England's Immigrants, 1330-1550: Resident Aliens in the Later Middle Ages

《英格兰移民，1330-1550》通过对中世纪晚期在英格兰安家谋生的数千名外国人的详细分析，展开了关于移民和身份认同的热门辩论。在英格兰移民社区的更广泛的历史上，从1066年诺曼征服到16世纪中叶胡格诺派人的到来，传统上被描述为孤立主义和偏执的时期。但关于1330年至1550年期间英国的移民经历，还有另一种非常不同的故事可以讲述。国家档案馆中极其丰富的材料揭示了数以千计的外国人的身份，他们继续寻找进入英格兰的途径。这些人中的一些人成功了，并成为英国王室的完全入籍臣民。其他人则聚集在大城镇的贫困地区，或在农业经济中从事季节性务工，勉强维持生计。所有迹象表明，公众舆论和官方政策通常都会以自由的宽容态度对待这些居住在英国的外国人，这在前现代欧洲是完全不寻常的。该项目收集的核心数据包括1440年至1550年期间对在英国的外国人征收的一系列税收。收藏家确定的最大群体是苏格兰人(在这一时期是一个独立的国家)、爱尔兰人(虽然他们是英格兰王室的臣民，但最初出于税收目的被视为外国人)、荷兰人(这个标签表示一系列说日耳曼语的北欧人)和法国人(有时按地区区分，如毕加德人、诺曼人、布列塔尼人、加斯康斯人等)。还有相当数量的意大利人、伊比利亚人和斯堪的纳维亚人。对最全面的1440年税务账目的初步调查表明，英国至少有2万名登记在册的外国人。这使得外星人在伦敦250万总人口中的比例接近1%，在伦敦的比例高达6%。这些数字与1901年英国人口普查中仍在报告的移民水平相当。更值得注意的是，税务记录揭示了这些移民生活经历的大量细节。移民将自己确立为户主和/或佣人、工匠和劳工，其中包括相当数量的单身和已婚妇女。他们以惊人的方式散布在整个国家：事实上，与公认的观点相反，中世纪晚期英国农村社会中相当大一部分人肯定与外国人有过直接的人际接触。其他证据也揭示了一小群但可辨认的非白人(至少最初是非基督徒)，他们主要来自伊比利亚、北非和东地中海地区。英国1330至1550年间移民的完整数据库将为研究人员提供大量机会。当地历史学家将能够记录中世纪他们社区的多样性。家族史学家将发现大量证据，证明现代英国姓氏源自外国。政治历史学家将重新评估政府试图监管移民的机制。经济和社会历史学家将调查外国人在农业、制造业和商业经济中的作用。文化历史学家将拥有强大的数据体系，以此为基础，就外国人的融合及其对国籍、种族和宗教观念演变的贡献展开新的辩论。通过这些和许多其他方式，《英格兰移民，1330-1550》旨在为更长期的移民历史做出重大贡献，并为当代关于民族自由流动、多元文化主义和民族认同的重要辩论提供深刻的历史背景。

'England's Immigrants, 1330-1550' engages with topical debates about immigration and identity by undertaking a detailed analysis of the thousands of foreigners who made their homes and livelihoods in England in the later Middle Ages. In the broader history of England's immigrant communities, the period between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the coming of the Huguenots in the mid-sixteenth century is traditionally characterised as one of isolationism and bigotry. But there is another and very different kind of story to be told of the immigrant experience in England between 1330 and 1550. An extraordinarily rich body of material in the National Archives reveals the identities of thousands of foreigners who continued to find their way into England. Some of these people prospered, and became fully naturalised subjects of the English crown. Others clustered in the poor areas of larger towns or scratched a living as migrant, seasonal workers in the agricultural economy. There is every indication that both public opinion and official policy usually treated these resident aliens with a liberal tolerance that was altogether exceptional in pre-modern Europe.The core data collected by the project comprises a series of taxes levied on aliens in England between 1440 and 1550. The largest groupings identified by the collectors were the Scots (who were an independent nation in this period), the Irish (who, although subjects of the English crown, were at first treated as aliens for tax purposes), the 'Dutch' (a label that denoted a range of northern Europeans who spoke Germanic languages) and the French (sometimes differentiated by regions as Picards, Normans, Bretons, Gascons, etc). There were also significant numbers of Italians, Iberians and Scandinavians. Preliminary investigations of the most comprehensive set of tax accounts, that for 1440, suggests that there were at least 20,000 registered aliens in England. This brings the alien presence to nearly 1% of a total population of 2.5 million, and as high as 6% in London. These figures are comparable with levels of immigration still being reported in the 1901 UK census. More remarkably still, the tax records reveal a huge amount of detail about the life experiences of these incomers. Immigrants established themselves as householders and/or servants, artisans and labourers, and included significant numbers of single and married women. They spread out in a remarkable diaspora over the whole of the country: indeed, contrary to received opinion, a remarkably large proportion of late-medieval English rural society must have had direct human contact with foreigners. Other evidence also reveals a small but discernible group of non-whites (and, at least originally, non-Christians), mainly from Iberia, North Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.The full database of immigrants recorded in England between 1330 and 1550 will offer numerous opportunities for researchers. Local historians will be able to document the diversity of their communities in the Middle Ages. Family historians will find a rich body of evidence for the foreign origins of modern English surnames. Political historians will re-evaluate the mechanisms by which government sought to regulate immigration. Economic and social historians will investigate the role of foreigners in the agricultural, manufacturing and commercial economies. And cultural historians will have a powerful body of data on which to base new debates about the integration of foreigners and their contribution to evolving notions of nationality, race and religion.In these and many other ways, 'England's Immigrants, 1330-1550' aims to contribute significantly to the longer-term history of immigration and to provide a deep historical context for important contemporary debates about the free movement of peoples, about multiculturalism, and aboutnational identity.