Results: Black Tudors
Published on 03/08/2018
(Source: Jonathan Carey) At the College of Arms in London on a 60-foot-long vellum manuscript sits an image of a man atop a horse, with a trumpet in hand and a turban around his head. This is John Blanke, a black African trumpeter who lived under the Tudors. The manuscript was originally used to announce the Westminster Tournament in celebration of the 1511 birth of Henry, Duke of Cornwall, Henry VIII’s son. Blanke was hired for the court by Henry VII. The job came with high wages, room and board, clothing, and was considered the highest possible position a musician could obtain in Tudor England.
Blanke was no anomaly, but was one of hundreds of West and Northern Africans living freely and working in England during the Tudor dynasty. Many came via Portuguese trading vessels that had enslaved Africans onboard, others came with merchants or from captured Spanish vessels. However once in England, Africans worked and lived like other English citizens, were able to testify in court, and climbed the social hierarchy of their time. A few of their stories are now captured in the book, Black Tudors by author and historian Miranda Kaufmann.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/black-african-tudors-england?utm_source=Atlas+Obscura+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=fc2d9ed1e4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_28&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f36db9c480-fc2d9ed1e4-63459725&ct=t()&mc_cid=fc2d9ed1e4&mc_eid=4018e6eb90
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QUESTIONS
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Comments
1.
1.
Were you aware that hundreds of Africans lived freely during the reign of Henrys VII and VIII?
![Were you aware that hundreds of Africans lived freely during the reign of Henrys VII and VIII?](https://www.tellwut.com/uploads/media/image/thumb/130003e1520219178o1094.jpg)
Yes
19%
453 votes
No
81%
1944 votes
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"The idea that Africans were mistreated by the English well before the Atlantic slave trade comes from a Queen Elizabeth I letter sent to the Privy Council in 1596, a sort of board of directors for England. 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. She later arranged for a merchant named Casper van Senden to deport Africans from England." Does this comment made by the author of the book Black Tudors remind you of any actual events?
![](https://www.tellwut.com/uploads/media/image/thumb/130003e1520219195o8346.jpg)
Yes
19%
467 votes
No
49%
1166 votes
Undecided
32%
764 votes
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"However, this edict wasn't what it appeared. Kaufmann writes that van Senden originally approached the queen telling her that Africans were taking jobs away from English citizens, a problem that could be readily solved by paying him to deport them. "In the queen's understanding, everyone she cared about would profit: there would be more work for good English folk who would then complain less to the queen, and a grateful merchant would make money from her kind deal. 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." Does this sound like all the efforts made to get rid of unwanted immigrants?
![](https://www.tellwut.com/uploads/media/image/thumb/130003e1520219213o4641.jpg)
Yes
33%
780 votes
No
23%
562 votes
Undecided
44%
1055 votes
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The Argentinian territory has been populated with immigrants even before the country existed as such, Immigrants were generally welcomed and wanted. When the issues in Venezuela started, a few immigrants moved to Argentina. After a while, thousands of people from Venezuela started moving to Argentina, especially Buenos Aires. When the amount was so huge that local people started to worry about jobs for locals, illnesses that were unknown for the country that came with the newcomers, hospitals and schools full or foreigners and too loaded for the local population, and realizing that they were willing to work for less than the locals, the friendly, wanted immigrants, all of a sudden turned into a threat. I never imagined I would hear so much about it and witness it myself. I have a few friends from Venezuela and they can also feel the change. Sooner or later, the friendly Argentinian government might repeat the story of Queen Elizabeth and many others. Have you ever seen a culture transforming their traditional attitude when fear begins to take control?
![The Argentinian territory has been populated with immigrants even before the country existed as such, Immigrants were generally welcomed and wanted. When the issues in Venezuela started, a few immigrants moved to Argentina. After a while, thousands of people from Venezuela started moving to Argentina, especially Buenos Aires. When the amount was so huge that local people started to worry about jobs for locals, illnesses that were unknown for the country that came with the newcomers, hospitals and schools full or foreigners and too loaded for the local population, and realizing that they were willing to work for less than the locals, the friendly, wanted immigrants, all of a sudden turned into a threat. I never imagined I would hear so much about it and witness it myself. I have a few friends from Venezuela and they can also feel the change. Sooner or later, the friendly Argentinian government might repeat the story of Queen Elizabeth and many others. Have you ever seen a culture transforming their traditional attitude when fear begins to take control?](https://www.tellwut.com/uploads/media/image/thumb/130003e1520219833o983.jpg)
Yes
29%
704 votes
No
33%
783 votes
Undecided
38%
910 votes
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