Africans and their lives in Tudor England | History for Year 6 PDF Download

How do we know about the lives of African people in Tudor England?

• Historians like Imtiaz Habeeb, Onyeka Nubia, and Miranda Kaufmann have uncovered evidence showing that numerous individuals of African descent lived in England during the Tudor period. 
• Their lives are documented through letters, legal records, and church records of births and deaths. Additionally, evidence suggests that people of African origin served in the royal courts of Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I. 
• African servants also resided in the households of prominent courtiers such as Robert Dudley, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Sir William Cecil, and Sir Robert Cecil.

African people in Roman England

• People of African descent have been part of Britain’s history since at least AD 43, when the Romans arrived. North African soldiers were stationed at Hadrian’s Wall, and around the same time, a woman of sub-Saharan African heritage lived in southern England, possibly born there or arriving as a young child. 
• Known as the ‘Ivory Bangle Lady,’ she lived in 4th-century Roman York and was buried with valuable items like earrings and ivory bracelets, indicating her North African descent, as confirmed by skeletal analysis. 
• Evidence of African presence during the medieval era is less extensive compared to Roman Britain or the Tudor period but is still being uncovered.

How did people of African origin arrive in Tudor England?

• Some Africans came directly from Africa as traders or ambassadors, such as Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud, who visited from Morocco to negotiate treaties with Elizabeth I. Others arrived via Spain or Portugal, which had significant African populations. 
• Most Africans in Tudor England were servants, a common role at the time, with varying social statuses. Some were skilled craftspeople, like Reasonable Blackman, a silk weaver of African heritage living in Southwark, London, with his family.

The slave trade in the Tudor period

• No law in Tudor England explicitly banned or permitted slavery. While some English individuals engaged in selling enslaved people in the 1500s, large-scale English involvement in the transatlantic slave trade began in the 1600s. 
• A court case from 1587 mentions an ‘Ethiopian’ man, a term loosely applied to Africans, who was brought to England on an English ship after being captured from the Spanish in the Americas. 
• He was illegally sold to Hector Nunes, a Portuguese doctor in London. In Portugal, slavery was legal, but Nunes admitted in court that he had no legal right to force the man to serve him, as the man refused.

What jobs did people of African origin in Tudor England do?

John Blanke

• John Blanke, a Tudor musician, likely arrived in England with Catherine of Aragon’s household. He served under Henry VII and Henry VIII, performing at Henry VII’s funeral and Henry VIII’s coronation. 
• Blanke played a key role at the 1511 Westminster Joust, a grand event celebrating the birth of Henry and Catherine’s short-lived son. 
• As a trumpeter, he announced royal entrances at court, on battlefields, and for notable figures. Earning eight pence daily under Henry VII—double a farm laborer’s wage and triple a servant’s—Blanke was highly valued. 
• He secured a pay raise from Henry VIII and received new clothing as a wedding gift in 1512. After this, he disappears from records, possibly leaving royal service.

Jacques Francis

Jacques Francis, an expert free diver from West Africa, where such skills were renowned, worked for Venetian salvager Peter Paolo Corsi in the late 1540s. In 1546, Francis helped recover guns from the sunken Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s warship lost in 1545 off Portsmouth. His dangerous job involved diving to the seabed to tie ropes around objects for retrieval. His respected status is evident from his role as a witness in a 1548 court case, where Corsi was accused of stealing from Italian shipwrecks. Not all Tudors were permitted to testify, highlighting Francis’s standing.

Diego and Drake

• Diego, whose full origins and name are unclear, was enslaved by the Spanish in Panama during the 1570s. Familiar with the Cimarron—escaped Africans—and Spanish treasure routes, he likely lived among them. 
• In 1572, he met Sir Francis Drake, an English privateer with a history of slave trading. Diego was not enslaved by Drake but collaborated with him and the Cimarron to capture Spanish gold and silver in Panama. 
• Their successful attack at Nombre de Dios yielded 150,000 pesos. Diego joined Drake’s crew, sailed to Plymouth, and participated in Drake’s 1577 global circumnavigation. 
• He died in 1579 from an arrow wound and was buried at sea near the Maluku Islands. The Drake Jewel, gifted by Elizabeth I to Drake, may symbolize this alliance, featuring a sardonyx cameo with black and white figures representing African and English unity against Spain.

Mary Fillis

Born in 1577 to a Moroccan basket weaver and shovel maker, Mary Fillis arrived in England as a young child in the early 1580s. She worked as a servant for merchant John Barker, whose trade connections likely facilitated her arrival. She lived alongside other African servants in his household and community. England’s growing trade and anti-Spanish alliance with Morocco, marked by visits from Moroccan ambassadors in 1589 and 1600, shaped her world. Later, Mary worked as a dressmaker’s assistant, possibly to gain independence, and learned Christian practices, including the Lord’s Prayer. Her 1597 baptism at St Botolph’s Aldgate Church, London, preserved her story.

Cattelena of Almondsbury

Cattelena, an African woman, lived in Almondsbury, near Bristol, and died in 1625. Her Hispanic name suggests ties to Spain, Portugal, or their colonies. An inventory of her possessions reveals she was an independent single woman, a status held by about 30% of Tudor women. She earned a living from her cow, likely kept on village common land, selling milk, cheese, or butter. Her modest possessions included a bed, pillows, sheets, a quilt, a pewter candlestick, a tin bottle, and twelve spoons, offering insight into the life of an ordinary Tudor woman of African descent in rural England.

Key Points

• Historians have identified over 200 individuals of African descent living in England during the Tudor era. 
• They held diverse occupations and resided in various locations, from urban centers to rural villages, with some even present in the courts of King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I.
•  These individuals arrived in England through various pathways, including as traders and ambassadors, directly from Africa, or through connections with the Spanish and Portuguese empires.