MIGRATION

1 Migration in the Middle Ages c1000–c1500 1.3 England’s immigrants in the Middle Ages
Source 8 Pointed arches, such as
these in Lincoln Cathedral, were
copied from Islamic architecture.
The idea was probably brought
back by Crusaders.
Source 9 The skeleton of a
thirteenth-century man, discovered
in Ipswich in the early 1900s.
Cultural migration
Just as important as the movement of people to the
British Isles during the Middle Ages was the movement
of science, food, culture and ideas. Some of these came
from India and the Islamic world, which stretched from
Spain to Africa and China at that time.
Islamic influences
The most advanced ideas in science, medicine and
mathematics, as well as in philosophy and astronomy,
came to Britain and the rest of Europe from the Islamic
world. Muslim scholars had translated the work of
Greek scientists and philosophers such as Aristotle.
They had then made their own contributions to this
ancient knowledge. During the Middle Ages, especially from the late eleventh
century, this work was translated from Arabic into Latin. Many English words are
derived from Arabic, including ‘algebra’, ‘alchemy’, ‘zero’, ‘alcohol’, ‘sofa’, ‘arsenal’
and ‘cotton’. During this period, Arabic numerals – discovered by Europeans
in North Africa and derived from those used in India – gradually replaced the
cumbersome Roman numerals.
The movement of ideas from the Islamic world, India and Africa to Europe did not
always happen peacefully. It was partly a consequence of the Crusades: the wars
fought over a period of around 200 years from the late eleventh century. Crusaders
justified their actions on the grounds that, as a result of Muslim conquests,
Christians were denied access to places that were important to their religion.
However, the Crusades can also be seen as an attempt by powerful western nations
to expand their influence overseas. The Crusades brought Christian Europe into
closer contact with Islamic, Asian and African science and culture (see Source 8).
Important educational centres were established in Muslim Spain (Al-Andalus)
but also in those areas re-conquered by Christians, such as Toledo in 1085 and in
the Norman kingdom of Sicily in 1091. English scientists and translators travelled
to these centres to learn the latest ideas. Several medieval scholars translated
works from Arabic and introduced Islamic and Greek thinkers to English readers.
Robert of Chester was one such scholar, who translated the Persian mathematician
al-Khwarizmi’s Algebra. The mathematical term ‘algorithm’ is derived from the
Latinised form of al-Khwarismi’s name.
Muslim texts on mathematics, astronomy, medicine and physics had a major
impact on the European medieval world and then on the RENAISSANCE. Some
were still in use as late as the seventeenth century. They helped create the
conditions for the emergence of modern science.
New types of food, music and musical instruments, as well as games such as chess,
were also introduced to Europe from the Islamic world. In addition, a wide range
of skills came from the Muslim world, including irrigation, optics, perfumemaking,
pottery-glazing, paper-making, navigation, clock-making, soap-making
and ballistics.
The ‘Orient’ at home
Historians do not know exactly how many people from beyond Europe –
Muslims, secret Jews, Africans and Asians – were living in England in the Middle
Ages. There are clues that suggest their presence, however.
The skeleton in Source 10 was one of 150 skeletons found in Ipswich. In May
2010, forensic anthropologists from Dundee University revealed that this
particular skeleton was that of a thirteenth-century Tunisian Muslim. They knew
this from CARBON DATING, bone analysis, facial reconstruction and historical
Uncorrected proof
Source 10 In Beverly Minster and
St Mary’s Church, York, there are
wooden sculptures of elephants
among the misericords, under the
seats of the choir.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1 Describe how ‘aliens’ could
gain the rights of citizens in
medieval England. (4)
2 Explain why so many
Flemings and Dutch
migrated to England. (8)
3 How much impact did
immigration have on the lives
of people in England in the
Middle Ages? (14)
4 ‘England was a welcoming
place for immigrants in the
Middle Ages.’ How far do you
agree? (24)
KEY QUESTION REVIEW
A How widespread were
England’s immigrants
in the later Middle
Ages?
B How welcome were
they?
C What was their impact
on England?
Using the notes you have
collected, write a paragraph for
each of the Key Questions. Start
each paragraph with a topic
sentence that sums up the point
you want to make. Then support
your point with evidence.
Now write a final paragraph that
answers this question:
‘Immigrants brought far more
benefit than problems to medieval
England.’ Do you agree? Explain
your answer.
detective work. They think he may have been brought back to England after the
Ninth Crusade and had lived here for at least ten years before he died. The fact
that he was buried in the consecrated ground of a friary suggests he may have
converted to Christianity, but he could simply have been nursed by friars at the
end of his life. Several other Africans were buried with him.
Two entries in the aliens register refer to people from ‘Inde’, which could be
anywhere east of the Mediterranean. Did ‘Benedict and Antonia Calamon’ and
‘Jacobus Black’ (a servant in Dartmouth) take on Christian names that would help
them fit into Catholic England, or were they Muslim converts? Edward III had a
Muslim godson and there was a building in London called the House of Converts.
If many people in late medieval England had little direct contact with Africans,
Asians, Muslims or Jews, they certainly knew about them and their worlds. Books
from all over England told stories about Saracens, Muslims, Chinese, Africans,
Jews, Brahmins and Zoroastrians. Shops were full of spices from Arabia, Persia,
India, Sri Lanka, China, Thailand, Moluccas and Indonesia, being sold at prices
that ordinary people could afford. Crusader knights brought back many goods and
ideas from the East. Evidence of the ‘Orient’ can be seen today in the churches of
York, England’s second city (see Source 10).
TOPIC SUMMARY
England’s immigrants in the Middle Ages
1 Someone was defined as an ‘alien’ if they were born outside lands ruled by the
king.
2 Immigrants from all over Europe lived in England in the Middle Ages. They
came for many different reasons. Most came to find work, some were refugees
from war and a few came by force.
3 Immigrants settled all over the country, in cities, towns and small villages.
Although the greatest number were servants, they filled a wide range of
occupations at all levels of society.
4 People who were foreign born could gain the rights of a citizen if they had a
letter of denization from the monarch.
5 The biggest group of migrants came from the Low Countries. They brought a
range of skills to England, from building to beer-making. Flemish craftspeople
brought the skill of weaving woollen cloth and helped create England’s
manufacturing economy.
6 Hanseatic merchants from northern Europe set up a base in London at the
Steelyard. Italian banking families, benefiting from the Church’s relaxed rules
on money-lending, set up business and lent large sums to kings in return for
special privileges. The trading and investment carried out by these foreign
merchants and bankers helped boost England’s economy.
7 In the fifteenth century, under pressure from those opposed to immigration,
Henry VI set up a tax that had to be paid by all foreign-born residents. The
record of those paying tax was the aliens register.
8 Foreigners had a mixed reception. They were often opposed by the guilds,
who pushed some kings to take action against them. At times of great tension,
such as the 1381 Great Rebellion, there were violent attacks on immigrants.
However, migrants with skills such as weaving and beer-making were often
welcomed by the authorities and it appears that most immigrants settled
successfully into their new communities.
9 There is evidence that there may have been some people living in England who
came from outside Europe. It is certain that ideas and goods from Asia and
Africa reached England at this time, due to trade and to the journeys made by
those involved in the Crusades.
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