Migration in Rural England in the Later Middle Ages

2020 ◽  
pp. 238-264
Author(s):  
Christopher Dyer
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Rural Migration ◽  
The West ◽  
Geographical Knowledge ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Different Types ◽  
C 50 ◽  
Rural England

This chapter surveys research on rural migration in medieval England and investigates the frequency of migration, length of journeys, mechanisms which enabled migration, migrants’ motives for movement, and their reception in their new places of settlement. Evidence comes from tax and manorial record from the West Midlands. Migration seems to have been normal and commonplace, and mostly within 10 miles (15 km), but with a significant range of longer movements. Different types of migrant appear to have had as a common characteristic an aspiration to betterment, and tended to confine journeys to the landscapes with which they were familiar. Movements had positive social results such as exposing villages to external influence. The precise geographical knowledge of people in medieval England probably extended c. 50 miles (80 km), but they did not lead such narrow and ignorant lives as is sometimes imagined.

scholarly journals Irish merchants and seamen in late medieval England

2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (125) ◽  
pp. 22-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy R. Childs
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
General Context ◽  
Medieval England ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The Status ◽  
Late Medieval England ◽  
The Middle Ages

Most studies of Anglo-Irish relations in the middle ages understandably concentrate on the activity of the English in Ireland, and unintentionally but inevitably this can leave the impression that the movement of people was all one way. But this was not so, and one group who travelled in the opposite direction were some of the merchants and seamen involved in the Anglo-Irish trade of the period. Irish merchants and seamen travelled widely and could be found in Iceland, Lisbon, Bordeaux, Brittany and Flanders, but probably their most regular trade remained with their closest neighbour and political overlord: England. They visited most western and southern English ports, but inevitably were found most frequently in the west, especially at Chester and Bristol. The majority of them stayed for a few days or weeks, as long as their business demanded. Others settled permanently in England, or, perhaps more accurately, re-settled in England, for those who came to England both as settlers and visitors were mainly the Anglo-Irish of the English towns in Ireland and not the Gaelic Irish. This makes it difficult to estimate accurately the numbers of both visitors and settlers, because the status of the Anglo-Irish was legally that of denizen, and record-keepers normally had no reason to identify them separately. They may, therefore, be hard to distinguish from native Englishmen of similar name outside the short periods when governments (central or urban) temporarily sought to restrict their activities. However, the general context within which they worked is quite clear, and this article considers three main aspects of that context: first, the pattern of the trade which attracted Irish merchants to England; second, the role of the Irish merchants and seamen in the trade; and third, examples of individual careers of merchants and seamen who settled in England.

England's Revelry

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
West Midlands ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of ◽  
Long Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Village ◽  
Rural England ◽  
The Relationship

This study looks at the relationship between popular recreations and the spaces in which they took place, and in doing so it provides a history of how England enjoyed itself during the long eighteenth century. Because the poor lacked land of their own, public spaces were needed for their sports and pastimes. Such recreations included: parish wakes and feasts; civic fairs and celebrations; football, cricket and other athletic sports; bull- and bear-baiting; and the annual celebrations of Shrove Tuesday and Guy Fawkes. Three case studies form the core of this book, each looking at the recreations and spaces to be found in different types of settlement: first, the streets and squares of provincial market towns; then the diverse vacant spaces to be found in industrialising towns and villages of the west Midlands and West Riding of Yorkshire; and finally the village greens of rural England. Through a detailed examination of contemporary books, diaries and newspapers, and records in over forty archives, the book addresses the questions of what spaces were used, and what was the interaction with those who used and controlled the land. The Industrial Revolution has been seen to have had a negative impact on popular recreation; through its use of the concept of space, this book provides an alternative to this traditional view.

The West Midlands in the Early Middle Ages

1994 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 180
Author(s):  
Mark E. Hall ◽  
Margaret Gelling
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The West ◽  
Early Middle Ages ◽  
West Midlands
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