What can Jewish migration reveal about developing commercial processes in medieval towns?
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: History Faculty
Abstract
Scholarship to date has segmented the study of Jews in England by focusing on individual towns, specific individuals, or a category of source material. Attempts have also been made to study medieval English migration, with a particular focus on expansion and 'colonisation' in the twelfth century (Bartlett, Hillaby). Robert Stacey and Paul Hyams have illustrated convincingly the ways that dynamic governmental administration (Stacey) and religious agitation (Hyams) influenced patterns of settlement. My thesis will build on these foundations, but also attempt to move from the stories of individuals to networks and interactions within and between communities.
I will also examine the conceptual implications of urban formation through contemporary historical writing, to understand the ideas and practices of urban living in diversity within a shared space. Over the past twenty years, scholars have uncovered how a concept of urban order, founded on the organising ideas of the Common Good, affected the urban landscape and ideas and practices of communal living. The work of historical geographer Keith Lilley on medieval perceptions of urban space, its theological and philosophical roots, and the studies of Carole Rawcliffe and Phillipa Maddern on the enactment of these ideas as spatial order, foreground questions about how this may have influenced patterns of Jewish migration, and indeed how a Jewish arrival may have affected these notions of community. Using the example of Jews is an opportunity to consider the place of marginal groups within this structure, elaborating on the questions explored by the England's Immigrants (1330-1550) project in an earlier time period.
I will use formal methods of network analysis in this project to determine geographic, social and economic relations. To this end, I will consider witness lists as records of social connection (in charters and business interactions), and this will allow me to scrutinise whether Jewish communities existed as "isolated clusters" or not, based on Jewish and non-Jewish contacts. Based on material collected from charters, and other appropriate sources such as the Plea Rolls, I will visualise local networks and allow comparison of the witnesses that were present. The 'People of Medieval Scotland' database has demonstrated the utility of social network analysis in better understanding the internal shifts within a medieval society, and through similar techniques I will chart transformations within medieval English society. As such, my research will concentrate on a minority group in order to better understand the mechanisms that influenced order and movement within towns and cities.
I will also examine the conceptual implications of urban formation through contemporary historical writing, to understand the ideas and practices of urban living in diversity within a shared space. Over the past twenty years, scholars have uncovered how a concept of urban order, founded on the organising ideas of the Common Good, affected the urban landscape and ideas and practices of communal living. The work of historical geographer Keith Lilley on medieval perceptions of urban space, its theological and philosophical roots, and the studies of Carole Rawcliffe and Phillipa Maddern on the enactment of these ideas as spatial order, foreground questions about how this may have influenced patterns of Jewish migration, and indeed how a Jewish arrival may have affected these notions of community. Using the example of Jews is an opportunity to consider the place of marginal groups within this structure, elaborating on the questions explored by the England's Immigrants (1330-1550) project in an earlier time period.
I will use formal methods of network analysis in this project to determine geographic, social and economic relations. To this end, I will consider witness lists as records of social connection (in charters and business interactions), and this will allow me to scrutinise whether Jewish communities existed as "isolated clusters" or not, based on Jewish and non-Jewish contacts. Based on material collected from charters, and other appropriate sources such as the Plea Rolls, I will visualise local networks and allow comparison of the witnesses that were present. The 'People of Medieval Scotland' database has demonstrated the utility of social network analysis in better understanding the internal shifts within a medieval society, and through similar techniques I will chart transformations within medieval English society. As such, my research will concentrate on a minority group in order to better understand the mechanisms that influenced order and movement within towns and cities.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Natasha Jenman (Student) |