Chapter 2 - Strangers into Neighbours

Summary

This chapter explores the pathways by which migration was ordered and newcomers allowed to settle in Europe’s regions. It begins with dynastic polities, where rulers habitually gave privileges to favoured groups, and ordered group migration following conquests. It then considers the policies developed in cities whose relative autonomy meant they were able to attempt the regulation of entry and exit. As in other areas of urban life, they used local legislation in the form of statutes as their tool. These resulted from deliberation in councils and by urban officials, sometimes assisted by legal experts. They developed rules that aimed to keep strangers out, unless they sought to settle and could prove their use and probity. All this took place in a period of economic growth and opportunity. Throughout the fourteenth century circumstances changed, and after the Black Death (1347–51), many regions and cities were left depopulated – needing newcomers – but also economically diminished, and hence more suspicious of them. The long-term arc sees strangers become neighbours, and a reversal in civic confidence, which led to erratic policies and often to exclusionary legislation.