Foreigners and Englishmen

by Daniel Statt

This book marks the first serious study of an important but neglected subject in the history of early-modern England: the vigorous controversy that unfolded over immigration policy, population growth, and the presence of foreigners in English society from the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the accession of George III a century later. This period witnessed demographic contraction or stagnation in most parts of Europe, and at the same time the last of the waves of large-scale inter-European migrations that began at the time of the Reformation. In analyzing the tensions created in England as a result of these broader European patterns, the book seeks to explore the connection between population and migration in the period. . Inspired by a faith that encouraging the immigration of foreign Protestants from Europe would solve the problems of depopulation and economic stagnation, partisans sought to throw open England's doors to new settlers. Pleas for the naturalization of foreigners w