. cit., p. 209; Chitty, op. cit., p. 136. The following account of the aliens’ experience in Colchester is taken from Chitty’s article unless otherwise specified. 72 SP12/103/33; SP12/103/34. Document number 33 is the text of the agreement, and document number 34 is that of the original complaints. Both are dated April 25, 1575. This and the lack of any other sources referring to the dispute implies a speedy resolution. 73 SP12/144/19, f. 46r. 74 APC, volume IX pp. 46–7. 75 Geoffrey Martin, The Story of Colchester from Roman Times to the Present (Colchester: Benham Newspapers., 1959), p. 49; Rowse, op. cit., p. 145. 76 APC, volume XIX, pp. 665–6. In an interesting sidelight on the issue of attitudes and xenophobia, one Alfred Hills wrote The Dutchmen at Halstead, 1576–1589, a short tract found in the Essex Record Office. The tract is undated, but its appearance and internal references would suggest the first two or three decades of the twentieth century. On the third (unnumbered) page, Hills describes the hostility of the natives for the alien weavers, then adds: ‘It is galling enough in all conscience to be undersold by a foreigner who dumps his stuff upon your customers from abroad. But to be cut out in the town wherein you were born, at your own particular job, by a parcel of psalm-singing Belgians to whom you have given shelter and hospitality, must be a bitter experience indeed.’ Hill’s attitude—written nearly 350 years after the original incident—puts into interesting perspective the view that ‘traditional xenophobia’ was only an immediate and fleeting economic fear. 77 These were Pebmarsh, Great and Little Maplestead, Gosfield, Castle Hedingham, Sible Hedingham, Yeldham, and Colne Engaine (William Page and J.Horace Round, eds, The Victoria History of the County of Essex (London: Archibald Constable, 1907), p. 332). 78 SP12/240/115. 79 Anne M.Oakley, The Canterbury Walloon Congregation from Elizabeth I to Laud,’ In I.Scouloudi, ed., Huguenots in Britain and their French Background, 1550–1800., (Totowa, NJ: Barnes and Noble, 1987), p. 58. Details of the Canterbury stranger community are taken from Oakley unless otherwise indicated. 80 Ibid., p. 59.

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81 82 83 84

APC, volume IX, p. 42. Oakley, op. cit., p. 67. APC, volume XIV, p. 322. APC, volume XXI, p. 275. Informers were individuals who either supplemented their regular income or entirely made their living by spying on aliens, trying to catch them in violation of some statute or regulation in order to report them to the authorities and get a small reward. In London especially, informing on aliens seems to have become a virtual cottage industry judging from the number of orders from the Council trying to curb it. This harassment was one of the most trying of the myriad irritations with which the strangers had to contend. 85 As noted above, even though the aliens were accorded considerable freedom of worship— freedom outstripping that accorded to Englishmen—there were still limits within which they had to operate.

3 THE PRESENCE OF ALIENS AND GOVERNMENT POLICY IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH I 1

2 3 4 5 6

7 8

‘All merchants shall have safe conduct to go and come out of England, and to stay in and travel through England by land and waters for the purposes of buying and selling, free of illegal tolls, in accordance with ancient and just customs, except, in time of war, such as are of a country at war with Us’ Magna Carta, ch. 41: A.E.Dick Howard, Magna Carta: Text and Commentary (Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Press, 1964), p. 44. It is also important to note at this point that although there were non-merchants among the aliens resident in England, the law as it developed through most of its medieval stages treated all of them as if they were all merchants. This legal attitude did not die easily, and proved to be one of the major points of ambivalence about the aliens’ position in England. Aliens had no rights in early common law until the gradual merging of the law merchant—under the jurisdiciton of which aliens fell—into the common law. Even so, the process was not complete until the late fifteenth or the sixteenth century (Sir William Searle Holdsworth, A History of English Law, volume IX (Boston, Mass: Little, Brown, 1926), pp. 96–7. Although dated, Holdsworth’s series is still considered the standard survey of English legal development. The following discussion on alien legal status and definitions is taken from Holdsworth unless otherwise noted. It is no accident that the Steelyard, as the London headquarters of the German Hanse was commonly known, was established in 1281. Statutes of the Realm (London, 1810–28), volume I, p. 33. T.H.Lloyd, Alien Merchants in England in the High Middle Ages (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1982), pp. 15–17. Gwyn A.Williams, Medieval London: Commune to Capital, (London: Athlone Press, 1963), pp. 255–6. Despite the ‘parochial prejudices’ of local and municipal officers, Edward included aliens in the law merchant, and during his reign, ‘justice in the courts of piepowder in the fairs and in the local tribunals which administered law merchant in ports and market towns was probably more effective than it had ever been’ (Maurice Powicke, The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962), p. 625). Lloyd, Alien Merchants, p. 209. Despite occasional eruptions of hostility, alien trade continued to play a major role in English commerce for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Although most alien merchants traded as members of a commune or city, the English

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11

12 13 14

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mingled them together, with inexact terminology that was apparently based on their language. I will use the broader terminology unless circumstances dictate otherwise. The exact status of Gascons in this period is a very cloudy issue. They were under the English king’s authority, but as holders of allods did not owe the same service as vassals. Even the English Crown’s authority was in question, as the kings of France continued to claim sovereignty over Gascony all the way up to the Hundred Years War. Technically, the Gascons were subjects of Edward as duke of Aquitaine, not as king of England. As such, they do not appear to have enjoyed any special status above the protection Edward had already extended to all alien merchants. Consistently with Edward’s financial motives for protecting alien trade, Gascons paid sizable customs for the privilege of monopolizing trade with their best customer. For more detail on the political and economic ramifications of the relationship between Enland and Gascony, see Powicke, The Thirteenth Century, pp. 270– 318. Native Englishmen, however, certainly considered them strangers and viewed them as hostilely as they viewed virtually all aliens. G.A.Williams, ‘London and Edward I,’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, fifth series, 2 (1961): 95. Lloyd notes that in later reigns the New Custom came to be viewed as part of the monarchy’s hereditary revenues and that the original bargain of protection in return for the customs was conveniently forgotten as expediency required that ever-increasing restrictions be placed on aliens (Alien Merchants, p. 208). Dollinger points out that most provisions of the Carta Mercatoria were revoked by Edward II at the insistence of the barons and London burgesses, but that the repeal of privileges was aimed specifically at Italian merchants, ‘the most influential of the foreign groups’ in the early fourteenth century (Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1970), p. 56). It should also be mentioned that although alien merchants had apparently always paid higher import customs than natives, this is the point when the gap virtually doubled In a later work, Lloyd notes that like other alien merchants, the Hansards had been ‘pulled into a false sense of security’ and ‘even neglected to renew their own charters when Edward II reconfirmed the Carta Mercatoria,’ but ‘fortunately’ they ‘belatedly secured the confirmation of their individual charters, so they were protected when the lords ordainer cancelled the Carta Mercatoria in 1311’ (T. H. Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, 1157–1611 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), p. 369). Powicke, op. cit., pp. 630–1. Although the Carta Mercatoria ‘put foreign merchants…on the same footing as the home merchants,’ most of its provisions were gradually weakened or reversed in succeeding reigns (Ibid., p. 631). Even those provisions which survived were enforced very sporadically. May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307–1399 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), p. xviii. Again, the English regarded Gascons as aliens despite the fact that they shared the same ruler. Statutes, volume I, pp. 158–60. Indeed, all the individuals singled out by the Ordainers were aliens. Most were Edward’s French cousins, but the Italian banker, Amerigo dei Frescobaldi was suspected of ‘establishing a stranglehold on the king’ because of Edward’s heavy indebtedness to him. (McKisack, op. cit., pp. 13–14). Williams, Medieval London, p. 272. The commonalty was technically all merchants and artisans who by virtue of holding the freedom of the City were eligible to stand for aldermanic office. It was more commonly used to refer only to the mayor and aldermen themselves.

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17

18 19

20

21 22 23

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McKisack says this royal charter ‘might have been a landmark in the constitutional development of London’ (McKisack, op. cit., p. 376). Although it does mark an important stage in the formulation of London’s governing structures, its principal purpose in this study is its confirmation of again restricting alien access to the freedom again being restricted. In an interesting sidelight on the coup, Dollinger notes that the Hanseatics through their loans helped Edward III obtain the throne. Because of this he was ‘kindly disposed towards them, and throughout his long reign hardly ever failed to further their interests’ (Dollinger, op. cit., p. 56). Ibid., p. 296. Ibid., pp. 296–7. Again, most of this charter dealt with the confirmation of the City’s liberties, a concession by the Crown in an effort to encourage support of Edward II’s deposition and to deflate opposition to Isabella and Mortimer. The inclusion of the clause reinstating residency limits for alien merchants indicates that it was considered one of the important issues in this period of political struggle between the Crown and the City. The London burgesses had long maintained that aliens who resided in England and enjoyed the privileges of this residence should share in the burden of taxation. This was one area of contention in the disputes surrounding the Carta Mercatoria and the New Custom during Edward I’s reign. In 1343, Edward III reconfirmed the forty-day limit of the 1327 charter in an act of Parliament. Thereafter, any foreign merchants who remained longer than forty days would forgo their exemption from taxes (Montague S.Giuseppe, ‘Alien Mercrants in England in the Fifteenth Century,’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, new series, 9 (1895):91). Hunt, in the most recent scholarship on Edward III and the Italian bankers, convincingly refutes the traditional view that a total and spectacular Bardi and Peruzzi collapse was caused by the failure of Edward to pay his debts to those organizations. Drawing extensively on contemporary financial accounts, Hunt argues that the level of lending could never have been as high as has been hitherto believed, that the Italian bankers actually recovered more of their investment than might be revealed in English governmental ledgers, and that their eventual final collapse was due more to ‘political and economic convulsions in Florence’ than to Edward’s disavowal of his debt (Edwin S.Hunt, ‘A New Look at the Dealings of the Bardi and Peruzzi with Edward III,’ Journal of Economic History, 1:1 (March 1990), p. 161). Also, Dollinger notes that although the transactions were smaller and less well known, Edward also appealed to the Hanseatics for loans. He granted them in return special wool-export licenses, reductions in their custom dues, and the right to collect custom dues from others, although the latter privilege was revoked under pressure from English merchants, (Dollinger, op. cit., p. 57). McKisack, op. cit., p. 352. For the sake of clarity, the more in-depth discussion of this and other selected cases related to issues of economic policy has been deferred to Chapter 4. Beardwood, Alien Merchants in England, pp. 61–2, 117. The judicial rights granted by Edward I in the Carta Mercatoria had survived to this point. Consequently, although aliens had no courts of their own, they were not perceived to have need of them. Owing to the Carta Mercatoria, they technically had few bars against them in English courts in matter of the law merchant. Denization, a limited sort of citizenship obtained by royal letters patent, carried with it certain privileges not available to the average alien resident. Naturalization, which conferred all the rights and privileges of native Englishmen, was much more rare as it required an act of Parliament. For more detail, see ‘Legal Status of Aliens’ below.

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25 Ibid., pp.58 and 117–21. 26 As mentioned above, Magna Carta provided alien merchants with protection of their free commerce, and Edward I had given alien merchants statutory access on a par with that of English merchants to sell in all fairs and markets, through statutes in 1283 and 1285. 27 Bolton notes: ‘During the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries an increasingly xenophobic campaign was mounted against [aliens] in parliament.’ (J.L.Bolton, The Medieval Economy, 1150–1500 (London: J.M.Dent and Sons, 1980), p. 308). The weaknesses of the Lancastrian dynasty provided Parliament with the opportunity to wage such a campaign. The inability of the English, however, to compete effectively with aliens in overseas commerce meant that their campaign sometimes had rather limited results. 28 Statutes, volume II, pp. 118 and 145–6. The three-month residency clause was repealed in 1404, apparently leaving the merchant aliens ‘free…to sell their Merchandises in the Manner as they did before the making of the said Ordinance: Saving always the Franchises and Liberties of the City of London’ (ibid., p. 150). Hosting, hostage, and hostelling were all terms for the practice developed in the fifteenth century to enforce the various restrictions. In hostage, ‘every alien merchant, on his arrival at an English port, had to present himself in the mayor’s court, where a townsman of good repute was appointed to act as his host during his stay in the town. He was obliged to reside in his host’s house and to acquaint [his host] with all his mercantile transactions’ (Alwyn A.Ruddock, ‘Alien Hosting in Southampton in the Fifteenth Century,’ Economic History Review first series, 16:1 (1946):30. Ruddock also makes a convincing case that the hostage laws were enforced only sporadically, especially outside London. This again demonstrates the idea that Parliament might pass anti-alien restrictions, but that the strangers were too economically valuable for the English to risk enforcing the laws very strictly. 29 Statutes, volume II, pp. 303–5. Cunningham observes that the statute was allowed to expire after eight years and even during its observance, does not seem to have been enforced very strictly. This possibly indicates that the fact that the statute was enacted may have been enough temporarily to appease Londoners (William Cunningham, Alien Immigrants to England (London: Frank Cass, 1897; repr. New York: Augustus Kelley, 1969), pp. 92–3). The Hanseatics, generally supported by the Crown, ‘the great nobles, the clothiers and the great mass of consumers,’ had accrued many privileges by this time, including selfregulation and exemption from a number of duties imposed on other alien merchants, despite ‘organised hostility from the English merchants…the city of London and Parliament, who resented their privileged status’ Dollinger, op. cit., p. 303). Consequently, the hostage act did not apply to them and this is noted in the statute. 30 Rotuli Parliamentorum (London, 1832), volume V, pp. 6, 38, 144, and 230. 31 Statutes, volume II, p. 395–6. The statute 22 Edward IV c. 3 (1482–3) renews this ban, but interestingly extends it to all persons, not singling out aliens or denizens. 32 It had been fairly common, particularly in the fourteenth century, for the Crown to select favored aliens to serve as royal officers in the regulation of the woolen industry. Perhaps this was due to a perceived degree of expertise on their parts, particularly in the export trade. Another possible motive, however, may have been that the monarchy felt that the dependence of these aliens on royal favor made their placement in the industry strategically favorable to Crown interests. The statute 4 Edward IV c. 1 is a fairly lengthy one giving regulatory details for the industry, and it includes a provision that specifically prohibits the appointment of aliens as keepers of the aulnager’s seals (ibid., pp. 403–7. The Statute 17 Edward IV c. 1 affirmatively answered the calls of the London goldsmiths’ mystery to have search and inspection rights over the goods of alien gold and silver workers. It goes further,

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34

35

36 37 38

39

40

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to order that ‘for the better surveying of the said Aliens and strangers…It is ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That the same…shall inhabit in the open streets of the said City, and where [better and more open shewing] is of their Craft’ (ibid., p. 457). While there is nothing unusual about requiring artisans and their merchandise to be clearly visible from the street during working hours, only aliens were mentioned in the statute. One would think alien artisans could not be trusted. A.R.Myers, England in the Late Middle Ages eighth edition, Pelican History of England, volume IV, (Baltimore, Md: Penguin Books, 1971), p. 201: E.F.Jacobs, The Fifteenth Century, 1399–1485 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), pp. 589–606. In fact, on the issue of Edward’s depth of concern with the revival of trade, he quotes Scofield, who said that Edward was ‘by the spring of 1463…a full-fledged wool merchant’ (Cora Scofield, The Life and Reign of Edward IV, volume II (1923), p. 404, as cited in Jacobs, The Fifteenth Century, p. 591). The term ‘bullionist/mercantilist’ is taken from Munro, op. cit., p. 12. Largely owing to the Hanseatics virtual monopoly of Baltic trade and their loan of ships and money to help Edward IV recover his throne in 1471, Edward was forced to conclude the Treaty of Utrecht with the Hanseatics in 1474. The king and Parliament confirmed all privileges won by the German merchants over the generations and promised compensation of £10,000 (Dollinger, op. cit., p. 309). For further treatment of the development of specifically economic policy, see Chapter 5. Statutes, volume II, pp. 489–96. One particularly interesting clause forbids any new alien artisans to settle in the country, except as servants of English masters, and those alien artisans already in the realm were to have no alien apprentices except their own children. These acts will be dealt with in greater depth in ‘Legal Status of Aliens’ below. Statutes, volume II, p. 501 and 579. Ibid., p. 507. Ibid., pp. 506, 517, 546, 553, and 664. The first and last in this list are renewals of the old ban against importing finished silk goods, and 7 Henry VII c. 7 follows in this spirit by levying an additional 18s duty on each butt of malmsey for alien importers and setting price ceilings on each butt imported. Both 3 Henry VII c. 9 and 4 Henry VII c. 23 reiterate the notion of alien merchants spending profits made in England on English-made wares, thus minimizing the bullion leaving the country. Henry may have tried intermittently to reduce alien trade on the assumption that native control would be economically healthier in the long run, despite any short-term reduction in customs revenues. See 19 Henry VII c. 23 (ibid., volume II, p. 665); Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, p. 373. Lloyd also notes that the 1468–74 struggle ended with a compromise in the Treaty of Utrecht because ‘the war had become an embarrassment.’ That Hanse franchises were fully restored as part of the ‘compromise’ stands in eloquent testimony to the fact that England was not yet ready to compete effectively with the members of the Hanse. A more in-depth discussion of the role of aliens in English economic development is found in Chapter 5. Hall’s Chronicle (London, 1548; repr. New York: AMS Press, 1965), p. 468; Cunningham, op. cit., p. 188n. The embargo was on exports to the Netherlands as a punitive measure taken by Henry against Flanders for their support of the pretender Perkin Warbeck. The Flemings yielded to the pressure in 1496, withdrew their support of Warbeck and signed the Intercursus Magnus. Lloyd also comments that ‘recorded complaints [by the Hansards] date from after the accession of Henry VII and relate chiefly to events of that reig,’ indicating that the aforementioned parliamentary attention ‘began to bite’ to some degree (Lloyd, England and the German Hanse, p. 236).

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41 Hall’s Chronicle, p. 468. Obviously, Hall cannot be considered an unbiased source. However, having sounded that cautionary note, he is a near-contemporary source where very few, if any, are otherwise available. 42 Ibid. 43 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 128. 44 Hall’s Chronicle, pp. 586–8. 45 Statutes, volume III, pp. 208–9 and 230–1. 46 Statutes, volume III, pp. 443–4 and 456. 47 See 32 Henry VIII c. 50 (ibid., pp. 765–6 and 812–24). 48 Cunningham, op. cit., p. 141. 49 A.Norwood, Strangers and Exiles: A History of Religious Refugees, volume I (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1969), pp. 266–8. 50 Andrew Pettegree, Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 31. 51 Ibid., p. 37. 52 Statutes, volume IV, pt I, p. 224. 53 Joyce Youings, Sixteenth-Century England, The Pelican Social History of England (London: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 216. 54 Statutes, volume IV, pt I, pp. 327–8. 55 Holdsworth, op. cit., volume IV, p. 335. 56 J.H.Baker, An Introduction to English Legal History, third edition (London: Butterworth’s, 1990), pp. 530–1. 57 William A.Shaw, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland, 1603–1700 (Lymington: Huguenot Society Publications, 1911), p. iii. 58 Holdsworth, op. cit., volume IX, p. 77 and 93. 59 There is a debate among scholars about the real differences between denization and naturalization, if any indeed exist. William Shaw maintains that the terms could be and were used interchangeably, but Holdsworth, Baker, and Keeton all agree that there were very real differences and that this accounts for the two processes. All three of these historians came after Shaw and are specialists in legal history (Shaw is not), and their cases are convincing. Also, as discussed early in Chapters 1 and 2, obtaining the ‘freedom of the city’ was another means of escaping the restrictions placed on strangers, but this was a far from common occurence and became even more rare after the mid-fourteenth century. Denization was easily the most common means by which aliens gained some citizenship rights. 60 Statutes, volume III, pp. 208–9. 61 Of the seventy-seven surveys for the period 1523–71 listed in Kirk and Kirk, op. cit., volume I, seventy-five are lay subsidy, or taxation, listings. The others are the two parts of the Dutch Church registers dating from its founding in 1550. 62 Head-counts for lay subsidies had a fairly lengthy history, as did muster rolls to determine available military manpower. The alien surveys were strikingly different in three major respects. First, the alien surveys provide much more data than did the simple head-counts and physical locations of the other types. The specificity of the data also increased throughout Elizabeth’s reign. Second, the alien surveys were taken much more frequently. Lastly, the alien surveys were the only searches made which focused strictly on one segment of the population resident in England. Similar surveys for natives were not instituted in Britain until 1801. Also note that the terms ‘survey,’ ‘search,’ and ‘order’ were used interchangeably in contemporary usage. All are still used in the scholarship, although ‘search’ is less common than ‘survey,’ and ‘order’ is the least common of the three.

Strangers settled here amongst us 63 64 65

66 67

68 69 70 71 72

73 74

75

76

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BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 10, number 45, f. 147r. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 10, number 46, f. 148v. Ronald L.Pollitt, ‘“Refuge of the distressed Nations”: Perceptions of Aliens in Elizabethan England,’ Journal of Modern History, 52, 1 (1980): D1011. Interestingly, as will be discussed in more detail below, aliens who attended church services regularly, and transient alien merchants, were not suspected. APC, volume VII, pp. 228–9; SP12/40/87. PRO, Accounts Various, E101/129/20, ff. 1r–2v. A cynic might put another interpretation on Giustiniano’s petition to Burghley—that the Genoese merchant was wealthy and well connected enough to expect to be relieved of such irritations. Wallace MacCaffrey, The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968), p. 4. Ibid., p. 272. David B.Quinn and A.N.Ryan, England’s Sea Empire 1550–1642, (London: George Alien and Unwin, 1983), p. 76. SP12/47/19. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 94, number 19, f. 37r. Pettegree notes that Edward VI’s ‘relaxation of controls’ on immigration had ‘led to a bewildering proliferation of heresies, much to the embarrassment of the government and also of the Reformed preachers who feared their views might be tainted by association with these uneducated freethinkers;’ most of the known Anabaptists were members of the alien community, and the stranger churches were called upon to assist in ‘eliminating sectarian views’ (Andrew Pettegree, Foreign Protestant Communities in Sixteenth-Century London (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), p. 44). He goes on to state that this particular function was ‘no doubt again a consideration’ in Elizabeth’s determination of the utility of the foreign churches when re-establishing them in 1560 (Ibid., p. 138). SP12/48/21, f. 44r. APC, volume VII, p. 380. Concerns of religious conscience or economic utility, and issues related to their physical numbers, seem to have been three of the most important considerations for the central government. The point should be re-emphasized; although the numbers here are only for London, they are still very meaningful for England as a whole on these issues, which are policy issues, not economic issues tied to simple demographics. The metropolis always had the largest total number of resident aliens for a single city, even though they represented on average about 4–5 per cent of the capital’s total population. Moreover, London was often only a temporary stop for aliens before they moved on to settle in other towns. Because of these two factors, it is logical to assume that governmental concern and actions about aliens in London are reflective of similar concerns about aliens elsewhere in England. These searches were not simply tallies of the stranger churches’ congregations. After orders from the Crown were sent to the Lord Mayor and/or the Common Council of London, searches were conducted door to door by each alderman in his ward, usually with assistants accompanying him. Sometimes foreign ministers or elders would be asked to go along to assist in resolving language difficulties. What makes this survey unusual is that the foreign elders and the aldermen had apparently been required to conduct separate inquiries for the sake of comparison. It is not possible to determine the total population of London in this period with any precision, and there is some dispute among scholars on the issue. Finlay’s estimate of 100,000 for most of the Elizabethan era, with a maximum of 150,000 by the 1590s, seems to be the most reasonable estimate.

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77 SP12/84, f. 433r. 78 On page 357 in the second volume of the calendar to the Hatfield MSS (Cecil Papers), there is a very interesting letter to Lord Burghley from Christopher Rohety, seeking a number of favors. One is of special interest here in terms of observation and control of the aliens. Rohety proposes that he be given registrarship of the aliens for the ‘preferment of some that be fled for religion’ and to keep watch on those ‘that may be touched with the first conspiracy or aided the Earl of Westmorland.’ 79 SP12/78/8, 9, 10, 13, 19, and 29. The extant surveys, or orders for surveys, are for the towns of Harwich, Colchester, Great Yarmouth, Lynn, Dover, and Sandwich, respectively. Since results are not available in each case, the total number of strangers represented in them is impossible to determine. 80 SP12/82 and 84. See also R.G. [Richard Grafton?], Salutem in Christo (n.p., 1571), (W.A.Jackson, F.S.Ferguson, and K.A.Pantzer, eds, A Short-Title Catalogue of Books… 1475–1640, revised edition, 3 vols (London: The Bibliographical Society, 1976–91), no. 11504). 81 APC, volume VIII, p. 50. Not surprisingly, when international relations again grew very tense in the mid-1580s, similar orders to be vigilant in examining ‘all such persons as shall cum into this Realme’ in order to keep watch for ‘divers bad persons [who] cum in for bad and lewde purposes’ (BL, Lansdowne, MSS, volume 43, numbers 78–9, ff. 191r–194v). 82 LRO, Journal of the Common Council, volume 19, f. 383v. 83 PRO, Pipe Office Declared Accounts, E351/2207. 84 APC, volume IX, p. 281; Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977), p. 217. 85 BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 43, number 78. 86 SP12/46/79. 87 Parker, op. cit., p. 121. 88 BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 13, number 45, f. 130r. 89 It is equally likely that such orders were ruses to deflect Spanish suspicions about her intentions. Parker notes that while Elizabeth sent Orange some 300,000 florins in August 1572 and allowed the exile churches in England to send aid, she forbade official assistance (Parker, op. cit., p. 148). 90 W.J.C.Moens, Register of Baptisms in the Dutch Church at Colchester from 1645 to 1728 (Lymington: Huguenot Society Publications, 1905), p. iv. 91 APC, volume VIII, p. 135. 92 Ibid. This again implies that while religious refugees were welcome, those who sought a haven from which to support rebellion against Philip were not. It also can be read to imply that the government suspected aliens who refused to attend Protestant services of being Catholic agents. 93 Perhaps the Council also took care to try to keep the population in each alien settlement rather small in relation to the native population, in order to minimize the sorts of difficulties we have already examined There seems to be no extant evidence to confirm or deny this supposition, other than the occasional complaints of foreign ambassadors about Elizabeth harboring fugitives. It is still a logical point to raise. 94 Ibid., p. 306, 336–7, 345–6. ‘Bayes’ and ‘grograines’ were two varieties of cloth which were part of the ‘New Draperies’ introduced into England by the immigrants. See Chapters 2 and 4 for more detail. 95 Ibid., p. 311. 96 More detail will be provided in Chapter 4, particularly in the discussion of mining and

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metallurgy. Despite the frequent and continuing difficulties, many aliens did eventually and gradually move into English society, particularly the younger generations. In fact, the consistories of the stranger churches in London and elsewhere complained about this fact, concerned about the gradual wasting-away of their congregations. LRO, Letter Book Y, f. 223b. APC, volume XIV, p. 282; LRO, Letter Book Y, f. 230b. LRO, Letter Book Z, f. 38; Letter Book &c., f. 55b. SP12/206/60. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 32, number 10. The 1581 survey and that of 1587 clearly had different but related purposes. That of 1581 specifically sought those who professed no religion, and this, by Elizabethan standards, rendered them suspect. The survey found 334 such aliens. The 1587 survey also sought questionable strangers, but its primary intention was to find able-bodied men to assist in the defense of London. When evaluating their utility in this regard, the determination of their loyalties was an obvious consideration. Despite the fact that these surveys did not have identical purposes, it is still reasonable to assume that out of 334 suspect strangers in 1581, many more than seven of them would have been able-bodied. One notable exception to this silence about the participation of all these alien levies is the case of Federico Gianibelli, an engineer from Mantua, who reportedly built the fireships used during the siege of Antwerp and against the Armada. Haynes also speculates that he may have been used in the improvement of the Gravesend defenses in the mid-1580s (A.Haynes, ‘Italian Immigrants in England, 1550–1603,’ History Today 27:8 (August 1977):528. APC, volume XVI, pp. 289–90. SP12/275/143.

4 ALIENS, POLICY, AND THE ELIZABETHAN ECONOMY 1 Ephraim Lipson, The Growth of Economic Society: A Short Economic History (New York: Henry Holt, 1950), pp. 89–90; Carlo Cipolla, Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000–1700 (New York: W.W.Norton, 1976), p. 180. Although I have cited but two, numerous historians have examined in various degrees the economic impact of the Elizabethan aliens. I therefore have opted to concentrate primarily on the Crown’s implementation of economic policy as it involved the strangers, rather than attempting to condense the immigrants’ entire economic contribution into a single chapter. 2 SP/12/84. 3 Most of the medieval towns where aliens were part of life were ports, which is only logical since the vast majority of aliens in England were merchants. London belongs in this category as well since it was considered a port throughout the period covered in this study because of the access afforded by the Thames. 4 E.Miller, M.M.Postan, and E.E.Rich (eds), Cambridge Economic History of Europe, volume III: Economic Organization and Policy in the Middle Ages (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963), p. 317. By the early years of Henry VI’s reign, customs accounted for over £30,000 out of an annual income of £57,000. The wool-export tax remained, despite the increasing percentage of English wool used by a growing native textile industry, the preeminent indirect tax.

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5 Ibid., pp. 353–5. 6 Anthony Goodman, A History of England from Edward II to James I (London: Longman, 1977), p. 32. 7 Munro further notes: ‘Although medieval bullionism cannot be equated with the more modern ‘mercantilism,’ bullionism in the general sense was the heart of seventeenth-and [sic] eighteenth-century mercantilist policies’ (J.H.A.Munro, Wool, Cloth and Gold: The Struggle for Bullion in Anglo-Buygundian Trade, 1340–1478 (Brussels: Editions de L’Université de Bruxelles; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972), pp. 11–13 and 36–7. In fact, the staple also proved to be protectionist, as steep alien export duties discouraged alien trade to the Calais staple and eventually the Company of Merchant Staplers could exclude all foreign merchants (ibid., p. 39). The staple’s principal importance here lies in its illustration of trade policies which concerned alien merchants and of how the Crown attempted to manipulate them to achieve those policies. 8 Ibid., p. 330. 9 Thomas Wright, Political Poems and Songs Relating to English History (London: Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1861), volume II, pp. 182 and 184. 10 Ibid., pp. 172–3. 11 Ibid., p. 177. See Chapter 1 for an explanation of the practice of hostage. 12 As cited in Munro, op. cit., p. 1. 13 M.M.Postan, The Medieval Economy and Society, An Economic History of Britain 1100– 1500 (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1972), p. 193. It seems almost certain that his primary motive was simply diplomatic pressure, that Edward manipulated the wool trade as a means of imposing his diplomatic will on Flanders (Munro, op. cit., pp. 5–6). 14 May McKisack, The Fourteenth Century, 1307–1399 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), pp. 367–70. The issue of numbers and influence is one of some scholarly debate. The prevalent opinion seems to be that the impact of the Flemish weavers was less important than historians once thought because the native industry was already expanding before their arrival. 15 Ephraim Lipson, The Economic History of England (New York: Macmillan, 1929), volume I, pp. 396–400. 16 W.G.Hoskins, The Age of Plunder: King Henry’s England, 1500–1547 (London: Longman, 1976), p. 229. 17 Nigel Goose, ‘The “Dutch” in Colchester: The Economic Influence of an Immigrant Community in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,’ Immigrants and Minorities 1:3 (November 1982):264. 18 D.M.Palliser, The Age of Elizabeth: England under the Later Tudors, 1547–1603 (London: Longman, 1983), pp. 19 and 237. These initiatives are more significant for the concerns they reveal and the precedents they set than for any immediate and quantifiable effect they may have had. 19 Joan Thirsk, Economic Policy and Projects: The Development of a Consumer Society in early Modern England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), p. 14. Thirsk identifies Sir Thomas Smith, a Privy Councillor serving under Somerset, as the tract’s author. Scholarly opinion is divided but seems to lean toward Hales, since he was the spokesman for the Commonwealth Party, so-called for their concern about the ‘common weal.’ Whichever the case, both men were in Somerset’s government and undoubtedly shared many of their patron’s social and economic views. 20 Wilson neatly steps around the issue of authorship, but he credits the Discourse with a great deal of sophistication in its ‘socio-economic analysis of the origins of inflation…[pinning] responsibility firmly on the Crown, the deviser of debasement’ and in its sketchy outline of

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24 25

26 27

28 29

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

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an ‘embryonic balance of payments theory’ (Charles Wilson, The Transformation of Europe 1558–1648 (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976), p. 36). William Page, Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England, 1509– 1603 (Lymington: Huguenot Society Publications, 1893), p. xxviii. A.E.Bland, P.A.Brown, and R.H.Tawney, English Economic History: Select Documents (London: G.Bell and Sons, 1914), p. 323. Ramsay singles out Cecil’s economic memoranda as the ‘beginnings of a more “statistical” approach to economic problems, even if the fiscal interests of the crown are also very much to the fore.’ He concedes that the worth of these ‘statistics’ is doubtful, but that ‘the attempt to compile them at least shows forethought and deliberate planning’ (Peter Ramsay, Tudor Economic Problems (London: Victor Gollancz, 1963), p. 164). SP12/18/9. SP12/43/19. The phrasing ‘known being both necessary and profitable for the commonwealth’ either indicates that the fledgling mercantilist thought was reaching down to the local level or that these local authorities cleverly recognized what sentiments would most appeal to the national government. Also interesting, the list is very similar to the list of imported goods in Discourse which Hale said could and should be manufactured in England of native resources and by native artisans. Again, these were not inventions of Elizabeth’s reign, but she and her government made more extensive use of them than did her predecessors. See Thirsk, op. cit. for an in-depth examination of the specifics of the Tudor-Stuart economic projects. Despite their well-intentioned beginnings, patents and monopolies unfortunately were abused in the 1590s as the costs of the Dutch War drained Elizabeth’s treasury. Statutes, volume III, pp. 31 and 95. BL, Lansdowne MSS, volume 24, number 72, ff. 182r-182v. The document itself merely refers to the ‘progenitor of our soueraigne lady the quenes highenes’ and the rights the Company enjoyed in Henry’s reign. Ibid., volume 24, number 73, f. 183r. Ibid., volume 26, number 65, f. 188r. For a continuation of the dispute, see ibid., volume 26, numbers 65 and 66. LRO, Journal of the Common Council, volume 20, pt I, f. 177. Ibid., f. 176b. SP12/201/31. The discussion on the New Draperies is taken primarily from Palliser, op. cit., pp. 246–51, unless otherwise noted. Bowden points out that the ‘output of worsted had never been anything but small’ and that ‘the worsted trade had for some time been in difficulties’ before ‘the manufacture of the new draperies [gave] it a fresh lease of life’ (Peter J.Bowden, The Wool Trade in Tudor and Stuart England (London: Macmillan, 1962), p. 53). A perfect example would be the decayed worsted industry in Norwich on the eve of the strangers’ arrival. D.C.Coleman, ‘An Innovation and Its Diffusion: the “New Draperies”,’ Economic History Review, second series, 22:3 (1969):419–21. Ibid., p. 418. Coleman notes that these cloths included ‘says, bays, serges, grosgrams, perpetuanas, rashes, mockadoes, barracans, shalloons, callimancoes, stammets and bombazines.’ Kerridge adds ‘pukes,’ ‘frizadoes,’ ‘russells,’ ‘fustians,’ ‘durants,’ ‘mountaines,’ ‘mackerelles,’ ‘skallopes,’ ‘ollyots,’ ‘carrels,’ ‘tufted mockadoes,’ ‘caffa,’ ‘tobines,’ and others too numerous to list (Erik Kerridge, Textile Manufactures in early Modern England (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1985), chapters 4–7.

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40 On the subject of wider demand and availability, Gutmann points out that woolen textiles encompassed a wide rage of prices and quality, from luxury cloths to ‘less expensive textiles for the everyday needs of the middle class and the holiday needs of peasants’ (Myron P. Gutmann, Toward the Modern Economy: Early Industry in Europe, 1500–1800 (Philadelphia, Pa: Temple University Press, 1988), p. 21). 41 Statutes, vol. IV, pt 1, p. 260. In the 1550s, the textile industry was described as ‘at this pointe almost wholye decayed.’ 42 Kerridge, op. cit., pp. 100–3. 43 S.R.H.Jones, ‘The Development of Needle Manufacturing in the West Midlands Before 1750,’ Economic History Review, second series, 31:2 (May 1978):355. 44 C.G.A.Clay, Economic Expansion and Social Change: England 1500–1700, volume II: Industry, Trade and Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 39. The immigrants did introduce silkweaving to Canterbury. 45 The discussion of glassmaking is taken primarily from E.S.Godfrey, The Development of English Glassmaking, 1560–1640 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975) unless otherwise noted. 46 SP12/43/42; SP12/43/45; SP12/43/46. 47 G.H.Kenyon, The Glass Industry of the Weald (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1967), pp. 108–11 and 121–5. 48 This little drama from Godfrey, op. cit., pp. 39–41, is a perfect example of what Thirsk refers to as the ‘scandalous’ evolution from practical and far-seeing grants of industrial patents to the outright sales of monopolies to unscrupulous courtiers by the end of the century. 49 SP12/36/59. 50 SP12/40/81. 51 SP12/40/87. 52 Palliser, op. cit., p. 261. 53 SP12/37/21. ‘Battery’ in this instance refers to the manufacture of armaments. It was also used broadly to denote the mechanical hammering of brass and tin into thin plates. Germans were considered the European experts in both fields in this period. 54 SP12/37/5. 55 William Rees, Industry Before the Industrial Revolution (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1968), volume II, pp. 374–5. 56 D.C.Coleman, The Economy of England, 1450–1750 (London: Oxford University Press, 1977), p. 88. 57 The discussion of the development of the gunpowder industry is taken from Sybil M.Jack, Trade and Industry in Tudor and Stuart England (London: George Alien and Unwin, 1977) unless otherwise noted. 58 SP12/14/3. 59 Palliser, op. cit., p. 255. 60 Statutes of the Realm (1810–28), volume IV, pt I, p. 522; Jack, op. cit., p. 84; SP12/245/52; SP12/253/95; Palliser, op. cit., pp. 237–8, 251. Alum was used as a mordaunt in dyeing. 61 NRO, Book of Orders for the Dutch and Walloon Strangers, 1564–1643 (MF/RO 31/1), f. 16r. 62 NRO, Proceedings of the Mayor’s Court at Norwich, volume 11, p. 227; Blomefield’s History of Norwich, as cited in J.S.Burns, History of the French Protestant Refugees (London, 1846), p. 69. 63 SP12/160/37; SP12/127/81. 64 SP12/20/49. 65 NRO, Proceedings of the Mayor’s Court, volume 11, p. 146.

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66 NRO, Norwich Assembly Minute Books, volume 4, f. 182r. Apparently, some natives were content to accept the benefits received by the town from the new trades established by the strangers, but were adamant about excluding them from any other areas of trade or commerce. 67 SP12/103/33; SP12/103/34. 68 SP12/144/18; SP12/144/19. 69 SP12/152/40. The aliens were probably equally unhappy about paying rents much higher than those of their English neighbors, but they had little choice in the matter.

5 CONCLUSION 1 Roy A.Sundstrom, ‘French Huguenots and the Civil List: A Study of Alien Assimilation in England,’ Albion 8:3 (1976):220. 2 Richard D.Lambert, Preface to volume 485 of the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, (1986), p. 9.

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INDEX Abbot, Dr George 33 Abingdon 72 Act of Uniformity (1634) 27 aldermen: medieval aliens as 11; as survey searchers 24–5 allegiance 55 Alva, Duke of 18, 39–40, 61 Anjou, due d’ 19 anti-alien sentiment 2, 28–30, 83; in London 40–4 Antwerp market crash 129 Armada 67 –68 armaments 66–66, 72–72, 79 artisans 2, 5, 8, 11, 23, 32–32, 36, 39, 50, 54–54, 58, 71–75, 79, 83 –84 assimilation 31, 95 asylum 2, 11, 14, 16, 28, 34, 63 attitudes, dichotomies in 28–46, 59, 62 –100 Austin Friars church 32, 56 Bacon, Sir Nicholas 28–28, 34–35, 44 Bardi banking-house 49 Beardwood, Alice 3, 49 Becqu, Antony 78 Bell, Dr, preacher 54 benefits of aliens, economic 28, 33, 41, 46–46, 69, 81, 84 betterment migration 129 Bewfatt, Symonde 13 Boleyn, Anne 55 Bonevalt, Peter 13 book industry 55 Boston 8, 22 Bourre, William 64 Bowes, Sir Jeremy 78 brewing 9, 132 Briet, Pierre 78 Bristol 72 Brotherhood of the Blessed Trinity in Blackfriars 75 Browne, Christian 13 Bucer, Martin 56 bullionism 70 –71

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Burn, J.S. 3 Busiono, Horatio 36 Calais staple (1363) 49, 70 calamine 79 Calvinism 98 Canterbury 23, 25, 27, 42, 43–44, 65 –65 Carré, Jean 78 carriage 71 Carta Mercatoris (1303) 48 Catholicism 11–11, 60–61, 83 –83 Cecil, Sir Robert 31 Cecil, Sir William (later Baron Burghley) 13, 27, 28, 59–59, 62–62, 65, 69, 73–73, 75–76, 78, 79 census information 10, 59 certificates of trade 41 Charles II, of England 84 Charles V, of France 11, 60 Chitty, C.W. 31 church attendance 18–19, 59, 63, 67 Cipolla, Carlo M. 12, 69 citizenship 8, 47, 57 clannishness 35 Clark, Peter 129 class attitude 34 cloth industry 49, 71–72, 74, 76 –77 Cobham, Lord 38, 64 Colchester 9–9, 23, 25, 37, 39, 42–43, 77, 80 –80 Colchester Contribution Book to the Poor (1582–92) 25, 86 –88 Coleman, D.C. 79 competition, economic 5, 29–30, 33, 37–38, 44, 47, 69, 52, 58, 60, 73, 76, 81 concentration of settlement 4, 8, 19, 20–22, 25, 44, 60 Contarini, Piero 36 Cordwainers 54, 75 –76 Cornish, Henry 72 Cranmer, Thomas 56 Crispe, William 64 culture 45 Cunningham, William 3, 39 currency 12, 133 customs 47, 48, 49, 52–52, 70 Daubeny, Elias 57 death rates 16 defense 66 –68 denization 49, 52–52, 55, 57–57, 76, 84 disenfranchisement 133 dispersal of aliens 15, 22, 27, 65, 84 Dollinger, Philippe 3

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Dover 23, 65 Dutch aliens 9, 10, 15, 22, 27, 38–40, 56, 66, 74 Dutch privateers 62 Dutch Revolt (1566) 13, 19 Dutch Sea Beggars 64 –65 Dutch war 66–68, 83 economy: aliens, policy and Elizabethan 95–113; immigration policy 7–8; manipulation 65–7; reason for emigration 1, 17; utilization of immigration for 3–4; see also competition, economic; jealousy, economic; benefits of aliens, economic Edward I, of England 8, 46–47, 56–57, 70, 76 Edward II, of England 48 –48 Edward III, of England 36, 48–49, 57, 70, 71 Edward IV, of England 50–69, 52, 70 Edward V, of England 69 Edward VI, of England 9–9, 11–13, 36, 55, 69, 73 Edwardes, John 129 Elizabeth: accession 2, 77, 114; aliens and 50, 54; aliens and economic policy 95–113; foreign policy 25, 79–85, 87, 92; invitation to aliens 18; policy 82, 88, 93, 101–13 employment of natives by aliens 5, 32, 42–42, 80 Evil May Day riots (1517) 1, 28, 30, 54 exclusion of aliens 69 expulsion of aliens 44–60, 66 ‘fifth columnists’, aliens as 2, 63, 68 financial agents, aliens as 46 Finlay, Roger 10 Flemish aliens 9, 28–29, 36, 42–43, 47, 48–49, 63, 64, 69–71, 74 flysheets, threatening 31–31, 33 forced enclaves 22 foreign ministers as survey searchers 18 –19 foreign policy 2, 5, 19, 58–62, 63, 68 Fortuna, Lawrence 129 France as enemy of England 56–56, 60–61, 65, 83 –83 free trade 8–8, 47 –48 freemen, aliens as 8, 9, 43, 47–48, 50 French aliens 9, 10, 15, 27, 36, 38, 55–56, 60, 66, 68, 69, 74

Strangers settled here amongst us

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Gaveston, Piers de 48 –48 German aliens 9, 10, 78; see also Hanseatic merchants Giustiniano, Vincentio 60 glassmaking 78 –78 Glastonbury 72 –73 Godfrey, E.S. 3 Granvelle, Cardinal 61 Gray, J.G. 3 Great Yarmouth 22 Greengrass, Mark 10 Greneryce, Thomas 25 Greneryce, Winken 25 Gresham, Sir Thomas 79 Grindal, Edmund 59 –59 Gwynn, Robin D. 4, 35 Haberdashers Company 53 Hales, John 72 –73 Hall, E. 54 Halstead 43 –43 Hanseatic merchants 8, 9, 11, 29, 69, 52–53 harassment 33, 41, 43, 44, 60–60, 78, 84 Harwich 23 Hawkins, John 65 Henrick, Gerard 79 Henry II, of France 11, 60 Henry IV, of England 60, 50 Henry VI, of England 50 –50 Henry VII, of England 52–53, 60 Henry VIII, of England 9–9, 11, 129, 44, 53–55, 57–58, 71–72, 75–76, 78 heresy 59 Heringe, Anthony 13 historiographical context of Elizabethan aliens 2 –4 Höchstetter, Daniel 60, 78–78, 79 Holderness, B.A. 3 Holdsworth, W.S. 57 hostility 2–2, 12–12, 31–33, 35–36, 38–38, 43, 44, 47, 54, 55–56, 58, 60–60, 69, 72, 76, 81 hosting aliens 50–50, 71, 74 housing regulations 36 –40 Huguenots 60, 61–61, 65, 100 Hull 8 Hundred Years War 48 immigration: 1558 and after 14–25; pre-Elizabethan era 10–13

Index

136

import/export 69–70, 73 –73 industrialization 136 inflation 12, 72 interaction, alien-native 4, 33, 36, 58, 75, 80; in provinces 51–60 Intercursus Magnus (1496) 53 invitation of aliens 13, 27, 39–40, 54, 65–66, 68, 71, 74–74, 81, 83 Ipswich 23 Isabella, Queen, wife of Edward II 48 Italian aliens 7–9, 10, 29, 47, 52, 69 James I, of England 36, 84 jealousy, economic 7, 11–11, 28, 34, 38, 40, 42–44, 47, 48, 52 –54 Jews, internment of 29 John of Gaunt 29 jury service 50 Kemp, John 72 Kerridge, Erik 77 Kirk, R.E.G. and Kirk, E.E 3 Lambert, Richard D. 85 language 11, 18, 35 Lasco, John à 56 –56 Laslett, Peter 10 Laud, Archbishop 27 Layer, Thomas 25 leatherwork 75 –136 legislation 5 Leo of Rozmital, baron 36 letters patent: denization 78; settlement 30, 48–9, 52–3, 56, 102 liberties 20, 22, 36, 48–48, 55, 58, 75 –76 Lipson, Ephraim 69 Lloyd, T.H. 2, 53 loans 68 local authorities 38, 50–50, 74 London: aliens in 68–74, 76–7, 89, 91, 98–9, 111; anti-alien sentiment 40–4; as centre of immigration 3, 6, 11, 13, 21, 24, 30, 34, 96; glassmaking 108; hostility 38, 45, 50, 52, 104–6; number of aliens 115; privileges 62–6; status of artisans 79; surveys 80, 86–7, 92;

Strangers settled here amongst us

137

xenophobia 9 Louis-Philippe, of France 1 Low Countries: aliens 14, 19, 34, 52–3, 82, 91, 93; trade 82–4, 88 Lowver, Hans 79 loyalty 50 Lynn 8, 23 MacCaffrey, Wallace 18, 60 McKisack, May 72 Magna Carta, alien policy in 7, 46 Maidstone 23, 27, 42, 64, 74, 77 manufacturing 37, 66, 70 Martin, Geoffrey 43 Martyr, Peter 56 Mary, Queen of Scots 11, 18, 36, 41, 56–56, 61–62, 72 Mathewe, Frauncis 13 mediation 59 medieval immigration 7 Medkerke, Captain 68 mercantilism 115 Mercers Company 53 Merchant Adventurers 52 merchants 8–9, 11, 31, 36, 46–54, 58, 61, 69–71, 73, 83 –83 Merchants of the Staple Company 70 metals, precious 9 methodology 4 –5 Midsummer Rising (1570) 30, 40 Mineral and Battery Works 79 mining 59, 70, 78 –80 Mortimer, Roger 48 municipal charges 5, 81 Nantes, Edict of (1598) 60, 84 naturalization 57, 76 needlemaking 137 Netherlands 62 New Custom (1303) 47 –48 New Draperies 42, 43, 73, 77–77, 81 New Ordinances (1311) 48 Nonsuch, Treaty of 64, 67 Norfolk, Duke of 39, 40 Northern Rebellion (1569) 18, 30, 41 Northumberland, Duke of 12, 30, 74 Norwich 8, 9–9, 23, 25–25, 37–37, 39–42, 64, 66, 72, 74, 77, 80 –80 Norwich Book of Orders for Dutch and Walloon Strangers (1564–1643) 41–42, 63, 89 –92 Norwood, Frederick A. 3, 11, 34

Index

138

Notting Hill riots 29 Oakley, Anne M. 25, 44 occupational patterns 1 Ochino, Bernardo 56 Ordinances for London (1285) 47 Page, William 3, 11, 14, 31 Palliser, D.M. 9 Parker, Geoffrey 23 Parker, Thomas 40 patents 66, 74, 78 –79 Peasants Revolt (1381) 29, 49, 58, 59 perceptions of immigration 1–2, 4, 7, 27 Perlin, Etienne 36 permission to stay 41 Peruzzi banking-house 49 Peterson, Lambert 129 petitions 39, 43, 78 Pettegree, Andrew 4–4, 9–9, 20, 22, 31 pewter craft 55 Philip II, of Spain 13, 19, 56–56, 61–61, 63–64, 73, 84 plague 63 –63 Plasterers Company 31 policy: development of proactive 89–94; effect on immigration in Elizabethan era 6; Elizabethan 79–85, 114–17; patterns and reactions 61–77; pre-Elizabethan era 2, 9–10 poll tax 50, 55 poor relief 5, 25, 80 –80 population: London immigrants 12–14; numbers of aliens 2, 4, 6, 9–10, 18–19, 21, 23, 29, 34, 70, 75, 79–80, 86, 89, 92, 102, 111, 115; perceptions of numbers 23, 41–2, 60 ports, alien control in 63 –65 Postan, M.M. 72 Poullain, Valérand 55 poverty 39–39, 72 preconceptions and ambiguities 35 –45 privileges 46–48, 53–53, 57–58, 70, 72, 77 Privy Council 2, 12, 18–18, 23, 32–33, 38, 40, 43–44, 60, 63, 65, 66, 72, 76, 78 –78 protection 22, 28, 38, 45, 60, 47–48, 51, 53, 55–55, 57, 66, 70, 79, 82, 84 –84 Protestantism 11, 129, 55–55–55, 60–61, 83 –83 public office holders 56 Pynardo, Leonarde 13

Strangers settled here amongst us

139

Ralegh, Sir Walter 31 Reformation 11–129, 55, 61 refugees, Britain and 1–1, 28 refugees, religious 5, 11, 129–16, 34–34, 38–38, 55–60–55, 59–60, 62–63, 65, 69, 74–74, 77, 83 regulation of aliens 2, 33, 36, 41, 42, 46, 50, 52, 54, 55, 59, 63, 65, 68, 74–75, 83 –84 religion: independence 7, 45, 57–8, 75–6, 86, 93; medieval immigration 11; as protection 29; as reason 17 relocation 129, 65 –65 residence: restriction 65, 67–8, 70, 85–6, 98, 103–4; settlements 2, 6 resource, aliens as 67–68, 81 restriction of aliens 5–7, 11, 28, 31, 36–37, 43, 48–50, 52, 54–55, 56, 57–58, 69, 71, 74 –76 retail trade 31, 36–38, 43, 49–50, 71, 74 return migration 15 revenues 47, 48, 51–52, 70 Rich, E.E. 10 Richard II, of England 29, 49 –50 Richard III, of England 69 –52 Ridolfi Plot (1571) 18, 41, 63 Robert, Earl of Leicester 79, 81 Roker, L.F. 35, 37 role of aliens 5–7, 41, 65, 68, 69–69, 71–74, 84 –84 Rowse, A.L. 43 Rye 23, 38, 65 Sage, Gyllymes 13 St Anthony’s Hospital, Threadneedle Street 56 St Bartholomew Day Massacre (1572) 65 saltpeter 66, 79 sanctuary, Britain as 1, 2, 28, 34, 60, 81, 84 Sandwich 9, 23, 25, 37–38, 42, 44, 64–65, 74, 77, 81 Sarmoys, James 13 scapegoats, aliens as 43 Schaschek, chronicler 36 Schofield, R.S. 10 Schütz, Christopher 79 Scotland 61 –61 Scouladi, Irene 10 security, national 2, 30, 35, 38, 60–46, 62–63, 65, 68, 83 –83 servants, aliens as 8 –9 settlement: charters 48–9; grants 30, 52–3, 89, 102; independent 64

Index

140

settlement patterns 11; in London 25–9; in provinces 29–35 Shampoyse, Thomas de 129 Shero, Michael 13 silk industry 69, 53–54, 77 Slack, Paul 129 Smith, Sir Thomas 73 social disorder 59, 70 Society of Miners Royal 79 Solzhenitsyn, Alexander 1 Somerset, Edward Seymour, first Duke of 55, 72 –73 Sotherton, Nicholas 25 Southampton 9, 23 Spain, relationship with England 56, 60, 61, 65–65, 66, 68, 83 –83 Spanish aliens 68 Spinola, Benedetto 79 Stamford 27 status of aliens 5, 46–47, 50, 52, 53, 56 –58 statutes: alien status 75–9; apprenticeship 109; artisans 104; policy 62, 69–74; restriction 98–9; trade 48, 97 steel 80 Steelyard 11, 53, 70 stereotyping 140 Stoultz, Leonarde 78 subsidies 9–9, 49, 54–54–55, 59–59, 66–68, 80 subsistance migration 129 support: for Crown 9, 66–71, 78, 99, 103; for immigrants 50 surveys of immigration 129–13, 14–19, 34, 41, 59, 63–63, 67, 69, 84 taxation 19, 47, 108 technological skill of aliens 2, 5, 8, 10, 13, 54, 65–66, 68–69, 71, 77–78, 80, 81 –83 Tetzel, chronicler 36 textile industry 9, 11, 49, 72–72, 74, 77 –77 Thames traffic control 64 –64 Thirsk, Joan 27 Thomas a Becket, Saint 44 thread manufacturing 77 Throgmorton, John 41 Thrupp, Sylvia L. 3, 9 Thurland, Thomas 78, 79

Strangers settled here amongst us

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trade 31, 36, 42–42, 46, 48–50, 69, 52–53–71, 72, 73, 80–80; embargo 23, 65, 83 transient immigration 8, 57, 63, 75, 83 travel 48 Trevisan, Andrea 36 unemployment 72–80 vagrancy 72 Verzelini, Jacob 78 violence 11, 29–30, 33, 42, 50, 61, 73, 76, 141 Walloons 44, 64, 66, 72 Walsingham, Sir Francis 43 war: monetary support 66–7, 73–4, 79, 91, 93–4, 99–100, 102; as reason for emigration 16–17; religious-civil 1, 82–3, 95 Wars of the Roses 50 Weald 78 –78 Weavers Company, London 32 welcome of aliens 5, 38, 40, 42, 44–46, 54, 59, 68, 74, 81 Westmorland, Earl of 30 Whalle, Thomas 40 –40 William III (William of Orange), of England 64–65, 84 Williams, Gwyn 8 Winchelsea 23, 65 Winchester 72 Winter, George 65 wiremaking 141 Wither, Dr George 42 Wolley, Sir John 31 woolen industry 11, 49, 69, 57, 72, 77–77, 80 worsted industry 39–41, 77, 80 Wrigley, E.A. 10 Wyatt’s Rebellion 56 xenophobia 2–2, 4–5, 7, 28, 30–30, 35–42, 45–60, 56, 69, 71, 73, 81, 84 –84 Yarrom, Master 25 Yaukey, David 10 York 8, 9, 72