Migration Flashcards
What was population diversity in England like before 1066?
Feudal system.
For 200 years Viking Danes and Saxons were fighting for rule over England - a lot of tension. England was divided as the North and East was ruled by Danes.
In 1002 Aethelred ordered massacre of all Danes.
In 1016 England was ruled by an all Danish court, Cnut was the King.
In 1042, Edward the Confessor became king and England was under Saxon rule again.
Describe the Feudal System in Medieval England
A King gives land to barons, who give land to knights, who give peasants jobs / a way to make money. The peasants give the knights tax / service, the knights give the barons tax / service, the barons give the king tax / service.
Explain why the Normans invaded England in 1066.
KIng Edward the Confessor had several links with Normandy.
King Edward had lived in Normandy for 25 years and had a Norman mother
When King Edward had died without an heir it seemed reasonable for the Normans to rule England as Edward himself had strong links with Normandy - practically a norman ruler himself.
There was a power struggle between Normans and Anglo-Danish lords during Edward’s reign and after his death.
England was politcally unstable but very rich, which was very appealing for potential rulers.
Edward had very strong links with Normandy but Anglo-Danish nobles like the Godwin family also had very strong connections.
Both William and Harold Godwinson claimed the English throne.
It was clear that the Normans would not be able to rule unless they invaded.
Other reasons:
Population of England was max. 2 million, and around 100,000 people were Normans - a small amount, but big enough to impact culture, language and political institutions.
What was the impact of the Norman conquest?
Economically:
William consolidated the feudal system - clear system of hierarchy.
William introduced the Domesday survey in 1085 to record who owned land, what it was worth and who lived on it.
Normans also took control of the tax and justice systems, although they didn’t change much. They were able to control communities more, as a collective fine was imposed on the whole communitive if a Norman was killed, if the murderer wasn’t found out in 5 days.
Relgion:
William took control of the church, replacing many Anglo-Danish bishops with Norman ones. As religion had great power at the time, taking control of the church was a big political change and allowed Normans to have greater control over England.
Social:
The Normans abolished slavery after the Domesday survery revealed 10% of people were slaves.
They introduced the systems of surnames to show where people were from - this is still significant today as we still use them.
However, for most people daily life did not change much. Most people still had few rights and little to no land of their own. 70% people were serfs (aka peassants), forced to work on the land, and in constant conflict with the local landholders and the law. So, for the peasants, nothing really changed because they still had little to no rights.
Landscape:
The normans introduced a whole new way of building castles, and we can still see its effects today.
How did people resist the Normans during William’s reign?
In 1069, there was an unsuccesful rebellion by some Anglo-Danish nobles, led by the King of Denmark.
There were other rebellions all over the country, and the Silvatici “green men” continued to resist, a famous example is Hereward who based his operations in the fens of the Isle of Ely. Rebellions did not cause much change as they were all unsuccesfful, but rebellions meant people disliked the change of leadership and new policies with it.
The Harrying of the North was a series of military campaigns from 1069-70, aimed to both prevent another Danish invasion and to be a show of militaristic force.
Why were Jewish people invited by William and what jobs did they do?
William encouraged Jewish people to settle in Britain as they were literate and could do accounts when most people couldn’t. Catholics were also not allowed to charge interest on loans, so Jews could be used as money lenders.
How were Jewish people treated by other people in England? How did this change over time?
1095 - The pope called the First Crusade against muslims in Jerusalemn. This led to him naming the Jews and the Muslims as non-believers.
1144 - There was a blood libel, where Jews were blamed for the murder of a boy in Norwich. Despite there being no effidence, the story incited many attacks against Jewish communities.
1233 - Jews started to be expelled from towns, and unprovoked attacks were made against them, even by people in areas who were once friendly.
1263, Palm Sunday 400 jews were murdered and 1264 in London 1000 jews were beaten to death - there were many violent attacks against the Jews.
1265 - The Pope changed interest rules. This meant that italian bankers were allowed to charge interest, so there was no need anymore for Jewish money lenders.
How were Jewish people treated by Kings? How did this change over time?
Henry I: 1100 he issues a Charter of Liberties - thsi meant that Jews could be protected by the king.
Richard I: Richard becomes known as the Crusade king, and because of the crusades there was a lot of religious intolerence created, leading to attacks on the Jews.
1275 Edward I issues the Statue of Jewsy meaning that Jews are not allowed to colled interest. Many Jews became so poor they were forced to ‘clip’ the edges of coins. This led to the coin clipping trials in 1278 - executing many Jews.
1290 Edict of Expulsion issued. Edward I had taxed the Jewish community so heavily and restricted their trading so much, that they became economically helpless, and therefore useless to England, so he issued this edict of Expulsion, ordering all the Jews to leave the country.
Why did people come to England during the Medieval period?
Economic reasons:
Jews from France invited to lend money to kings and bishops.
German merchants and Itlaian bankers were looking to make money.
Kings were trying to change England from an agricultural country to manufacturing - so Edward III provided incentives for experienced weavers to work in the cloth inddustyr.
Due to the Black death in 1348, many people died so there wasn’t a big population and England needed people to farm.
Environmental reasons:
natural distasters like floods in the low countries e.g Netherlands, so poeple without homes would move from North Sea to England.
Political:
Foreign queens would come to marry kgns and they would bring many people with them
Many dutch and Flemish bringing a wide range of crafts, escaping war and poverty
Kings made claims over some European land and had control
What was the influence of Flemish migrants on Medieval england?
Flemish migrants:
they came from low countries, like the Netherlands
many were skilled crafstmen and workers, looking for better wages and a better life in England
Flemish weavers were especially valued
in 1330s, Edward III banned exports on wool in order to boost production in England, flemish weavers were very important for this
They were welcomed by the english because of their valuable skills and towns prospered because of them
Impact - they boosted the economy and created more work for sheep shearers, fullers and tanners
raw materials were not produced as much overseases, there was a shift of production and manufacturing to England
because of the flemish workers, 500 yrs later textile trade became the powerhouse of Britain’s wealth
What was the influence of Merchant migrants on Medieval England?
Edward I granted a Merchant’s charter in 1303, giving certain tax and customs privileges including special protection to the merchants.
They traded between northern European cities around the Baltic and North Sea.
They controlled most of the wool trade.
Impact - first people to make London a world financial centre, and helped England to become a rich manufacturing and trading nation.
What was the influence of lombard bankers on Medieval England?
In 1220s rich banking families from Italy started arriving in England, seeing a chance to get rich from the growing wool trade.
After the pope ruled that Italian bankers could change rules on interest on loans they offered to lend huge sums of money to Henry III who was turning against the Jews in a climate of antisemitism. Some families were given protection and London was a place for the rich to get richer.
For over 100yrs bankers and the crown benefitted, until Edward III’s debt crisis landed some business in bankruptcy.
Impact - Italian bankers boosted economy and words linked to banking come from Italian (like credit, bank and debit)
How were migrants treated by the authority and the population in England during the Medieval period?
Jews - although initially welcomed, they were faced with a lot of antisemitism and violent attacks, leading to their eventual expulsion in 1290 since they were so economically drained that they were deemed useless.
In 1270 Henry III invited skilled Flemish weavers to work in England - they were treated well as they boosted England massively economically, and helped turn England into an industrial power, rather than just agricultural.
1348 - the Black death kills so many people (approx. a 1/3 of the population) that migrants are invited to work in England, because they seriously needed workers.
1354 - Edward III passes a law that meant that if an alien (foreigner) was put on trial, half the jury had to be from the same place as them. This made trials fairer, although this did not always happen.
1370s - Letters of denization became available. These were given to migrants after they had sworn allegiance to the crown, and meant that they were called denizens, so they would be treated the same as people born in England. however, as there was a fee to pay, this mostly benefitted wealthy migrants only.
In 1381 the Peasants’ Revolt took place. It was an uprising against the monarch and taxation. Many foreigners were killed - apparently they were asked to say “bread and cheese”, and if they had an accent they were killed.
1439- Henry VI passed a law called the “hosting law” meaning that a foreign merchant had to live with an English merchant. This law was not very well enforced.
1440 - Parliament introduced a tax that meant any foreign person over the age of 12 had to pay an additional tax. It was seen as unfair because it was additional taxation, but the groups that were exempt were: Welsh men, denizens, women married to Welsh or English men, children of migrants, monks and friars.
What was the impact of cultural migration on England?
Crusades brought closer contact to Islamic, Asian and African worlds.
Most advanced ideas in science, maths, medicine and philosophy came from the Islamic world. Muslim scholars had translated the work from Greek scientists and philosophers as well as adding their own contributions During Mi9ddle Ages this work was translated into Latin - many English words re derived from Arabic e.g. algebra. Arabic numerals replaced Roman numerals.
Because of the crusades, there were many migrants in England found in bones.
What was life like for African Tudors in Tudor England?
African Tudors generally lived normal lives, and the majority of them were accepted. Most African Tudors were in domestic service, like servants in households, shops
There were many skilled workers in the clothe trade, like needle makers, silk weavers, seamstresses, and beer brewers.
Example - John Blanke was an important trumpeter for King Henry VIII, and successfully managed to ask King Henry for better wages, and got them. When he married in 1512, he got a present from the king.
Some Africans may have come as refugees from Spain since slavery had started there, and once Henry divorced Catherine of Aragon, Spain and England became enemies. Relations between England and North Africa were also good, so people may have migrated from there.
