Caroline Pauwels Schrijfmandaat William Torbeyns - Medieval Migrants: Exploring the Motivations Behind Migration from the Low Countries to England and Italy in the Late Middle Ages

Migration is a key issue in contemporary debates, yet it is not a new phenomenon. Understanding
historical migration is essential for challenging current narratives, many of which stem from a limited
grasp of the forces driving human movement. Although migration studies have gained attention, the
late Middle Ages (c. 1300-1500) remain underexplored, leaving significant historiographical gaps. This
period, marked by major shifts in political, economic, and social structures, fostered fertile conditions
for migration. Two key lacunae require exploration: the identities of migrants, with limited
information on their origins and lives prior to migration, and the motivations driving their movement,
which remain speculative.
This project aims to fill these gaps by focusing on two well-documented migration waves from the
Low Countries to England and to Florence, Italy in the fifteenth century. The first objective is to
uncover migrant identities through a database compiled from immigrant records in England and Italy,
detailing demographic characteristics and places of origin, which enables quantitative and
comparative analyses. The second objective is to examine the factors that drive migration by
introducing an innovative methodology that focuses on personal motivations. By cross-referencing
archival sources, migrants will be traced back to their home regions, allowing a reconstruction of their
individual migration contexts.
Addressing these gaps will not only advance medieval migration studies but also offer valuable
historical perspectives on current debates. Moreover, the innovative methodology developed here can
be adapted for research in other historical periods, creating a transferable model for future studies.