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Irish migration to England in the late middle ages: the evidence of 1394 and 1440

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

J. L. Bolton
J. L. Bolton*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London
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Extract

In 1440, for the first and only time in the late middle ages, the Irish in England were treated as aliens for taxation purposes. At the Reading session of the parliament of 1439–40 the Commons had granted an alien subsidy. It was a poll tax, to be paid at the rate of 16d. per head by householders and at 6d. per head by non-householders, by all those either not born in England or Wales or who did not have letters of denization, that is, naturalisation. Men of religious obedience and children under the age of twelve were also exempted, as were alien women married to English or Welsh men. The grant was to last for three years, and the first assessments were to be made around Easter 1440 for a tax to be collected in two parts, at Easter and the following Michaelmas. Caught in the tax net were Gascons and Normans, Bretons and Flemings, Scots and Channel Islanders, French and Italians, Spanish and Portuguese, the occasional Icelander, Swede and Finn — and the Irish. Like all new taxes, it met with resistance, and pressure groups such as the Genoese and Hanseatic merchants were soon able to claim exemption by virtue of their charters. There were also protests from Ireland. The earl of Ormond, as head of the Dublin administration, pointed out to the king that this was something new and asked Henry VI that Englishmen born in Ireland should have the same rights and freedom as Englishmen born in England.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 32 , Issue 125 , May 2000 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2000

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References

1 Here, and in the rest of this article, ‘Irish’ is used in the sense of ‘Irish-born’, and not to distinguish the native/Gaelic Irish from the Anglo-Irish colonists. The latter distinction was drawn in a petition to parliament in 1422, when those who were not lieges of the king of England, but his enemies, were specifically called ‘Wylde Irishmen’ (Rot. parl., iv, 190b); but it was not made elsewhere, and certainly not in the alien subsidy rolls (P.R.O., E 179), which have provided the bulk of the evidence for this article.

2 Rot. parl., v, 6b. For the nature and subsequent history of the alien poll tax or subsidy see Thrupp, S. L., ‘A survey of the alien population of England in 1440’ in Speculum, xxxii (1957), pp 265-8Google Scholar; eadem, ‘Aliens in and around London in the fifteenth century’ in Hollaender, A. E. and Kellaway, William (eds), Studies in London history presented to P. E. Jones (London, 1969), pp 251-8Google Scholar; Bolton, J.L., The alien communities of London in the fifteenth century: the subsidy rolls of 1440 and 1483–4 (Stamford, 1998), pp 3–4Google Scholar.

3 Art Cosgrove, ‘England and Ireland, 1399–1447’ in idem (ed.), A new history of Ireland, ii: Medieval Ireland, 1169–1534 (Oxford, 1987), p. 530Google Scholar, citing N.L.I., MS 4 (Harris Collectanea), f. 337b; Rot. parl., v, 38b-39a; Cal. pat. rolls, 1441–6, p. 155. It has to be said, however, that the assessors, ward jurors in towns and constables of vills in the countryside, tended to report anyone they thought to be an alien to the justices of the peace, leaving it to the sheriffs and collectors to sort out the ensuing mess.

4 The text in full runs: ‘Item priount les ditz Communes en ceste present Parlement, que la ou diverses homicidies, murdres, rapes, felonies, robberies, riotes, conventicles, et autres meffaitz, ore tarde de novell sont faitz deins les Countees d’Oxenford, Berk, Wiltes’, et Buk, pluis sovent come ad este cy devant nientz correctz, auxi bien per diverses persones repairantz al Ville d’Oxenford, come per autres demurrantz deins mesme la Ville desoubz la jurisdiction de l’Universite illoeqes; des quelles ascuns sont Lieges nostre Seigneur le Roi neez en Irland, et les autres ne sont my Lieges nostre Seigneur le Roi, mes enemyes a nostre dit Seigneur le Roi, et a son Roialme, nomez Wylde Irishmen; et lour malices, meffaitz et robberies continuent de jour en jour en autre, a graunde desclaundre a dite Universite, quell est fountaigne et miere de nostre foy Cristiane, et a pluis graindre arerisement et anientisement de toute la paiis la environ’ (Rot. parl., iv, 190).

5 These acts and ordinances are to be found variously in Stat. Ire., John-Hen. V, pp 329, 471, 476, 501, 560; Rot. parl., iii, 85–6; ibid., iv, 13b, 190, 254b, 358b; Stat. of realm, ii, 173, 214, 220. They are discussed by J. A. Watt, ‘The Anglo-Irish colony under strain, 1327–99’ in New hist. Ire., ii, 379, 385; Cosgrove, ‘England & Ireland, 1399–1447’, pp 526–30; Cosgrove, Art, Late medieval Ireland, 1370–1541 (Dublin, 1981), pp 19–20Google Scholar, 33-6.

6 The ‘police’ aspects of the legislation are cogently discussed in Thrupp, ‘Alien population’, pp 264–5.

7 The views expressed by Cosgrove in ‘England & Ireland, 1399–1447’, p. 530, are typical.

8 It should be noted that the parliament of 1439–40 also passed a hosting statute which put alien merchants under the supervision of an English host, to ensure that all profits from imports were spent on English exports, thereby stopping a supposed drain of bullion from the land. The views of hosts demonstrate the anti-Italian nature of this act. See Rot. parl., v, 24b-25a; P.R.O., E 101/128/30, 31; Bolton, J. L., ‘Alien merchants in England in the reign of Henry VI, 1422–61’ (unpublished B.Litt. thesis, University of Oxford, 1971), pp 11-12, 72–3Google Scholar. The Libelle expresses typical contemporary attitudes to the Flemings: The libelle of Englyshe polycye, ed. SirWarner, George (Oxford, 1926), ll 276–305Google Scholar.

9 This was the case in 1449, 1453, 1482 and 1487: Rot. parl., v, 144b, 230b; ibid., vi, 19b, 401b-402a.

10 P.R.O., E 179/180/92 (Suffolk, 1440). The membranes on this file are not numbered.

11 See, for example, the sheriffs’ account for London, 1441 (ibid., E 179/144/42, m. 27r), or the York city account (ibid., E 179/217/46), where the collectors distinguished between the living residents, those who had died (from the plague?), and those who had moved; see also Thrupp, ‘Alien population’, p. 263.

12 The reasons for relying on evidence from 1440 are discussed below, p. 8.

13 The licences can be found in Cal. pat. rolls, 1391–6, pp 451–65, 468–9. Other grants of licences were made under later exclusion acts, but few men or women seem to have taken them up, and they have not been used as evidence here.

14 For discussion of the skewed nature of the evidence, and those who probably could not afford or did not bother to purchase licences, see below, pp 12–13.

15 Thrupp, ‘Alien population’, pp 265–6.

16 This conclusion is based on having read all the extant alien subsidy rolls for 1440 and most of those for 1441 and 1442, as well as all the existing inquests and assessments for London to 1483.

17 The details of the various records used are given in Table 1. For the Oxfordshire evidence in 1394, see below, pp 11–12 and Table 3, and in 1483, P.R.O., E 179/161/138.

18 In 1389 it was ordered that all persons embarking for Ireland were to pass through either Liverpool, Chester or Bristol, while in 1428 Chester was the port for passage on to Oxford, Coventry and London (Rot. parl., iii, 275b; see also below, p. 11). For the importance of Anglo-Irish trade through Chester and Bristol and Coventry’s links with Ireland see Childs, Wendy and O’Neill, Timothy, ‘Overseas trade’ in New hist. Ire., ii, 495–524Google Scholar; Wendy Childs, ‘Irish merchants and seamen in late medieval England’ (below, pp 22–43).

19 For a discussion of the origins of migrants to London and Southwark see Bolton, Alien communities of London, pp 29–32 and Table 4 and Map 3; the evidence for eastern England is taken from P.R.O., E 179/108/113 (Essex, 1440), E 179/180/92 (Suffolk, 1440), E 179/149/126 (Norfolk and Norwich, 1440). The letters of protection are to be found in Cal. pat. rolls, 1429–36, pp 537–9, 541-88.

20 P.R.O., E 179/73/91, m.3r.

21 Bolton, Alien communities of London, p. 8, Table 2 (pp 16–17), Appendix Tables 1, 2, 3 (pp 134–42).

22 Calculated from the table in Thrupp, ‘Alien population’, pp 270–73. The actual figure is 12, 889.

23 Thrupp, ‘Alien population’, p. 267.

24 The request for protection for clerks, merchants and other honest persons from Ireland who, on their journeys from Chester to Coventry, Oxford and London, have been robbed and imprisoned is quoted in Cosgrove, Late medieval Ireland, p. 34, but no source reference is given.

25 For trade to Ireland through Bristol and Bridgwater see Childs, ‘Irish merchants & seamen’, Table 1 (below, p. 25); Childs and O’Neill, ‘Overseas trade’, pp 495–524. The importance of the small ports in Devon and Cornwall as points of entry is obvious from the subsidy returns (P.R.O., E 179/95/100, 87/80).

26 Maryanne Kowaleski doubts it, however. In her Local markets and regional trade in medieval Exeter (Cambridge, 1995), p. 39Google Scholar, she confirms the presence of the Irish in the north Devon ports, but suggests that migrants in the south had mainly French or Flemish names. The evidence of 1440 does not entirely support her argument.

27 For a discussion of patterns of chain migration to London see Bolton, Alien communities of London, pp 30, 32.

28 P.R.O., E 179/196/100, mm 2r, 3r, 3v.

29 For analyses of the social and employment structures in London see Bolton, Alien communities of London, pp 8–24, Table 2 (pp 15–17), Appendix Tables 1, 2, 3 (pp 134–42). The evidence for Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk is taken from my unpublished analyses of the alien subsidy rolls for those counties: P.R.O., E 179/108/113, 180/30 (Essex), 180/92, 111 (Suffolk), 149/126, 130, 176, 198A (Norfolk and Norwich).

30 For a discussion of this problem see Bolton, J. L., ‘The world upside down’ in Ormrod, W.M. and Lindley, P. G. (eds), The Black Death in England (Stamford, 1996), pp 34–40Google Scholar, 70-76.

31 Regional variation is discussed generally in Bolton, J.L., The medieval English economy (London, 1980), pp 229-32Google Scholar; for the south-west in particular see Kowaleski, Local markets, pp 9–40.

32 Down, Kevin, ‘Colonial society and economy’ in New hist. Ire., ii, 445-50Google Scholar.

33 Stat. Ire., John-Hen. V, pp 465–7, 516–19, for statute 11 Hen. IV, c. 1; ibid., pp 568–9, for statute 9 Hen. V, c. 13; Stat. Ire., Hen. VI, p. 19, for order of 7 Hen. VI; Cosgrove, ‘England & Ireland, 1399–1447’, pp 529–30; idem, Late medieval Ireland, pp 33–5; Down, ‘Colonial society & economy’, p. 449.

34 See above, pp 2–3; Rot. parl., iv, 190a-190b, 254b, 358b; Cosgrove, Late medieval Ireland, p. 34; Bickley, F. B. (ed.), The Little Red Book of Bristol (2 vols, Bristol & London, 1900-1), i, 86-7Google Scholar; ii, 159, 163.

35 Davies, R.R., The revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr (Oxford, 1995), pp 283-92CrossRefGoogle Scholar, 322; Griffiths, R.A., The reign of King Henry VI (London, 1981), p. 168Google Scholar; Bolton, Alien communities of London, pp 35–40.

36 Cal. pat. rolls, 1391–6, p. 458; Platt, Colin, Medieval Southampton (London, 1973), p. 254Google Scholar.

37 See above, pp 2–3; Rot. parl., vi, 197b-198a, 401b-402a.

38 My thanks are due to Dr V. G. Davis for her helpful comments on this article. My late father, who came to England from Kanturk, County Cork, in 1911, would have appreciated his son writing about their ancestors.