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In the 14th and 15th centuries, Flemish and Dutch craftspeople brought skills that helped move the economy from a primary one based on raw materials to a secondary manufacturing one. This brought new wealth to England based on woollen textiles. They had a huge impact on the fortunes of towns in southern and eastern England and even Manchester, where Flemish weavers began the textile business which would eventually become world famous.

The economic impact was huge. Thanks to the input of Flemish cloth workers, cloth production rose rapidly. England was beginning to produce its own cloth and makers, merchants and the Crown profited from the trade. Woollen cloth would be England’s main source of wealth for several hundred years.

Migrants brought many other skills, too. Dutch women taught the craft of making beer with hops to brewers in East Anglia who had previously used barley to brew ale. Flemish brick makers were highly regarded and their styles influenced house construction.

Italian financiers had a significant impact on England’s military expansion. Italian money funded King Edward I’s campaign in Wales, the very first stage of English empire building. Loans to King Edward III helped fund English forces in the Hundred Years’ War. Lombard banking families such as the Bardis helped create the beginnings of London as an international financial market; a position it still holds today.

The bases set up by Hanseatic merchants at the Steelyards in London and Lynn enabled England to become a key European trading centre, with woollen cloth a major commodity. Trade with cities around the North and Baltic Seas increased, bringing money to the Crown through tax on imports and exports.

Revision task

Was the story of immigration to Medieval England a largely positive one?

This is a complex question. Read through this guide and note down evidence of the effect of immigration on the people already living here, on the migrants themselves, and on the country as a whole.