Yet foreigners were also protected by law. Alien merchants under royal safe-conducts could appeal to special courts. Treaties with Hanseatic cities or Italian republics guaranteed merchants certain rights. The monarchy valued the taxes and economic vitality that migrants brought.
Socially, the integration of migrants varied. In some cases, like the Norman aristocracy, intermarriage and cultural blending created a new ruling class. In others, as with Jews or sometimes Flemish artisans, migrants formed semi-distinct communities, marked by language or religious difference, which could become targets in times of social tension.
Crises and backlash: war, plague, and revolt
By the later Middle Ages, especially after the Black Death of 1348-50, economic strains and xenophobia sometimes intensified. With the labor shortage after the plague, local workers resented foreigners who might accept lower wages.
During the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, mobs in London targeted Flemish residents, killing dozens. Anti-alien sentiment surged again during the Hundred Years’ War, with suspicions that French or Gascon merchants might be spies.
Statutes of the Realm in the 15th century increasingly regulated alien residence and trade. Local communities sometimes petitioned the king to expel foreign workers to protect English jobs — an early echo of later protectionist policies. shutdown123