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By the 15th century there were immigrants from all over Europe in Medieval England and they were spread all over the country. We know this from documents that have survived including letters, court records and - most of all - tax records in the alien subsidy returns, a list which included details like names, place of residence and sometimes occupations and origins. In the later Middle Ages, all foreign-born males and some females (in cases where they were heads of households) were taxed and their names, occupations and places of residence were written down.

One Medieval historian has said that the records show that no one was more than ten miles away from an immigrant. Foreign-born people included goldsmiths, bakers, inn-keepers, doctors, priests, farm labourers, tailors, brewers, weavers - in fact, a whole cross-section of occupations in towns and countryside.

Official reception of immigrants was sometimes warm, especially in the 14th century. In the 1330s, King Edward III gave strong protection to Flemish weavers. After the Black Death in the late 1340s so many people had died that there was a serious shortage of workers and artisans. At this time immigrants were welcomed to fill the gap and there were foreign-born workers in most towns and villages. In 1354 a law gave aliens who appeared in court the right to be tried by a half-alien jury. After 1370, letters of denization gave migrants the same rights and protection as English citizens.

On the whole, foreign-born immigrants settled in well during the Middle Ages and became part of local communities. While they were classed - and taxed - as aliens, their children born in England were full citizens. Some did very well indeed, rising to be mayors and freemen of their towns or highly regarded in their occupation.

Entries in tax records together with archaeological finds and DNA evidence also suggest the presence of people from Asia or Africa. We know too that goods and ideas reached our shores from beyond Europe.