著者

中川 順子

出版者

熊本大学

雑誌

文学部論叢 (ISSN:03887073)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.107, pp.11-22, 2016-03-17

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This paper explores London citizens' attitudes towards immigrant presence, particularly, their legal status in early modern London. First, I will describe an outline of the legal status that immigrants acquired, focusing on denization and a London citizenship for them in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Second, I will investigate the meaning of the 'freedom of the City' and its privileges for immigrants. The evidence shows that although they were crucial to their success in London, only a small percentage of them enjoyed those privileges. The national government could have encouraged the City's authority to grant them legal status. The introduction of such a policy, however, garnered fierce opposition from Londoners, as the citizenship of London was the core value of local identity and Englishness as well as political and economic rights. To conclude, the City government could have continued imposing strict economic and social restrictions on immigrants for their lineage's sake.