A few of their stories are now captured in the book, Black Tudors by author and historian Miranda Kaufmann. At the start of the tournament was a procession through the streets of London and Westminster so everyone could show themselves off in their finery; no doubt the Londoners gaped and cheered as they went past in all their glory. It was his proximity to the King that explains why he was portrayed. Once the challenge was out there, other courtiers rushed to sign up to answer the challenge. English expansion and colonization is often seen as the driving factor. The star of our research was John Blanke, the black Trumpeter to the Tudor courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, as uniquely there is both an image and supporting records of him in the archives. Website . Pulling from exchequer papers, parish records, letters, and petitions, Kaufmann pieces together the lives of 10 Africans living in Tudor England. Piety and partying, essentially. In the letter Queen Elizabeth I largely blamed the African population for England’s ongoing social issues, writing that the country did not need “divers blackmoores brought into this realme.” This proclamation was sent to the mayors of England’s major cities. It shows that Ceure Loyal performed best – which was Henry himself. Black People in 16th Century England" for the BBC History Magazine, published in July 2012. The aftermath was tragic of course, since the young prince died 10 days later. A closing heraldic device and a poem of five verses in praise of Henry VIII, including the lines: This art owr hope our ankyr haven and port These benefits included Christianity and civilization, both of which black Africans were assumed to lack,” says Leidl. To learn more or withdraw consent, please visit our cookie policy. “The church was the central social and cultural institution. Email Address * First Name . Offer subject to change without notice. in October 2012 for History Today magazine and the other is "The Missing Tudors. After the stress of her recent miscarriage, everyone went potty with delight, and Henry reacted in the most natural way – he gave thanks at the shrine at Walsingham, and announced a tournament. Henry VIII wanted such a pictorial record made of his tournament to mark the birth of his male child. Through her research, Kaufmann uncovered evidence that Africans were married and baptized by the Church of England. A giant circle of pits is the largest Neolithic site found in Britain to date. One of the trumpeter’s is a black musician called John Blanke, from the Latin word for white. Email Format . He is shown first riding a grey horse with a black harness. It is a pictorial illuminated manuscript, a continuous roll approximately 60 feet long. There follow sixteen gentleman leading the allegorical pageant of the four challengers: Sir Edward Neville as Joyeulx Penser, Sir William Courtenay as Bon Vouloir, Sir Thomas Knyvet as Vaillant desyr and ending with Henry VIII as Cueur Loyal. We depend on ad revenue to craft and curate stories about the world’s hidden wonders. It is a pictorial illuminated manuscript, a continuous roll approximately 60 feet long. But there was another factor, the transformation from the concept of slavery holding the generic meaning of another person owning another, to one defined by ethnic identities says Liedl. Offer available only in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico). The challengers first arrived inside a movable forest topped by a castle made of golden paper and the Great Wardrobe was ordered to produce all manner of splendid trappings, such as the new banners to hang from the royal trumpeters’ instruments. the church spires every day, towering over the city streets. The king is in the centre of course, surrounded by a host of footmen, officials and dignitaries, a mace bearer, a crowd of nobles, the officers of arms and six trumpeters. John Blanke Black Trumpeter (detail from1511 Westminster Tournament Roll) He probably came to England with Catherine of Aragon’s entourage, and so had been a musician at the English court since around 1507; he may have come from Spain, Italy or Portugal, all of which had growing black populations. Catherine Howard: Love letter and Confessions, A contemporary view of the Tudor peerage in 1538/9, Katherine Howard, Countess of Bridgewater, Henry VII’s hatchet men: Empson and Dudley, Bishop John Fisher’s sermon for Margaret Beaufort funeral, Thomas Cranmer: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Thomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch, Young and Damned and Fair by Gareth Russell. The aforementioned John Blanke would have certainly enjoyed some celebrity during his time due to his position in the royal court. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. All rights reserved. In February 1511 Catherine of Aragon delivered a son, immediately christened Henry. The King's joust is shown as watched over by Queen Katherine along with ladies and gentlemen of the court seated in an ornate pavilion. The Roll depicts the joust called by Henry VIII in February 1511 to celebrate the birth of his son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, to Catherine of Aragon, on New Year's Day of that year. Queen ‘Noble Renown’ of the kingdom of ‘Noble Heart’, rejoicing at the birth of the prince, had sent four knights, Ceure Loyall, Vailliaunt Desyre, Bone Voloyr and Joyous Panser, to joust in England against all comers.The names of these knights came from the greatest love allegory of the Middle Ages, the Roman de la Rose, and they personify the psychological forces in the conquest of love. This is John Blanke, a black African trumpeter who lived under the Tudors. But like several other of Elizabeth’s schemes, they solved a problem that nobody really saw or worried about,” says Janice Liedl, Professor of History at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. html; text; Marketing Permissions. A second letter went out from the queen, but it too was largely unsuccessful and ignored. She sets out to change the way we understand Tudor life, Medieval England, and dispel the notion that the first Africans arrived in England as slaves. Near Stonehenge, an Even Bigger Neolithic Site Is Hidden Underground, To Work Out Like a Victorian Woman, Grab a Corset—and Don't Break a Sweat, How the Black Death Gave Rise to British Pub Culture, The Museum of Youth Culture Wants Your Teenage Memories, How a Team of Calligraphers Brought Jane Austen's Fictional Letters to Life, Professor of History at Laurentian University. Westminster Tournament Roll The 60 foot roll depicts the joust called by Henry Vlll in February 1511 to celebrate the birth of his son, Henry, Duke of Cornwall, to Catherine of Aragon… One perception that we get from these pop culture portrayals of the lustful King Henry VIII and the tumultuous life of Bloody Mary is that Tudor England lacked ethnic diversity. John Blanke is the earliest identifiable person of Black African descent to be portrayed in sixteenth-century British art. When Henry VII died in spring 1509, Blanke was one of the trumpeters who played at his funeral, dressed in black. The tournament followed the best traditions of the high point of 15th century chivalry – from the court of the Dukes of Burgundy. In 1569 an English court ruled that “England has too pure an air for slaves to breathe in,” setting the first legal precedent barring slavery from England. Henry VIII wanted a pictorial record of his tournament so he commissioned a Roll of Honour which survives. While the African population in England would have been relatively small, possibly a little more than 300 individuals according to Kaufmann, they were respected members of Tudor society. The betrayals, wars, and religious reforms of the Tudor dynasty have been depicted in numerous films and in the Showtime series, The Tudors. It is believed to be the work of Thomas Wriothesley's workshop,[2] as is The Westminster Tournament Challenge, which was the invitation to the Tournament. See. John Blanke in his resplendent turban on the Westminster Tournament Roll containing an equal number of white and black chessmen”, so it makes sense that Katherine could have had a black trumpeter in her entourage. It is a narrative of the beginning, middle and end of the tournament. The seminar aims to introduce students to some key concepts whilst also encouraging them to think about methodology and historiography. Maryland: Tracing the Steps of Tubman & Douglass, Private Trip: Tracing the Steps of Tubman & Douglass, Natural Dyes: Creating a Plant-Based Palette With Aaron Sanders Head, In Montana, Remote Fire Lookouts Keep a Century-Old Tradition Alive, The Holocaust-Surviving Violins That Were Quarantined Beneath a California Stage. Consider supporting our work by becoming a member for as little as $5 a month. Then the jousts began, between defenders and answerers, all of the ‘courses’ run against each other carefully recorded. The church gained further importance after King Henry VIII’s reformation where you could be tried as a heretic for not attending church, according to Liedl. He is depicted in the 1511 Westminster tournament roll where he appears twice. An heraldic badge signifying the unity of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. A scene from the Westminster Tournament Roll, showing John Blanke, an African trumpeter who worked for Henry VIII. The Roll is one of the most ancient and most prized possessions of the College of Arms in London. She explains that defining “white” and “black” in English literature comes from this decision toward the end of the Tudor period. If the Olympic Games were to have the same proportion of pageantry of athletics, we might expect a week of opening ceremonies, followed by two days of sports and another week of closing ceremonies. By harry our kyng the flowr of natewrs werk, Some idea of the scale of the pageantry depicted in the Roll can be seen from Allen Guttman's statement:[4]. When he came to the throne as a teenager, Henry VIII chose the traditional view of monarchy, a very medieval view of the role of the king and despite his education in the New Learning, he was also steeped in the chivalric romance. This was a play effectively; the parts of the knights were taken by Henry and three of his leading courtiers, Sir Thomas Knyvet, Lord William Courtenay and Sir Edward Neville.