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Summary
Summary
Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018
A Book of the Year for the Evening Standard and the Observer
A black porter publicly whips a white Englishman in the hall of a Gloucestershire manor house. A Moroccan woman is baptised in a London church. Henry VIII dispatches a Mauritanian diver to salvage lost treasures from the Mary Rose. From long-forgotten records emerge the remarkable stories of Africans who lived free in Tudor England...
They were present at some of the defining moments of the age. They were christened, married and buried by the Church. They were paid wages like any other Tudors. The untold stories of the Black Tudors, dazzlingly brought to life by Kaufmann, will transform how we see this most intriguing period of history.
Author Notes
Miranda Kaufmann is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Her first book, Black Tudors, was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018. She has appeared on Sky News, the BBC and Al Jazeera, and she's written for The Times, Guardian and BBC History Magazine. She lives in Pontblyddyn in North Wales.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The very concept of black Tudors may sound unlikely, but in this highly readable yet intensively researched book, Kaufmann, senior research fellow at the University of London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies, makes clear that people of African descent were residing in England centuries before the postwar Windrush generation and were not necessarily enslaved. By examining in detail the lives of 10 previously obscure men and women, Kaufmann depicts the great diversity of their experiences in 16th- and early-17th-century England. John Blanke, a trumpeter to Henry VII, lived at the Tudor court and earned twice the annual wage of a white agricultural laborer, while mariner John Anthony's travels took him to Virginia just as the first enslaved Africans arrived in the colony. The exotically named Cattelena of Almondsbury was an unmarried African woman who managed to make a life for herself in rural Gloucestershire. Kaufman also persuasively argues that the enslavement of Africans emerged as a response to the socioeconomic conditions of England's Caribbean and North American colonies, rather than as an inevitable result of a supposedly inherent racism within early modern English culture. Kaufmann's crucial contention, in conjunction with her lively prose and fascinating microhistories, should draw some well-deserved attention. Agent: Charlie Viney, Viney Agency. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Racial diversity in Tudor England? Kaufmann, senior research fellow at the University of London, shines an illuminating beacon on a fascinating subject that has long been relegated to a dimly lit historical closet. In a series of lively, informative sketches, she plays historical detective, unearthing little-known facts, anecdotes, and records pertaining to 10 individuals representing a socioeconomic cross section of the Afro-British population of the era. A small yet visible and viable subgroup, these Tudor citizens participated in a variety of occupations (court trumpeter, diver, sailor, silk weaver, prostitute, etc.) that reflect the economic and cultural diversity of their demographic. Predating formal British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade by approximately 100 years, this slice of social history provides a fresh, new slant on one of British history's most popular and well-trod periods.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2017 Booklist
Choice Review
In this well-researched and extremely fascinating work, Kaufmann (Univ. of London) sets out to show how black men and women first came to Tudor England and how a curious population treated them. The author asserts that Africans were not exactly a rare sight during this period. Many came to England by way of Spain and Portugal--the latter already well entrenched in the exploration of Africa by the end of the 15th century. Indeed, there were Africans living in England as early as the reign of Henry VII. Moreover, Kaufmann contends that not all black Tudors were enslaved. Many of them led full, accomplished lives as, for example, musicians and artisans. Each of the book's ten chapters detail the life and work of individuals such as Jacques Francis, a "free diver" who was hired to recover valuable weapons from the sunken flagship Mary Rose, and was the first African to give testimony in an English court of law in 1548. Kaufmann has successfully cleared up a few misconceptions about the lives of Africans living in early modern England. The book includes multiple illustrations and color images. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Most levels/libraries. --Michele Frasier-Robinson, University of Southern Mississippi
Library Journal Review
A senior research fellow at the University of London's Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Kaufmann has spent hours combing records to identify Africans in Tudor England in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The result is new insight into early European race relations. A number of Africans were present in England and they were, for the most part, treated the same as other citizens. Kaufmann relates stories of Africans who worked for wages in the court of Henry VIII, as free divers working on shipwrecks, as seamstresses, craftsmen, and merchants-Africans who married, were baptized, presented testimony in court, and were buried in churchyards. Narrator Corrie James reads capably. VERDICT This book touches on a wide array of subjects and will appeal to listeners interested in race relations or the Tudor period. ["Providing a compelling take on a rarely written about element of Tudor history, this volume is highly recommended for readers interested in a scholarly work on race and African history": LJ 11/1/17 review of the Oneworld hc.]-Cheryl Youse, Norman Park, GA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Introduction | p. 1 |
1 John Blanke, the Trumpeter | p. 7 |
2 Jacques Francis, the Salvage Diver | p. 32 |
3 Diego, the Circumnavigator | p. 56 |
4 Edward Swarthye, the Porter | p. 90 |
5 Reasonable Blackman, the Silk Weaver | p. 113 |
6 Mary Fillis, the Moroccan Convert | p. 134 |
7 Dederi Jaquoah, the Prince of River Cestos | p. 169 |
8 John Anthony, Mariner of Dover | p. 196 |
9 Anne Cobbie, the Tawny Moor with Soft Skin | p. 219 |
10 Cattelena of Almondsbury, Independent Singlewoman | p. 243 |
Conclusion | p. 261 |
Author's Note | p. 265 |
Acknowledgements | p. 269 |
Bibliography | p. 273 |
List of Illustrations | p. 303 |
Notes to Text | p. 307 |
Index | p. 367 |