This book is a ground-breaking study of the phenomenon of migration in and to England over the medieval millennium, between c. AD 500 and c. AD 1500. It reaches across traditional scholarly divides, both disciplinary and chronological, to investigate, for the first time, the different types of data and scholarly methods that reveal evidence of migration and mobility within the medieval kingdom of England. England offers the opportunity for studying migration and migrants over the longue durée, because it has been a recognisable political unit for over a millennium and because a wealth of sourc ... More

This book is a ground-breaking study of the phenomenon of migration in and to England over the medieval millennium, between c. AD 500 and c. AD 1500. It reaches across traditional scholarly divides, both disciplinary and chronological, to investigate, for the first time, the different types of data and scholarly methods that reveal evidence of migration and mobility within the medieval kingdom of England. England offers the opportunity for studying migration and migrants over the longue durée, because it has been a recognisable political unit for over a millennium and because a wealth of source material has survived from these centuries. The data vary unevenly in quality and quantity across this period, but become considerably more powerful through multi-disciplinary approaches to data collection and interpretation. Fifteen subject specialists synthesise and extend recent research in a wide range of disciplines, including archaeology, art history, genetics, historical linguistics, history, literature and onomastics. They evaluate the capacity of different genres of evidence for addressing questions around migration and its effects on the identities of groups and individuals within medieval England, as well as methodological parameters and future research potential. The book therefore marks an important contribution to medieval studies, and to modern debates on migration and the free movement of people, arguing that migration in the modern world, and its reverberations, cannot be completely understood without taking a broad historical perspective on the topic.