.16 To The 18th Century French Huguenot Immigrants In The United Kingdom,

The French Protestant, known as Huguenot, was one of the major figuresproduced by France Reformation. However, due to religious discrimination and overtpersecution in their homeland, France was not suitable for the Huguenots to live andmany of them were forced to flee to other counties. On the other hand, theanti-catholic movement in England created a comparatively relaxed environment forthem to stay. Therefore, between the mid of 16th century to the mid of 18th century,some of the Huguenots had been immigrating into England. Over time, theysuccessfully merged into the society and by all means had various degrees of impacton many aspects of the English society. The present thesis comprising four chapterscomprehensively studies French Huguenots immigration and settlement in Englandand their influences on English society.Chapter 1 addresses the historical background of the appearance of the Huguenotsand the causes of immigration from different perspectives, such as religion, politics,economics, society, etc.Chapter 2 discusses the Huguenots immigration into England based on theanalyses of the insufficient but solid data. The Huguenots were generally wellreceived and successfully assimilated into the society. As an important group ofpeople in modern English history, the Huguenots population was big in number andspread all over the nation. They kept their own distinct traditions and organizations.Chapter 3 focuses on the huge impact of Huguenots immigration on Englandeconomy. Since most of the Huguenots of France were artisans, craftsmen andprofessional people, they brought new and more advanced technology to England,which significantly advanced the development of local industries and economy.Chapter 4 mainly addresses the social influence of Huguenots on English society.Although the immigrants only consisted of a small portion of England population andwere assimilated very quickly, their impact on English social-economics wasinestimable. And the positive impulse on the society needs to be further studied. Backin time of France Reformation, French people generally had higher education levelthan people in England. In addition, Paris, the capital city of France, was European fashion center. As craftsmen and traders in urban areas, the Huguenots were amongthe high educated people who were able to read and write and able to pursue high-level jobs, such as physician and teaching jobs, etc. These jobs were also in bigdemand in England. As they immigrated to England, The Huguenots brought theirown knowledge, ideals and culture to the local society. They also served somewhat asdiplomatic courier between England and mainland Europe. Overall, as a result of theHuguenots immigration, England's international standing was dramatically improvedand its winning position was established in the war to defeat the strong internationalopponents including France.