Migrants in Britain c800-Present Content Flashcards
What groups of people migrated in Medieval England/The Middle Ages (800-1500)?
Vikings, Normans, Jews and Skilled workers from Europe.
Why were people enticed by England in the 9th century?
England had rich mineral deposits of lead and iron, copper, tin and silver. Valuable to construct buildings and to make tools, weapons, jewellery, and other objects.
Fertile land, especially in the east and south, meant crops grew well. Sheep produced high-quality wool essential for cloth making.
Trade routes inland and with Europe were well established.
When did England become a Christian country?
England gradually adopted Christianity. By 1066, it was a Christian country.
Who was the first King of all England how long did he reign?
Athelstan who reigned from 925 to 939. Meaning before these years (Vikings only) England’s kingdoms were ruled separately.
What were the important Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of 9th-century England?
Northumbria, Merica, Wessex, Kent and East Anglia.
Who were the Vikings, 700-1100?
People of Scandinavian origin who raided, pirated, traded and settled throughout parts of Europe and beyond who travelled by longboat.
What were Monasteries?
A building, or buildings, where people lived and worshiped, devoting their time and life to god.
Why did the Vikings migrate to England?
To get riches and slaves which they brought back to their home countries.
What did the Vikings do during the 800s?
From the late 700s to c865 Vikings raided England and Scotland, attacking villages and towns and monasteries and abbeys that were close to the coast.
They did this because they wanted the treasure held in monasteries and abbeys; the goods stored in merchants’ warehouses; the ransoms they could demand to return captured people.
What was significant about 865 for the Vikings?
The Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia. The Vikings wanted to settle in England because they knew the fertile soils would provide the land they needed.
What was significant about the Vikings in 866?
The Vikings captured York and used it as a base for defeating the Kingdoms of Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia. Wessex was the final Saxon Kingdom untouched by the Vikings.
What did the Vikings and the King of West Saxons agree on in 878?
Alfred of Wessex, the King of West Saxons and Guthrum, the leader of the Vikings, agreed on the Treaty of Wedmore.
This established that the Viking migrants now controlled a large part of England and ran it using their own laws - this was called the Danelaw.
Who were the Normans?
Originally Vikings who settled in Northern France in AD900 more specifically Normandy.
Why did the Normans migrate to Britain?
They invaded England in 1066. Led by Duke William.
Why did the Normans want to conquer and rule England their way?
They believed Duke William had been promised the English throne by both Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson. However, when Edward died, Harold became King.
They received the support of the pope, who backed the invasion because of what he believed were broken promises.
England’s wealth, fertile soil and trading links made it an attractive place to settle.
What happened at/after the Battle of Hastings, 1066?
William and his Norman army defeated Harold Godwinson’s Saxon army. William was crowned King of England on the 25th December 1066.
Norman nobles and merchants then migrated to England to gain land and to take advantage of the trade routes developed by the Saxons and the Vikings.
Why did Jews migrate to Britain, 1070?
William - the Norman King - needed a great deal of money, mainly to build castles and cathedrals. Christians did not lend money because, under Church rules, they were not allowed to charge interest.
William turned to the Jews in Normandy whom he had previously borrowed money. Jews were allowed to charge interest on loans - this was called usury and was regarded as a sin by the Catholic Church.
A group of Jewish merchants decided to lend William the money. In 1070, invited by William, they arrived in London, and were given ‘special status’ as ‘the property of the king’. Their families soon followed and they established a small community in London.
Why did Skilled workers from Europe migrate to England?
The Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) disrupted work and trade, especially in France. However, England was a stable country where workers with skills could do well.
The Black Death killed 30% to 40% of England’s population from 1348-1351. Due to this plenty of both skilled and unskilled work was available in England as well as the chance to set up new businesses.
Henry III wanted to replace Jewish moneylenders with Christians because anti-Semitic attitudes were becoming common. He invited powerful Italian banking families to England. In the 1220s the Bardi and Riccardi families moved to London to work as bankers under royal protection.
What was life like for the Vikings in Britain?
Vikings settled lives in the Danelaw. They set up their own shops, markets and workshops, and built their own houses. Some grew rich because of trading links developed with Europe.
Relations between the Vikings and the Saxons were generally good. However, for settled Vikings (known as Danes) living near the boundary of the Danelaw, fighting the Saxons was an everyday experience.
Relations became worse after the Danelaw was brought under Saxon control 937. The Danes began raiding again and Viking settlers were sometimes attacked by Saxons.
Eventually, in 1016, Cnut became the first Danish king of England. Relations improved, at least partly because Cnut set up new earldoms, giving a few Saxon nobles very large areas of land.
What was life like for the Normans in Britain?
Most Normans regularly experienced hostility and resentment from the Saxons. This was due partly to the cruelty with which the Norman army crushed rebellions in the West Country, East Anglia and the north of England. Another reason was that the Saxons were forced to build castles for the Normans, sometimes having to destroy large areas of towns.
The feudal system ensured that the Normans as barons, bishops and knights, held positions of authority over the Saxons.
Land in England was now totally owned by the Norman king. He kept some for himself, some to the Church, and then shared most of the rest with loyal Norman nobles. They used the land for growing crops and benefiting animals.
What was life like for Jews in Britain, post 1070?
They were kept safe by monarchs who they lent money to. Allowing them to shelter in castles during dangerous times.
Were well-respected in local communities for many years because of the financial support they gave to small businesses.
Increasingly experienced anti-Semitism as people began to resent paying interest on loans. Interest rates were high to cover the taxes Jews had to pay.
In 1275 King Edward I introduced the Statute of Jewry made Jews wear a yellow armband. It also meant Jews were forbidden from charging interest on loans. Many Jews became desperately poor.
In 1290 Jews were expelled from England entirely by King Edward I.
What was life like for skilled migrants from Europe?
Flemish weavers had specialised skills that English weavers didn’t have. They were welcomed because they taught their skills to the English weavers and helped the cloth trade to flourish and employment to increase.
Hansa merchants from Germany were given the right to trade in England by Edward I. They set up the Steelyard in London, from which they directed and controlled trade with the Hanseatic League and other parts of Europe. By the mid-1400s, German merchants controlled most of the English cloth industry.
Lombardy bankers - from 1220 there were powerful Italian banking families working in London. They did well, especially after the expulsion of Jewish people in 1290 and even after Edward III stopped repaying their loans.
What was problem the Hansa merchants faced in, 1381?
In difficult times, the English people turned on migrants. The Peasants’ Revolt in 1381, about 150 migrants were murdered and the Hansa Steelyard was burned down. Craft guilds regularly complained that ‘foreigners’ were taking work from them/
What Impact did the Vikings have on government?
They introduced Danelaw which introduced Things, where members voted on laws. Things were also law courts and members agreed on a punishment for those they found guilty.
What impacts did the Normans have on the government?
Normans developed the Saxon system of a government into an established parliament with lords and commons.
They created Forest Laws where the king controlled who could hunt.
The Normans also introduced the ‘murdrum’ which was a fine paid by Saxons if a Norman was murdered and the culprit wasn’t found.
In 1370: Letters of denization gave individual migrants the same rights as English people. In 1440: Parliament levied a tax on ‘aliens’, defined legally as first-generation migrants.
What impact did the Normans have on the Church?
The Normans built thousands of churches, cathedrals and monasteries.
The number of monks and nuns increased 400% between 1066 and 1500.
Saxon bishops and archbishops were removed and replaced by Normans.
What impact did Vikings have on the built environment?
Viking raids led Saxons to develop burhs (burgs) - fortified towns.
What impact did Normans have on the built environment?
Normans built castles and cathedrals from stone and replaced wooden churches with stone ones.
What impact did skilled Europeans have on the built environment?
Towns, mainly East Anglia, grew and developed because the Flemish weavers settled there.
Ports grew, especially London and Kings Lynn, building wharves and warehouses because of the Hansa merchants (traders from Germany)
What impact did the Vikings have on culture?
Vikings brought over their own religion the Norse paganism that mixed with the Anglo-Saxon’s Christianity.
How did the Weavers impact trade in Britain?
England’s economy changed from being based on raw materials to one based on manufactured.
Merchants traded goods in Europe, particularly with Hansa merchants. They grew rich and invested their money in banks and began to turn England into a key trading centre.
Lombardy bankers in turn loaned money to finance trade and to help pay for buildings such as castles, warehouses and banks. They also lent money to monarchs for military campaigns. They began to turn London into a financial hub.
Why did the Vikings make a settlement at York, 866? (Case Study)
It was the centre of Anglo-Saxon government in the north and had the only mint in northern England.
It was surrounded by fertile land and it had good trade routes inland and overseas.
Viking raiders often targeted York because of its wealth.
What impact did the Vikings have on York?
York grew under the Vikings. The Anglo-Saxon population was about 1,000. 10,000-15,000 migrated to York under the Vikings. It became multicultural.
Hundreds of houses and workshops were built.
Skilled migrants worked on many different areas and trade flourished.
What impact did the Vikings have on the Church in York?
The Vikings kept the stone Saxon church in York, later called York Minister; other churches were built in Viking settlements outside York.
Many Viking kings converted to Christianity and King Guthrum was buried in York Minister.
How were relations between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons like?
Saxons and Vikings generally lived peacefully although the Saxons tried to push Vikings out of York initially in 867.
It was different for their rulers, however, and fighting was common.
What groups of people migrated during Early modern England, 1500-1700?
Huguenots, Jews, ‘Gypsies’, Indians and Africans. Palatines as well who fall under both 1500-1700 and 1700-1900 despite migrating in 1709.
What were the changes in religion from 1500-1700?
At the start of the 1500s, England was a Catholic country. It switched from Catholic/Protestant numerous times causing a lot of religious division.
Why did Huguenots migrate to Britain, 1500-1700?
They were Protestants who left France twice because they were persecuted by Catholic authorities. (1550-1572 and 1670-1710)
One example was the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre 1572 where there was a targeted group of assassinations and wave of violence by the Catholic mob against Huguenots.
In 1685 King Louis XVI banned protestantism. 50,000 Huguenots arrived between 1670-1710, because King Charles offered them ‘denizen’ status.
Many were skilled craftworkers. They wanted to set up businesses and trade, and many settled in areas where relatives had already become successful.
Why did Jews migrate to Britain, 1500-1700?
Some Jews remained in England even after their expulsion in 1290. Outwardly, they converted to Christianity but privately followed their faith.
By the 1650s, Jews were facing increasing anti-Semitism and persecution in Europe.
In 1655 Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel came to England to ask Jews to be allowed back.
Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Republic said Jews could return if they wanted to.
From March 1656 Jewish people started to migrate to England. They were allowed to follow their own religion privately and then later he allowed them to practice their faith freely.
Why did Oliver Cromwell let the Jews back into England, 1656?
He saw it as a major economic and trade benefit to England. Jews were well-established as international traders, and Cromwell believed they could contribute to the nation’s commercial expansion.
Cromwell was a Puritan had a certain level of sympathy and liked the idea of religious freedom.
Why did the Palatines migrate to England, 1709?
Palatines were Protestants region of Germany. They began to migrate to England for 2 main reasons:
The Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act, 1709. This act said that Protestants who swore an oath of loyalty to the monarch could have full civil rights in England.
There had been a series of bad harvests and wars in Germany. The Palatines were mostly poor farmers and were badly affected.
From May-June 1709, 12,000 Palatines and other German Protestants migrated to London. Many of them lived in a huge refugee camp in Blackheath.
Why did Gypsies migrate to Britain, 1500-1700?
Romani (Gypsies) were nomadic people who travelled throughout England and Europe.
English governments regarded them as vagrants and beggars and passed laws to make them stay in one place.
Most Romani ignored the laws because their lifestyle made it hard for them to comply. Hundreds were hanged as a punishment.
Why did Africans migrate to Britain, 1500-1700?
Some Africans came to England as refugees after the Spanish forced black Muslims out of Spain in 1568.
Black people did a variety of jobs, receiving the same pay as white people.
Reasons for migration varied as some slaves bought their freedom, then came to England and resettled there (Oloudah Equiano 1745-1797)
How was the experience of Huguenots in Britain, 1500-1700?
Most had a range of skills and so found work easily and prospered.
Some worked with friends or relatives who were already established.
Many set up their own businesses. Some were desperately poor, and some took to petty crime.
Occasionally there were riots, for example, 1517 May Day riots in London, by people who resented foreigners’ privileges.
Practicing Hugenots were seen as respectable of the similarities with English Protestantism.
What were the Evil May Day Riots, 1 May 1517?
A series of serious anti-foreigner riots. These riots were stirred up by preachers, especially a Dr Bell who described foreigners, including the Hansa, as aliens.
As a result poorer immigrants suffered violent attacks for around 5 hours.
Eventually, with the rise of English and Dutch merchants, the Crown no longer needed the Hansa merchants, and in 1597 they were expelled and the Steelyard was closed down by Queen Elizabeth I.
How was the experience of Palatines in Britain, 1500-1700/1700-1900?
Most had very few skills; a few found labouring work.
Most relied on charities as they had no friends or relatives in England.
The government was no longer willing to fund emigration to America.
The government deported thousands to Ireland to work on the land - but this only worked where landowners, for example in Wexford, were supportive. About two-thirds of those deported drifted back to England. Many sailed to America but few survived.
How was the experience of Jews in Britain, 1500-1700?
The first Jews to return to England after their expulsion in 1290 settled in London. Here, the authorities gave them permission to open a synagogue.
They worked mainly as bankers, doctors, scholars and jewellers.
Poorer Jews began to migrate from Eastern Europe and settled in their arrival ports, working as dockers, traders and pawnbrokers. Gradually, Jews settled in most towns and cities in England.
Poor Jews were looked after by their own communities.
How was the experience of Indians in Britain, 1500-1700?
Ayahs’ experiences depended very much on their employers. Ayahs lived with the English families who they had worked for in India. When the children grew up, ayahs were either passed on to other wealthy English families to look after their children, or they were abandoned.
Lascars settled in the ports of London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Cardiff. They worked on the docks, in warehouses and pubs. For many this meant a life of hard labour.
How was the experience for Africans in Britain, 1500-1700?
Some black Africans who had been enslaved overseas were brought back to England as servants.
Africans often worked as servants to the wealthy. It was fashionable for rich English people to have a black servant, especially a child.
Africans were also employed in a variety of skilled jobs, for example, as interpreters, and were paid the same wages as others. They were respected and equal members of society. Some black African migrants became quite wealthy.
How was the experience for ‘Gypsies’ in Britain, 1500-1700?
Gypsies were treated very badly in Early Modern England.
In 1530, King Henry VIII ordered that all Gypsies should be expelled from England. In 1554 Queen Mary I made it a crime to be an immigrant Romanichal Gypsy, punishable by death.
In 1577 people in Aylesbury were hanged for mixing with Gypsies. In 1592 five Gypsies were hanged in Durham. In 1596 nine people in York were executed for being Gypsies.
In the 1650s forced migration began of Gypsies into slavery in North America and the Caribbean.
What impact did migrants have on Britain’s finance, 1500-1700?
Jewish traders working in England’s ports helped the growth of Britain’s maritime empire. Jewish financiers invested in businesses, enabling economic growth and helping turn London into a major financial centre.
The first governor of the Bank of England (founded 1694) was a Huguenot, as was 7 of the 25 directors. They created the ‘National Debt’ that meant governments could borrow large amounts of money for various enterprises.
What impact did migrants have on Britain’s manufacturing industries, 1500-1700?
Huguenots invested in the Sheffield steel industry and started the English paper industry.
What impact did migrants have on the cloth trade and fashion industry, 1500-1700?
The cloth trade was boosted by skilled Huguenot silk weavers. Between 1650 and 1700 cloth exports were 20 times greater than between 1600 and 1650.
Silks and new fabrics, such as velvet and taffeta, were in demand by rich women and dress designers.
What impact did the Dutch have on Agriculture, 1500-1700?
Dutch engineers and labourers worked for 20 years digging ditches, straightening rivers and building pumps and windmills in order to drain the fens.
By 1642, about 40,000 acres had been turned into fertile farmland.
New jobs in agriculture were created and landowners became rich. However, many people lost their jobs as the fens was drained.
