Immigrants in Tudor and Early Stuart England - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190390014X ISBN 13: 9781903900147

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2005

Synopsis

It is now over 100 years since Cunningham wrote Alien Immigrants to England, which focused heavily upon the impact of immigration in later 16th and early 17th century England. It has yet to be supplanted by a comprehensive, up-to-date survey. Although much research has been completed on the subject, particularly during the past three decades, relatively little of this has appeared in mainstream history journals, while more general surveys have tended to concentrate upon the second wave of migration that followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. This book is a major reassessment of the size, nature, status, impact (economic, social, cultural), and international connections of Dutch and French immigrants in Tudor and early-Stuart England, written by a team of internationally recognized scholars. The volume comprises three sections. Part One examines aspects of immigrant communities in England, including their origins, legal status, the situation within the labor market and government policy towards immigrants. Part Two focuses upon their impact, particularly in economic and cultural terms, but also with regard to their reception by, and assimilation within, the host communities. Part Three discusses aspects of the continuing relationship between immigrants and the wider international community.

About this title

About the Author:

Nigel Goose is a leading scholar in the fields of early modern English urban history and historical demography, and has published extensively on these topics over the past 20 years. He is currently Professor of Social & Economic History and Director of the Centre for Regional and Local History at the University of Hertfordshire. Lien Bich Luu is a specialist in the history of immigration to England in the early modern period. She has written extensively for academic journals. She is lecturer in history at the University of Hertfordshire.

Review:

“Immigrants fleeing persecution pose urgent problems for policy-makers all over the world these days, so a book describing past experiences of the same kind is a golden gift, offering much food for thought. One substantial volume on this theme was published by the Huguenot Society in 2001 (Sussex Academic Press, ed. Randolph Vigne and Charles Littleton). Now appears another volume, confined to England and the age of the Tudors and Stuarts. Twelve essays by eight scholars broaden the scene further with fresh evidence, prompting fresh reflections. This one underlines, in particular, how much new information is brought to light by exploring documents held in archives in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. ... This wide-ranging volume overflows with ideas for further research. Its relevance is forcefully underlined by a recent headline in The Times (December 18, 2005), heralding a ‘new Baltic state of East Anglia’; many migrants are arriving even now from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to work in eastern England. We have been over this ground before.”  —English Historical Review

“As Goose suggests, in a fine introductory chapter, the importance of this ‘first refuge’ has political-religious significance as part of the Reformation and the battles between England and Spain that accompanied it in the latter half of the sixteenth-century. This perspective brings the subject of immigration into debates about the popularity of reformed faith explored through responses to the stranger churches and the importance of anti-popery and the Catholic threat from within and without. ... The great strength of this collection lies in its quantitative rigour and the excellent detail of specific communities. Presented in a style that eschews sociological jargon, this is a work of great appeal to social and economic historians and is effective in restoring the importance of the ‘first refuge’.”  —Economic History Review

“Embodies the results of recent research and opens up some new lines of inquiry... Goose gives an admirably thorough, authoritative, and balanced account of the important contribution made by these aliens to English economic developments in the period. This was William Cunningham’s territory and Goose brings Cunningham fully up to date at last.”  —Population Studies

“If the first wave of immigrants is still commonly overshadowed in the literature by that of the second – the Huguenots – it is not difficult to see that the latter would have been much less of a success without the former. And this collection of essays does considerably more than bring the immigrants of the first refuge out of the historical shadows. It draws together important new research in an accessible, enlightening and enjoyable collection of essays that offer a wonderfully rounded picture of English aliens in the Tudor and early Stuart periods. Though the editors are clearly of a mind in prioritising the relationship between economic factors and migration, the collection also gives due regard to religious, political and cultural aspects of the immigration process. For the non-specialist in particular, there is much value and little to criticise. Indeed, this book deserves to be read by anyone with an interest in the history of the early modern period.”  —Local Population Studies

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 190390014X
• ISBN 13: 9781903900147
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Goose Nigel, Luu Lien