Leaving the Promised Lands: Emigration from the Low Countries to Florence in the Fifteenth Century

William Torbeyns; Bart Lambert; Jelle Haemers

doi:10.51769/bmgn-lchr.23149

Leaving the Promised Lands

Emigration from the Low Countries to Florence in the Fifteenth Century

Author(s)

William Torbeyns Vrije Universiteit Brussel https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8057-850X
Bart Lambert Vrije Universiteit Brussel https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4921-9420
Jelle Haemers Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.23149

Keywords:

Migration, Low Countries, Italy, Late Middle Ages, confraternities, Duchy of Brabant, County of Flanders

Abstract

This article challenges the assumption that the late medieval Low Countries were predominantly an immigrant-receiving region by highlighting the significance of emigration from these supposed ‘promised lands’. It examines evidence from the migrant confraternity of Saint Barbara in Florence. Database research on its membership register from 1445-1456 reveals details of 457 individuals who migrated from the Low Countries to Tuscany, revising Mario Battistini’s earlier figures upward. Migrants from these areas constituted the largest share of the confraternity, questioning its previous characterisation as ‘German’. Primarily composed of cloth and linen workers displaced by issues in their native urban textile industries, these migrants had different economic profiles compared to those moving to fifteenth-century England, who were mostly highly-skilled artisans. Cloth weavers found wage-based opportunities in Florence, while linen weavers faced less competition there. The confraternity also included many female migrants, but due to limited information, it is challenging to determine their reasons for migrating.

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Author Biographies

William Torbeyns, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

William Torbeyns is a joint PhD fellow at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and KU Leuven. His doctoral research, funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), examines migration from the Low Countries to Florence and London in the fifteenth century, focusing on the selectivity, drivers, and social dynamics of mobility. His broader research interests include gender history and the social and economic history of the late medieval Low Countries. E-mail: William.Torbeyns@vub.be.
Bart Lambert, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Bart Lambert is Associate Professor of Late Medieval History and Director of the SHOC (Social History of Capitalism) research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He specialises in the history of migration in late medieval Europe. He is the co-author of Immigrant England, 1300–1550 (with Mark Ormrod and Jonathan Mackman; Manchester University Press, 2019) and has published widely on the subject in peer-reviewed journals, including History Workshop Journal, The English Historical Review, and The Journal of British Studies. E-mail: Bart.Lambert@vub.be.
Jelle Haemers, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Jelle Haemers is Professor of Medieval History at KU Leuven. His research interests include urban history, the social and political history of the Low Countries, and the gender history of late medieval Europe. Recent publications are Communes and Conflict: Urban Rebellion in Late Medieval Flanders (2023, with Jan Dumolyn), and Urban Women: Life, Love, and Work in the Medieval Low Countries (2025, with Andrea Bardyn and Chanelle Delameillieure). E-mail: jelle.haemers@kuleuven.be.

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Published

2026-06-23

Issue

Vol. 141 No. 2 (2026)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Torbeyns, W., Lambert, B., & Haemers, J. (2026). Leaving the Promised Lands: Emigration from the Low Countries to Florence in the Fifteenth Century. BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 141(2), 4-32. https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.23149