The Dutch Hatmakers of Late Medieval and Tudor London: with an edition of their bilingual Guild Ordinances

In the early 16th century, a group of Dutch hatmakers migrated to London, bringing with them new skills and technologies that led to the production of brimmed felts hats. They formed a guild, the Hatmakers fraternity of St James, to regulate their craft and protect their independence from London civic guilds. The guild wrote bilingual ordinances that revealed how they negotiated their immigrant lives and adapted to their new environment. This book combines historical and philological approaches to uncover the lives and writings of these tradesmen and presents a modern edition of their texts.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 15 August 2023
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

In the late Middle Ages, a group of hatmakers from the Low Countries journeyed across the North Sea to London, bringing with them innovative skills and technologies that were unknown to English artisans. These pioneering hatters became the first in England to manufacture brimmed felts hats, quickly gaining popularity among English consumers, from courtiers to ordinary people. However, they faced economic challenges in London that restricted and sometimes completely disallowed the production and retail of their goods.

Driven by a desire to maintain independence from regulation and governance by London civic guilds, the hatmakers formed their own craft association in the early years of the sixteenth century. Known as the Hatmakers fraternity of St James, it operated for approximately a decade until the royal council mandated their amalgamation with and subordination to the powerful London Haberdashers Company in 1511.

During their brief period of independence, the Hatmakers guild wrote bilingual ordinances, regulating the craft of hatmaking in London in both English and Dutch. These ordinances, preserved in a small parchment booklet now housed in the London Guildhall Library, reveal not only a simple list of craft rules but also how these Dutch craftsmen negotiated their immigrant lives in the specifics of their artisanal practice and the broader social and linguistic realities of their daily interactions.

This book, which combines historical and philological approaches, uncovers the remarkable lives and writings of these tradesmen. It demonstrates how they adapted to their new environment and responded to the challenges they faced. Additionally, it presents a modern edition of the texts of the Hatmakers guild book, making it accessible to a wider audience.

This volume will be available under the Creative Commons License: CC BY-.

Weight: 286g
Dimension: 155 x 234 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781837650804