UNIVERSITÉ DE STRASBOURG UNIVERSITEIT GENT ÉCOLE DOCTORALE 270 EA 4378 THÈSE en cotutelle présentée par : Milan PAJIC soutenue le : 22 novembre 2016 pour obtenir le grade de : Docteur de l’Université de Strasbourg et de l’Université de Gand Discipline/ Spécialité : Histoire (Gand) et études anglophones (Strasbourg) The Migration of Flemish Weavers to England in the Fourteenth Century: the Economic Influence and Transfer of Skills 1331-1381 THÈSE dirigée par : TOURNU Christophe Professeur, Université de Strasbourg BOONE Marc Professeur, Universiteit Gent RAPPORTEURS : GENET Jean-Philippe Professeur, Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne ORMROD Mark Professeur, University of York AUTRES MEMBRES DU JURY : TOCK Benoît Professeur, Université de Strasbourg DUMOLYN Jan Professeur, Universiteit Gent Acknowledgments After almost four years of exiting work, in three different cities Strasbourg, Ghent, and London, I can finally say that it is submitted. However, this would have not been possible without the support and help from many people who were around in these places during the past years. By the following sentences, I would like to express my gratitude to them. First and foremost, I am extremely grateful to my supervisors, Marc Boone and Christophe Tournu (in alphabetical order and certainly not in terms of importance), for their guidance and support. Since my master studies whenever I had any scientific, personal or administrative problem, they were more than ready to help and encourage me. In the same rank, I would also like to thank my colleagues and friends, Jan Dumolyn and Bart Lambert. Jan, who was my ‘unofficial’ supervisor, his guidance and advice were of crucial help for the success of this thesis. Thanks to him, my knowledge of the medieval Low Countries (and in general of the Middle Ages) is at the level to defend the PhD and for this I owe him my greatest gratitude. Bart, who guided my work since the writing of this PhD proposal, was always ready to answer my numerous questions, be it in person or on distance. His suggestions were always helpful and even resulted in few joint publications, where I learned a lot. Without the aforementioned four, I would have not been at the stage to write the present acknowledgments. During my research stay in London, I made incredible progress with the archival work. This was possible only because of the availability of Professor Caroline Barron whose suggestions were always encouraging during our numerous conversations at the Institute of Historical Research. I owe a big thanks to the personnel of different archives be it in London, Chelmsford, Norwich, Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Lille and especially to Paul Dryburgh from TNA. In the 2 same manner, to Catherine Otten, for providing me with good and useful paleography classes and to Thérèse de Hemptine who was ready to jump in whenever my paleographic skills would betray me. Over the past few years I benefited from discussions with numerous historians during seminars and conferences that I attended and to all of them I am very grateful, in particular to John Lee, Pauline Guéna, John Oldland, Christian Liddy, Jelle Haemers, Jim Bolton, Catherine Casson, Martha Carlin and Derek Keene. Of course, my stays in Ghent would have not been interesting without the hospitality from the colleagues from Vakroep Geschiedenis. Special thanks to those who shared the ‘corner’ office with me: Marta Bigus, Koen Vanheule, Ewoud Vaerniers, Stefan Meysman, Matthew O’Farrell and Emerance Delancenserie. Also to Jonas Braekevelt, whose help and suggestions were always appreciated. From practical point of view, I owe a particular debt to Lina Villate, for her help with the page layout, to Zacharia Otieno, for proofreading and to Hans Blomme for adapting and making the maps. To my friends, Zack, Julien and Ivan for their patience and understanding, whenever I had problems. Also to Céline, who was there for me in the worst moments and I owe her special gratitude for her support, affection and tolerance. Finally, I am grateful to my family for their encouragement, support, tolerance and believe in me, all of them make me a better person. 3 Contents Acknowledgments........................................................................................................................... 2 List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. 6 List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 7 List of Maps .................................................................................................................................... 8 List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 1: The Politics of Exile of Rebels in Fourteenth-Century Flanders ................................ 29 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 29 1. The Rise of Political Banishment at the Turn of the Fourteenth Century ...................... 36 2. Exile as a Legal Remedy in a Political Context ............................................................. 42 3. A Diversity of Political Crimes and Punishments .......................................................... 47 4. The Procedure and Consequences of Exile .................................................................... 55 5. Collective Exile as a Mass Phenomenon, c. 1328 – c. 1361 .......................................... 59 Conclusions of the chapter: the Rise and Fall of Collective Political Exile in Fourteenth- Century Flanders ....................................................................................................................... 74 Chapter 2 – Flemish immigrants in London, Colchester and Great Yarmouth 1351-1381 .......... 81 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 81 1. Flemings in London ....................................................................................................... 82 2. Flemings in Colchester ................................................................................................... 95 3. Great Yarmouth Exiles ................................................................................................. 112 4. Flemings that do not appear on the lists but can be traced from the context ............... 125 5. Flemings in other towns and areas 1351-1381 ............................................................. 134 Conclusions of the chapter ...................................................................................................... 144 Chapter 3: Social Relationships and networks of the Flemish community in England .............. 146 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 146 1. Daily life ....................................................................................................................... 146 2. Flemish Social Networks through the Testamentary Evidence ................................... 160 3. Flemish Disorder .......................................................................................................... 166 Conclusions of the chapter ...................................................................................................... 172 Chapter 4: Flemings and the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 .............................................................. 173 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 173 1. Flemings and the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 in London ................................................ 176 2. The Petitions War of 1376-8 ........................................................................................ 186 3. The Rebels and the Victims ......................................................................................... 192 4. Flemings and the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 in Colchester and Great Yarmouth ......... 199 Conclusions of the chapter ...................................................................................................... 208 Chapter 5: Economic activities of the immigrants from the Low Countries Wool and Woollen cloth production and Trade ......................................................................................................... 210 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 210 1. Flemings and their activities before banishment .......................................................... 210 2. Flemish exiles and the English Wool trade .................................................................. 215 3. Great Yarmouth immigrants and wool exports ............................................................ 217 4. London immigrants and wool exports .......................................................................... 223 5. Involvement in the Cloth production and trade ...........................................................