The role of Flemish migrants in the development of the English textile industry has been debated by medieval historians. Particularly contested are the extent to which their actions accelerated existing developments, such as in fulling technology, or trigged change by introducing a new skill set better suited to finer cloth. Pajic’s book makes a further contribution to those debates and extends our understanding of Flemish migration and its impact. The book has two stated aims: to examine how and why Flemings migrated to England and to consider their activities when they arrived. Pajic concludes that one of the most significant changes introduced by Flemish migrants was in the form of new business practices, notably the centralization of production.

The book focuses on a period when there was a pro–active policy by the English crown to encourage citizens of Flanders to relocate to England, beginning with Edward III’s invitation of 1331 to Flemish textile works to settle in England, and ending with the aftermath of attacks against the Flemings in 1381. A combination of prosopographical and quantitative methodology is employed. Analysis is on the basis of three sets of records: firstly, civic court records from London, Colchester and Great Yarmouth; secondly, royal court records and customs and alnage accounts from England; and thirdly, charters from the archives of the count of Flanders. Supplementary sources are also used for prosopographical purposes, including the city accounts of Bruges and Ghent.

Other studies have used the alien subsidies to identify individuals, but those do not exist for the period examined by Pajic. Pajic mainly identifies Flemish immigrants from cross-referencing the names of those exiled from Flanders with names that appear in the borough court records. It would have been useful to have included in the introduction an example of how one of the profiles was constructed. In the introduction, reference is made to the three towns being selected for focus owing to the chronological coverage of their records. However, subsequently there is discussion of immigrants in other locations, and sometimes it is a little unclear if that results from the same systematic approach. Pajic’s methodology allows him, however, to engage with topics for which information is lacking in the alien subsidies of the 15th century. In the alien subsidies it is hard to identity the occupations of migrants in Flanders, or the motivation for their migration. In contrast, Pajic is able to shed light on those topics.

The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 provides context on political and trading relations between England and Flanders and examines why Flemish textile workers emigrated. One reason identified is the pro-French policy of the count of Flanders, which many weavers rejected in favor of an alliance with the English, who supplied their wool. This led them to rebel against the count and be sentenced to exile as a punishment. Two distinguishing characteristics of Flemish migrants are highlighted: they usually relocated in groups and they came at the invitation of the English crown.

The destinations of Flemish immigrants are the focus of Chapter 2. The extent to which the Flemish chose to settle in areas already associated with textile production is examined using borough court records. London, Pajic argues, was the preferred destination of wealthier weavers and fullers who had prior experience in guild or civic office and existing business connections. London already had a weavers guild, but the Flemish migrants obtained permission from the crown to establish their own guild. Proximity to the ports of disembarkation and an established textile industry, combined with an absence of guilds, made Colchester and Great Yarmouth attractive destinations for other Flemish migrants. Lack of information makes it harder to draw conclusions for other locations. Pajic suggests that there are some indications that Flemings avoided Oxford, York, and Winchester because of resistance from their long established weavers guilds.

Business networks are examined in Chapter 3. Networks between Flemish and English are hard to detect, partly because there is limited surviving evidence. The focus on economic cooperation between the groups is not entirely reconciled with the subsequent discussion of conflict in Chapter 6. Immigrant networks are examined in greater detail. Chain migration is identified, including cases of exiles being followed by family members and in the hiring of servants and apprentices from Flanders.

The impact of Flemings on the quality and quantity of cloth produced in England is examined in Chapter 4. The most substantive contribution of Flemish migrants, Pajic argues, was in the new organizational methods they introduced, including vertical integration of production. Female workers are the focus of Chapter 5. While some accompanied male exiles, others emigrated as a result of the downturn in the industry in Flanders. Pajic argues that inability to enter a guild or gain civic freedom limited the opportunities for single women who emigrated. However, there is evidence that some may have migrated alone and earned a living through piece work in wool preparation or spinning.

Opposition to immigration is examined in Chapter 6. Pajic examines the potential motivations behind the violent attacks of 1381. He suggests that opposition toward immigrants as a group was expressed to the greatest extent in London and was connected to the disputes over the creation of the separate guild for Flemish weavers. The London weavers, Pajic suggests, wanted the Flemish to join their guild to upskill their members and acquire additional investment, whereas the Flemish wanted their own guild. The violence in 1381, Pajic argues, appears to have contributed to a subsequent drop in levels of migration from Flanders.

Overall, the book achieves its aims. Sometimes the key findings would have benefited from being highlighted to a slightly greater extent. However, given the contemporary relevance of the topic is it also understandable that the author seeks to demonstrate their evidence base and to avoid generalizations. The focus on the business activities and references to concepts, such as chain migration, means that this book will be of interest to business historians.