Alien knights in a hostile land: the experience of curial knights in thirteenth-century England and the assimilation of their families

Abstract

Thirteenth-century England witnessed an increasing sense of national identity and there were also waves of xenophobia. English kings recruited soldiers from across the Channel and this article examines the experience of sixteen alien families from Normandy, Touraine, Poitou, Franche Comte, Savoy and Germany, to see how they weathered these storms and did, or did not, become assimilated into English society. While these families began as royal servants, some of their descendants gave up the royal safety net and, by obtaining hereditable lands, making local alliances, taking local office and adopting local allegiances, became members of the English nobility and gentry.