Chapter 3 - Social Relationships and Business Networks of the Flemish Community in England

Summary

One of the ways for immigrants to speed up the process of integration was by expanding their social and business networks. The fact that they arrived as a large group with similar backgrounds (e.g. textile workers, exiles with families) provided them with the basis to form a network of family and friends that would reduce the economic and psychological risk of migration. The evidence confirms this pattern, as the immigrants from the Low Countries maintained closer relationships with their compatriots. They inevitably mixed with the native population; however, as we will see later, their relationships with the English were largely based on business . But what were the strategies the new arrivals used to strengthen their position in the new environment? How did the Flemings create and expand their social and business networks? The present chapter is concerned with exploring the integration process of the immigrant community, and how it reflected on both their daily life and the organization of their trade. It will examine the social and business networks of the Flemish immigrants as evidenced in the surviving testamentary records and through the judicial documents.