The historical context of the Central Middle Ages has now been set. Cologne's preeminent place in the flourishing of Anglo-German commercial relations is undoubted, and served as a foundation for all other interregional contacts between Cologners and the English. Now we turn to the equally intensive and interesting social relations between these two communities. The surviving records reveal some remarkable activities of both Cologners in England and the English in Cologne. In both cases these began at a very early date. We begin with the English in Cologne, since their social relations have hitherto remained unreconstructed from the municipal records of the city. The new prosopographical information that emerges requires a revision of the generally accepted view that, while the Germans emigrated and traveled to England for commercial purposes, the English did not establish equivalent personal contacts in Germany until much later in the Hanseatic era. We shall then look in more detail at the nature of Cologner activity in England in order to complete our comparative study of Anglo-German expatriate communities. In all this the extent of integration between German and English communities proves surprisingly great.