Medieval and Tudor Migration: Flemish Weavers, Hanseatic Merchants and Others

Flemish weavers were among the most economically significant migrants in medieval England. England produced very fine raw wool, but English craftsmen lacked the skills to turn it into high-quality finished cloth. Edward III encouraged Flemish weavers from Flanders (modern Belgium) to settle in England in the 1330s-40s, including in East Anglia. Their arrival helped England to shift from exporting raw wool towards making and exporting finished cloth, a major economic upgrade.

Hanseatic merchants from the trading cities of northern Germany (Hamburg, Lübeck, Bremen) had a trading base in London called the Steelyard. They traded in goods such as fish, timber, furs, and grain, and held privileges that English merchants resented, such as lower customs duties. In 1598, Elizabeth I closed down their privileges after sustained complaints from English merchants.

By the sixteenth century there were also Black Tudors, a small but documented community of Black Africans in England. They included John Blanke, a Black trumpeter at the court of Henry VII and Henry VIII, shown in a 1511 manuscript. Their presence challenges the assumption that racial diversity in England began in the twentieth century.