Citizenry and Nationality: the Participation of Immigrants in Urban Politics in Later Medieval England

Abstract

This article explores the participation of immigrants, or people born outside the kingdom, in urban politics in later medieval England. It demonstrates that the nationality of these newcomers was of only secondary importance. What mattered most was whether immigrants’ economic and political interests aligned with those of the civic political elites. If they did not, aliens’ nationality could be mobilized to exclude them from urban politics. If, however, immigrants’ activities complemented those of the urban elites economically and politically, they had every chance to engage with all aspects of civic political life and be elected into the highest civic offices.