Migration

• Vikings


  Scandinavian people who raided and settled in parts of Europe, including England, from the 8th to the 11th centuries
• Reasons for Viking migration to England

  • Economic: Wealth of England through raiding monasteries and trading towns
  • Land in eastern England was rich and fertile
  • Political: England lacked unity, divided into seven kingdoms
• Viking conquest of England

  1. 865: Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia

  2. 866: Captured York

  3. By 878: Controlled East Anglia, Mercia and Northumbria

  4. Defeated at Battle of Edington in 878, leading to Danelaw
• Saxons and Danes fought again in 937


  Danes driven out 959-975, but returned as invaders
• King Ethelred ordered the massacre of all Danes in England on St Brice's Day 13 November 1002
• Danes defeated the Saxons in 1016 and Cnut became the Danish ruler of all England
• Impact of Viking migration on England

  • Political: Settled in North and East, uniting several kingdoms under the Danelaw; New legal system introduced, more relaxed than Anglo-Saxons; Toleration of Christianity
  • Economic: York became major trading centre; Vikings used trade routes to bring in goods; Skilled craftworkers developed
  • Social/Cultural: Huge impact on language in the Danelaw area; Days of the week named after Norse gods
• Impact of Norman migration on England

  • Political: William claimed all land, rewarded supporters with right to use it; Feudal system introduced; Christian Church grew in importance
  • Economic: Doomsday Book recorded landholding and wealth; Craft guilds introduced; Wool became most important export
  • Cultural: French became hugely important language; Surnames like 'Fitz' introduced
  • Social/Built Environment: Castles built throughout England; Villages wiped out during Harrying of the North
• Jews in medieval England

  Invited by William I to provide capital for building stone castles; Faced growing persecution over 200 years due to resentment over interest-bearing loans and failure to integrate
• Experience of Jews in medieval England

  Initially thrived, providing capital and services; Faced pogroms, taxes, and restrictions like wearing badges; Banned from England in 1290, not allowed to return for 400 years
• Migrants from the Low Countries


  • Flemish weavers invited in 1331 to improve cloth trade; Shared skills like brickmaking and brewing; Given royal protection and rights like half-alien juries
  • Faced hostility from craft guilds and persecution during wars
• Cloth trade became world famous, England moved from primary materials to manufacturing economy
• Lombardy bankers loaned huge sums to Edward I, enabling control of Wales and funding the 100 Years War
• London became an international centre of trade due to Hanseatic merchants
• Although migrants had significant cultural impact, especially Vikings and Normans


  The economic impact was more significant, transforming England from a primary materials economy to a manufacturing one
• The Vikings transformed the economy of York and the Danelaw turning it into trading hub making use of the trading contacts they had previously established. New materials such as amber and walrus ivory were used in new industries.
• The Norman impact was also very significant. The Doomsday Book was the first accurate record of landholding in England and would become a model for tax collection for future monarchs.
• Jewish migrants provided the capital to expand businesses at a time when money lending for a Christian was a sin.
• Flemish weavers transformed the cloth trade and Hanseatic merchants helped to turn England into a trading centre.
• These migrants were to transform England from an economy based on primary materials to one based on manufacturing. This was an enormous transformation and England and London especially would remain a financial centre for hundreds of years to come.
• The Viking system of things would later be the model for trail by jury and early democracy. The feudal system introduced by William would remain in place for most of the middle ages. The Catholic Church whose power deepened with Norman Rule would remain powerful until Henry VIII.
• The political impact of both Jews and low countries was more limited
• The biggest impact on migration was economic. All the migrant groups had an economic impact where as in other areas there were fewer groups. Also the economic impact would help transform England from a relatively backward nation to a European trading power.
• The Reformation had led to a split in the Christian Church across Europe. In particular Protestantism grew in the northern Europe including some German states and the Low Countries in addition to England and parts of Northern France. However,both France and Spain remained Catholic nations.
• Huguenots


  French protestants who saw England, a protestant nation as a place of safety
• The first Huguenots arrived in 1550. More arrived after the St Bartholomew's day Massacre – 10,000 were killed in France
• 50,000 Huguenots arrived between 1670 -1710 after Louis XIV banned Protestantism and forced conversions. In 1689 William III's Declaration invited Huguenots to England offering protection. He wanted to both strengthen the protestant population in England and make use of their skills to develop the economy to fund a war against Louis XIV
• Huguenots


  • Initially welcomed, Edward VI issued a charter in 1550 allowing them to set up a French Protestant Church, Charles II offered them denizen status, William III's Declaration in 1689 welcomed Huguenot refugees and led to a committee raising 3.5m in today's money to help them
• Around half of the Huguenot refugees settled in London in Soho and Spitalfields. Spitalfields offered more freedom from London guilds as many were skilled silk weavers.
• Churches collected money for poorer Huguenot refugees
• Some Huguenot migrants were desperately poor an took to petty crime
• Because of anti catholic sentiment in general Huguenots were welcomed. There was some trouble around 1700 but their willingness to share skills – shot silk- meant they were welcomed
• Their own churches allowed Huguenots to keep their own identity
• The Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act of 1709 allowed Protestants to live in England with full civil rights providing they swore loyalty to the crown. It was intended to attract wealth European entrpreneurs and craftspeople from France and Holland.
• A refugee camp developed on te outskirts of London of mainly poor farmers and families from a part of Germany called the Palatinate. Between May and June 1709, 12,000 migrated to England
• Initially Londoners wee sympathetic and raised £20,000 to help the Palatine migrants
• Around 3000 Palatine migrants were deported to Ireland in Sept 1709. The government assumed they would be able to farmland there, but the land was poor, and they often were unable to feed their families
• Two Thirds of the Palatine migrants drifted back to England
• 3,000 Palatine migrants set sail for New York. Many died en route, or of typhoid on arrival or by immigrant hating mobs. Those that survived have descendants still living in the Hudson Valley
• Oliver Cromwell allowed the return of Jews to England, ignoring the Royal Prerogative declaration by Edward III expelling Jews claiming it had no legal force. This meant he did not need to consult parliament who would likely have opposed Jews returning.