Italians banned in Richard's England?

I can only think he is referring to a protectionist Act aimed at Italian merchants that was submitted by the commons and which Richard passed, but only with the famous poviso that it should in no way affect people involved in the book trade. I'm afraid I don't have time to read it properly and provide a precis, but it only controlled the way Italian merchants could operate, it didn't ban Italians! It is generally thought by historians that Richard only passed it because he needed the support of the London merchant classes. It wasn't Richard's own thinking, as he had spelled that out in his pre-coronation proclamation, when he warned against attacks on foreigners, insisting their presence was good for the economy.

The text of this commons bill, in the modernised version, is as follows:

"To our sovereign lord the king; your true subjects and liege people of your realm of England pray your highness that where a great number of foreign merchants of the nation of Italy, such as Venetians, Genoese, Florentines, Apulians, Sicilians, Luccans, Catalans and others of the same nation, are inhabitants and householders within your city of London as well as in other cities and boroughs within this your realm, and take warehouses and cellars and put into them their wares and merchandise which they bring into this your said realm, and dishonestly pack, store and keep them in their said warehouses and cellars until their prices have been inflated for their maximum profit. And they then sell the same wares and merchandise to all manner of people, within the ports into which they bring their said wares and merchandise as well as generally in various other places within your said realm, retail as well as otherwise; and they also freely buy the commodities of this your said realm in the said ports and other places, and sell them again as they choose within the same realm as generally and freely as any of your said subjects do. And a great part of the proceeds they do not spend upon the commodities of this your said realm, but send overseas by exchange to various other countries, to the great harm of your said highness in the loss of your custom and to the great impoverishment of your said subjects from whom they should buy the commodities of your said realm. And the same merchants of Italy and other foreign merchants act as hosts and take people of other nations to stay with them, and daily buy and sell and make many private and secret contracts and bargains with the same people to their great profit and benefit and to the intolerable harm of your said subjects, and also contrary to various statutes provided and ordained on the subject. Also, the said merchants of Italy buy great quantities of wool, woollen cloth and other merchandise from your subjects in various places within this your said realm, and resell part of it to your said subjects and others within your said realm to their most profit, and they deliver much of the said wool to clothiers to make cloth of their choice from it. Moreover, most dread sovereign lord, craftsmen and other foreigners not born under your obedience daily resort and repair to your said city of London and other cities, boroughs and towns of your said realm in great number, more than they used to do in the past, and live within your said realm with their wives, children and households, and will not take upon themselves any labouring occupation, such as carting and ploughing and other similar work, but make cloth and other handicrafts and easy occupations, and bring and convey from overseas a great quantity of wares and merchandise to fairs and markets and all other places of your realm as they choose, and there sell them, retail as well as otherwise, as freely as any of your said subjects are accustomed to do, to the great harm and impoverishment of your said subjects; and in no way will they permit or accept any of your subjects to work with them, but only take into their employment people born in their own countries, as a result of which your said subjects, for lack of occupation, fall into idleness and become thieves, beggars, vagabonds and people of vicious living, to the great disturbance of your said highness and of your whole realm. And when the merchants and foreign craftsmen described above have made money within your said realm by buying and selling or by such easy occupations and handicrafts, they leave your said realm, taking their wealth with them, to such overseas places as they please, and there spend their wealth, often among your adversaries and enemies, to the harm of you and your subjects and to the impoverishment of your said realm and commons; and thus by occasion of the foregoing most of the inhabitants in the said cities, boroughs and towns have recently fallen and daily fall into great poverty and decay, to their probable undoing, unless your gracious help is shown to them in this matter.

May it therefore please your said highness, of your most noble and abundant grace, to consider the foregoing sympathetically and, by the advice and assent of the lords spiritual and temporal assembled in this your present parliament, and by authority of the same, to ordain and provide that all merchants of the nation of Italy listed above who have not been made denizens, who now, and before Easter next, have wares or merchandise brought from overseas within this your realm, shall sell or barter them wholesale and not retail to your subjects before 1 May 1485. And they shall spend the money coming from the same sale before the said 1 May within the port or ports where they arrived, upon commodities and merchandise of this your realm, always excepting and deducting their reasonable costs and expenses, upon pain of forfeiting the whole value of the said wares and merchandise kept and not sold before the said 1 May, or sold otherwise than described above, and also of all the money made by exchange contrary to this act. And also, all the said merchants of Italy who bring any merchandise or wares into this your realm of England to be sold after Easter next shall sell or barter the said wares and merchandise to your subjects wholesale and not retail, upon pain of forfeiting the value of the same wares and merchandise which they bring after the said feast of Easter and barter and sell within your said realm, as is aforesaid, and they shall barter or sell the same within eight months of their first arrival in this your said realm, in the aforesaid form. And the money coming from or by the said sales or bartering, and each of them, they shall spend on commodities or merchandise of this said realm of England within the said eight months, in the said port or ports where they first arrived, always excepting and deducting their reasonable costs and expenses, and they shall in no way make any money by exchange. And the said merchants whose said wares and merchandise remain unsold after the end of the said eight months shall in no way sell or barter them within your said realm, but shall carry them out of the same realm within the two months immediately following the same eight months, wind and weather permitting, or else as soon after the said two months as wind and weather will allow, upon pain of forfeiting all the money thus made outside your said realm by exchange as well as from the said wares and merchandise thus sold or bartered after the end of the said eight months and not carried or conveyed out of your said realm, in the aforesaid form, or its value; the forfeiture, penalty and loss of all the things stated always to be borne by the said merchants of Italy going against this act. Provided always that it shall be lawful for the said merchants of the nation of Italy to convey freely all such merchandise and wares, and every part of them, which after Easter next shall be brought to any port or ports or other places within this your said realm to be sold, to any other port or ports or other places within this your said realm and to sell them there, as it is aforesaid, provided that they sell or barter the same merchandise and wares within this your realm within eight months of their first arrival at any of the said port or ports of the same realm. Also, no foreign merchant, of whatever country he may be, shall host or take to stay with him within the said realm of England any foreign merchant who is not of the same nation as him, upon pain of losing and forfeiting £40 every time he does so. And no foreign merchant shall remain with a host or stay within the said realm with any other foreign merchant who is not of his nation or country, upon pain of £40. Also, none of the said merchants of Italy who has not been made denizen shall sell or barter any wool, woollen cloths or other merchandise within this your said realm, which the same merchants of Italy have bought within the same realm, and the said merchants, or anyone else on their behalf, shall not deliver any wool to any person to make cloths within the same realm, but shall have and convey the same wool, woollen cloths and other merchandise overseas through the Straits of Gibraltar, upon pain of forfeiting the value of all the wool, woollen cloth and other merchandise which they shall thus sell or deliver, in whosever hands it may be found; the forfeiture of the same to be borne by the said foreign merchant. Furthermore, no person not born under your obedience or made denizen, of whatever nation or country he may be, who comes into this your said realm of England after Easter next, taking it upon himself to be an artificer or craftsman, shall take or occupy any house or chamber and dwell in it or stay there with any other foreigner who was not born under your obedience, as is aforesaid, or exercise or practise any kind of craft or the occupation of any craftsman within this your said realm of England, but all such people who come into this your said realm after the said feast of Easter, and each of them, shall depart for their own countries again or else be employed only by those of your subjects who are expert and knowledgeable in such [memb. 20] skills, crafts and work as the said foreigners can practise, upon pain of forfeiting all the goods of those who come and dwell in this your said realm contrary to this act, in whosever hands they may be found. Also, no person not born under your obedience or made denizen who is an artificer or craftsman after the said feast of Easter, or anyone else for him or on his behalf, shall weave or make any cloth or put out any wool to be made into cloth within the said realm of England, upon pain of forfeiting the same cloth woven or made contrary to this act. Also, all people not born under your obedience who are artificers and craftsmen dwelling in or inhabiting this your said realm on the day this act is made, or any other such artificers or craftsmen who hereafter shall dwell in or inhabit the same realm, who after the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady next shall use, exercise or practise the sale of merchandise of any kind of wares within this your said realm, shall sell or barter the same wares and merchandise wholesale and not retail within the port, town or place where the same artificers inhabit or dwell and in no other place, upon pain of forfeiting the whole value of the wares and merchandise sold contrary to this act. Also, no person not born under your obedience who now inhabits, dwells or keeps a house or chamber within this your said realm and practises any handicraft or is an artificer or craftsman after the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady next, shall take any apprentice, servant or any other person to work with him or on his behalf except his son or daughter, with the exception of those who are his apprentices or servants at the said feast, unless the same apprentices or servants thus taken were born your subjects, upon pain of forfeiting and losing £20 for every apprentice or servant taken to the contrary; one half of all the said fines, forfeitures and penalties, and each of them, to go to your said highness, and the other half to go to him or them who seize the same or sue for them by action of debt, by writ at common law, by bill or by plaint, according to the custom of the city or town where any such fines, forfeitures or penalties hereafter happen to fall and be. And the defendant in any such action shall not be admitted to wage or do his law, nor shall any protection or essoin for royal service be allowed in the same to any such defendant.

[Richard's response:]

Let it be done as it is desired. Provided always that neither this act or any part of it, nor any other act made or to be made in this present parliament, shall extend or be prejudicial to in any way, or obstruct, harm or impede, any craftsman or foreign merchant, of whatever nation or country he may or shall be, with regard to bringing into this realm, or selling retail or otherwise, any kind of books, written or printed, or dwelling within the said realm for the same purpose, or any writer, limner, binder or printer of such books which he has or wishes to sell by way of trade, or to their dwelling in the same realm in order to exercise the said occupations; notwithstanding this act or any part of it."

What happened in Henry's reign is that in his first parliament the merchants of Italy (clearly still around!) presented a bill asking for the above Act to be repealed, and Henry assented. But he himself passed xenophobic legislation in that same parliament, probably as a result of the same pressure that Richard had faced, and what is more he passed some of it off as royal Bills. My guess is that this Act would have been repealed in Richard's next parliament had he won Bosworth.