Migrants and Minorities in England 1500–1700 – Comprehensive Study Notes

Jews in England after 1656

  • Quiet, gradual resettlement after Cromwell’s readmission.
    • First congregation worshipped secretly in a private house in Creechurch Lane.
    • By 1701 the community large enough to build Bevis Marks Synagogue
    • Capacity: 400 men + 160 women.
    • Still in continuous use; permission granted by London authorities.
  • Civic diplomacy
    • From 1679\text{–}1780 Sephardic Jews annually presented the Lord Mayor with a silver dish of sweet-meats.
    • Mirrored behaviour of other migrant minorities (Dutch, French Protestants) to secure protection in crises.
  • Occupations
    • Merchants, bankers, brokers, gem-dealers, physicians, rabbis, kosher butchers.
    • 1657 Solomon Dormido = 1st Jew allowed to trade on the Royal Exchange.
    • Mendes da Costa family ⇒ leading bankers; estates in Highgate, Surrey & Hertfordshire.
  • Poverty alongside wealth
    • c. 1700 London Jewish pop. ≈ 1{,}000; ½ lived on charity from richer Jews.
  • Arrival of Ashkenazim (Central/East Europe)
    • Grew faster than Sephardim; settled in ports – Hull, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Plymouth, London.
    • Typical jobs: marine-stores dealers, dockers, warehousemen, tailors, pawnbrokers, shopkeepers.
  • Jewish welfare & education
    • Pedlars common; synagogues raised funds for poor relief – so efficient that some non-Jews allegedly claimed to be Jewish to access aid.
    • 1644 “Gates of Hope” boys’ school (charity-funded): Hebrew & religion, later maths + English literacy; hygiene rules: arrive washed, hair combed, wash feet weekly.
    • 1730 “Villa Real” founded to educate poor Jewish girls.
  • Anti-Semitism persisted
    • Shylock (Merchant of Venice c.1598) kept money-lender stereotype alive.
    • Legal/existential limits:
    • Forbidden to attend university, practise law or serve in the army.
    • Popular pamphlets & ballads portrayed Jews as scoundrels, thieves, beggars.

Roma/Gypsy Persecution Timeline

  • Continuous marginalisation yet persistent presence.
  • Statutes & punishments
    • 1530 Henry VIII: all Gypsies to quit realm within 16 days or face prison/deportation.
    • 1554 Mary I: could stay only if sedentary; English forbidden to travel with them.
    • 1562 Elizabeth I: option to become subjects if settled; refusal ⇒ death.
    • Executions recorded: Aylesbury 1577 (6), Durham 1592 (5), York 1595 (9).
  • 1650s: forced transportation into slavery in North America & Caribbean.
  • Despite oppression, communities survived in England beyond 1700.

Africans in 16ᵗʰ–17ᵗʰ-Century England

  • Social integration: lived lives “no different from those around them”.
  • Occupational examples
    • Reasonable Blackman – silk-weaver, Southwark 1580-90s; lost two children to 1592 plague.
    • John Moore – wealthy York citizen; bought Freedom of the City 1687 (rights incl. river-fishing).
    • Mingoe – servant to Sir William Batten; inherited Harwich lighthouse + £$20$ p.a. in 1667.
    • Edward Swarthye – porter at White Cross Manor (Glos.); ordered to whip a white suspect.
    • Jacques Francis – diver who helped salvage the Mary Rose 1545.
    • John Anthony – Dover sailor on Silver Falcon; earlier piracy under Henry Mainwaring.
    • Cattelina – singlewoman near Bristol owning a cow; died 1625.
  • Runaways & child-servant fashion
    • Late 1600s elite vogue for black child servants as status symbols.
    • Advertisements for runaways reveal coercion and racism.

Indians in England (c.1600-1700)

  • Two main groups
    • Lascars – sailors employed by East India Company; some settled in ports (London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff).
    • Domestic servants / ayahs brought by Company men or merchants; dismissed once children grown.
  • Experiences
    • Some gained respect; others abandoned at docks seeking casual labour.
    • Indian child servants used like African children to broadcast owners’ exotic connections.

Migrants & Early Industrial / Commercial Growth

Huguenots (French Protestants)

  • Arrivals: 1570s wave; far larger 1680s-90s wave (≈ 40{,}000\text{–}50{,}000); half settled in London (Soho & Spitalfields).
  • Royal & legal support
    • Charles II offered denizen status; William III’s 1689 Declaration urged acceptance.
    • Motivations: reinforce English Protestantism + tap economic skills for war vs. Louis XIV.
    • 1708 Foreign Protestants Naturalisation Act – naturalisation on oath + communion.
  • Economic impact (Figure 2.14)
    • Cloth & silk: Huguenot silk-weaving ⇒ 20-fold production rise 1650-1700; exports mainly to France.
    • Introduced weaving of velvet, taffeta, brocade.
    • Fashion boom: rich women’s dresses, men’s silk shirts; stimulated designers & dressmakers.
    • Manufacturing kick-start: iron/steel in Sheffield & Shotley Bridge; English paper industry (200 mills by 1714).
    • Finance: at Bank of England founding 1694, 123 Huguenots supplied £104 000 (≈10 %) capital; 7/25 directors + first governor (Sir James Houblon) were Huguenot.
    • Promoted concept of National Debt to fund empire.
    • Religious tolerance: permitted own churches → broader societal acceptance of dissent.

Jewish Financiers & Merchants

  • University/army/legal bans channelled talent into commerce & banking.
  • Moses Hart (German-born)
    • One of 12 “Jew brokers” on Royal Exchange; funded first great Ashkenazi synagogue 1692 (Aldgate).
    • Country house in Twickenham; displayed Rubens & Van Dyck.
    • Family inter-marriage with Franks (diamond/coral merchants, army suppliers) created major economic dynasty; lavish lifestyle employed large service workforce.
  • Strategic royal/military funding
    • Lopes Suasso bankrolled William III’s Glorious Revolution 1688; lured more Jewish bankers (e.g.
      Isaac Pereira → Commissary-General for Shipping & Supplies).
    • Solomon de Medina financed Duke of Marlborough’s campaigns (≈ £6 000 p.a.); first Jew knighted.

Dutch Agricultural Engineers – Draining the Fens

  • Expertise
    • Cornelius Vermuyden invited 1630 by Charles I.
    • 1630-c.1652: Dutch gangs straightened rivers, dug ditches, built embankments, sluices, windmills, pumps.
    • By 1642 about 40 000 acres reclaimed.
  • Transformations
    • New landscape: geometric waterways, windmills.
    • Farming shift: oats, coleseed, cattle, sheep, geese.
    • Industrial spin-offs: oil-mills for coleseed; hemp & flax for rope/canvas & linen; woad, onions, mustard.
    • Aquaculture: purpose-built lakes stocked with pike/eel; fish carted live to London in tank-wagons.

Cultural Contributions 1500-1700

Printing & Language

  • Gutenberg press 1440; productivity up to 3 600 pages/day.
  • 1500: only 5 printers in England, all foreign; Henry VII employed Peter of Savoy as royal stationer.
  • 1535: ≈2⁄3 of English book-trade workers were European; later restrictions fostered native industry.
  • Vocabulary enrichment
    • Huguenot: “brocade”, “shot silk”, street names (Threadneedle St, Petticoat Ln), verb “vend”.
    • Surnames anglicised – Andrieu → Andrews, Delacroix → Cross; Tyzack, Henzey survive.
    • Jewish terms re-introduced: synagogue, rabbi, kosher.

Fashion

  • Huguenot silk dresses and men’s shirts captured light and draped softly (portraits by Peter Lely illustrate).

Historiography

  • Polydore Vergil (Italian 1470-1555)
    • Wrote 26-book English history; 1582 Privy Council made them compulsory school texts.
    • Bias (pro-Tudor) shaped later historians & Shakespeare (Richard III villainy).

Art – Migrant Masters

  • Hans Holbein (German 1497-1543)
    • Court portraitist to Henry VIII; introduced naturalistic poses (e.g.
      merchant Georg Giese).
  • Anthony van Dyck (Flemish 1599-1641)
    • Court painter to Charles I; knighted; popularised family portrait genre (e.g.
      Charles I’s children – altered to show heir in breeches).
  • Peter Lely (Dutch-German 1618-1680)
    • Succeeded van Dyck; served Charles I, Cromwell, Charles II; anglicised name inspired by carved lily.
  • Dissemination via prints → gentry & middling sorts desired their own portraits, fostering 18ᵗʰ-century portrait boom.

Flemish & Walloon Weaving Communities

Sandwich, Kent – “The Strangers”

  • 1561: town invited 25 Flemish households (≤12 persons each); total arrivals soon 407.
  • By 1568 foreigners = ⅓ of population; 1582 ≈1 600 migrants (>50 %).
  • Economic success
    • Master weavers produced high-grade broadcloth; two weekly markets; strict quality grading & fines.
    • Introduced celery & carrots; Dutch-style gable houses erected.
  • Rising nativist restrictions
    • 1564 bar on migrants’ tailor shop employees (had to be English).
    • 1569 building trades only if English refused.
    • 1581 ban on migrant-run shops; confined to cloth & fishing.
    • 1582 royal council overruled fines but allowed departure → c.45 families left, many to London; gradual decline over next century.

Canterbury & the Walloons

  • 1575: city sought to revive post-Reformation slump; gained approval to fill 100 vacant houses with Walloons (French-speaking Protestants from Spanish Netherlands).
  • Settlement
    • ≈750 initial migrants; Blackfriars monastery repurposed: church, school, Weavers’ Hall & market.
    • By 1582 congregation 1 600; 1595 ≈3 000 (⅓ of city).
  • Industries
    • 800 looms by 1600 spinning fine cloth & silk.
    • Diversified into silk-dyeing, sugar-refining, diamond-cutting → less local jealousy.
  • Governance: 12 elders liaised with city; vetting of new arrivals from 1585 (proof of religious exile; non-competition assurance).
  • Civic integration: helped fortify city against Spanish threat 1588; prosperity continued – 1676 had 1 000 looms employing 2 700 people (migrant & native).

Second-Wave Huguenots in London (Late 17ᵗʰ c.)

  • Spitalfields: cheaper rents, looser guild control → major silk-weaving hub.
  • Soho: artisans, craftsmen, luxury trades.
  • Royal support + 1708 Act cemented rights; communities left lasting imprint on London’s economy & urban fabric.

Overall Significance of 1500-1700 Migrants

  • Skills in weaving, finance, engineering, agriculture and art accelerated England’s transition toward industrial prosperity.
  • Introduced new crops, fabrics, words, artistic styles, and fostered religious plurality.
  • Their stories illustrate interplay between acceptance, contribution and periodic backlash shaping early-modern English society.