Laudator Temporis Acti

Charles Nicholl, The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1992), pp. 39-40:

In these times people look for a scapegoat, and chief among these were the city's immigrant traders — Dutch, Belgian, French: Protestant refugees from the battle-grounds of Europe. 'The common people do rage against them,' wrote one observer, 'as though for their sakes so many taxes, such decay of traffic, and their being embrandled in so many wars, did ensue.' London's traders and shop-keepers felt particularly threatened. The foreigners, they protested, 'contented not themselves with manufactures and warehouses, but would keep shops, and retail all manner of goods.' As well as taking business from the locals, the immigrants had a reputation for stinginess. Thirty years ago, wrote John Stow, the parish of Billingsgate levied £27 per annum 'for the help of the poor'. Now the area is full of 'Netherlanders', and 'since they came so plentifully thither, there cannot be gathered above £11, for the stranger will not contribute to such charges as other citizens do'.

Several petitions were signed against the 'strangers', but these seem to have been ignored. The official line was that the immigrants were bona fide refugees and Protestant allies, and that they benefited the economy. On 21 March 1593 the House of Commons voted to extend the privileges of resident aliens. A lone voice of dissent came from Sir Walter Ralegh. 'I see no reason that so much respect should be given unto them,' he said. 'In the whole cause I see no matter of honour, no matter of charity, no profit in relieving them.'

On the streets, more militant action began. Some time shortly before Easter Day, 15 April 1593, a 'placard' was nailed up, threatening that the apprentices of London would soon 'attempt some violence on the strangers'. On Easter Monday, the Privy Council met at St James's Palace, and drew up a letter to the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Cuthbert Buckle, expressing their concern about this 'vile ticket or placard'. They understood that an arrest had already been made. The suspect should be examined about his 'meaning and purpose' in the writing. He should be 'punished by torture', if necessary, to make him talk.

The Council feared that more was to come — 'oftentimes it doth fall out of such lewd beginnings that further mischief doth ensue' — and so it proved. During the following week, further 'libels' were posted up. One of these was addressed to the 'beastly brutes the Belgians', the 'faint-hearted Flemings', and the 'fraudulent Father Frenchmen'. It accuses them of 'cowardly flight' from their home countries, of 'hypocrisy and counterfeit shew of religion'. It complains that the Queen allows them 'to live here in better case and more freedom than her own people'. It demands that they quit the country within three months. If not,

There shall be many a sore stripe. Apprentices will rise to the number of 2336, and all the apprentices and journeymen will down with the Flemings and Strangers.

The Queen was informed, and on 22 April the Council set up a special five-man commission under Dr Julius Caesar. Caesar, the son of an Italian physician, was Master of the Court of Requests: a trusted legal figure. The commission's brief was to 'examine by secret means who may be authors of the said libels'. The emphasis was on a more covert, 'secret' approach. Two of the commissioners — William Waad and Thomas Phelippes — were old hands from the Walsingham intelligence service.

The authorities also ordered a 'strict account' to be taken of the immigrant population in London. The certificates, returned on 4 May, show the number of foreigners in London, including children and servants, to be 4,300. Of these 237 were 'denizens' (property-owning foreigners granted certain rights). Overall the immigrants represented little more than 2 per cent of the city's population, though in some areas considerably more. Many were now planning to leave, terrified by this violent 'commotion' against them.