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

《英格兰的移民，1330-1550》通过对中世纪后期在英格兰定居和谋生的数千名外国人进行详细分析，参与了有关移民和身份认同的热门辩论。在英格兰移民社区更广泛的历史中，从1066年诺曼征服到16世纪中叶胡格诺派到来之间的这段时期，传统上被描述为一个孤立主义和偏执的时期。但关于1330年到1550年间英格兰的移民经历还有另一种非常不同的故事。英国国家档案馆的一份极其丰富的资料揭示了数千名继续设法进入英国的外国人的身份。其中一些人富裕起来，并完全归化为英国王室的臣民。其他人则聚集在较大城镇的贫困地区，或者在农业经济中作为流动工人和季节工谋生。种种迹象表明，公众舆论和官方政策通常以一种自由宽容的态度对待这些外来居民，这在前现代的欧洲是完全不同寻常的。该项目收集的核心数据包括1440年至1550年间英国对外国人征收的一系列税收。收藏家鉴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（虽然是英国王室的臣民，但最初在税收方面被视为外国人），荷兰人（一个标签，表示一系列讲日耳曼语言的北欧人）和法国人（有时按地区区分为皮卡德人，诺曼人，布列塔尼人，加斯科人等）。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1440年最全面的税务账目进行的初步调查显示，在英格兰至少有2万名登记在案的外国人。这使得外来人口占总人口250万的近1%，在伦敦则高达6%。这些数字与1901年英国人口普查中报告的移民水平相当。更引人注目的是，税务记录揭示了这些移民生活经历的大量细节。移民将自己定位为户主和（或）仆人、工匠和劳动者，其中包括相当数量的单身和已婚妇女。他们以惊人的流散分布在整个国家：事实上，与一般的看法相反，中世纪晚期的英国农村社会中一定有相当大一部分人与外国人有直接的人际接触。其他证据也表明，有一小群非白人（至少最初是非基督徒），主要来自伊比利亚半岛、北非和地中海东部。1330年至1550年间英格兰移民记录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。家族历史学家将会发现大量现代英国姓氏源自国外的证据。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，为有关外国人融入以及他们对不断演变的国籍、种族和宗教观念的贡献的新辩论提供依据。在这些和许多其他方面，《英格兰移民，1330-1550》旨在为移民的长期历史做出重大贡献，并为有关人民自由流动、多元文化主义和民族认同的重要当代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.