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Miranda Kaufmann

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Black Tudors: The Untold Story Kindle Edition

by Miranda Kaufmann (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 901 ratings

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A new, transformative history – in Tudor times there were Black people living and working in Britain, and they were free

‘This is history on the cutting edge of archival research, but accessibly written and alive with human details and warmth.’ David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History

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.

***

Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2018

A Book of the Year for the Evening Standard and the Observer

‘That rare thing: a book about the 16th century that said something new.’ Evening Standard, Books of the Year

‘Splendid… a cracking contribution to the field.’ Dan Jones, Sunday Times

‘Consistently fascinating, historically invaluable… the narrative is pacy... Anyone reading it will never look at Tudor England in the same light again.’Daily Mail

Editorial Reviews

Review

‘That rare thing: a book about the 16th century that said something new.’ — Evening Standard, Books of the Year

‘This is history on the cutting edge of archival research, but accessibly written and alive with human details and warmth. Black Tudors is a critical book that allows us to better understand an era that fascinates us like no other.’ -- David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History

‘Enlightening and constantly surprising… Far too many popular studies of the Tudors return the same faces. To its great credit, Black Tudors presents fresh figures and challenges the way we look at them.’ — Jessie Childs, Financial Times

‘Splendid… that rare thing – a work of history about the Tudors that actually says something fresh and new… a cracking contribution to the field.’ — Dan Jones, Sunday Times

‘Consistently fascinating, historically invaluable… the narrative is pacy... Anyone reading it will never look at Tudor England in the same light again.' — Daily Mail

‘An absolute joy.’ — Leanda de Lisle, The Times

‘The industry and skill with which Miranda Kaufmann has hunted for these sources and teased out their meanings are exemplary… Kaufmann’s greatest skill is her ability to fill in the background on every topic that arises, from piracy to silk-weaving to brothels to Anglo-Moroccan diplomacy… In the hands of a lesser writer this would be mere padding with secondary material, but she investigates every subject in the same depth… a fascinating book, which brings a sadly neglected part of our history to life, and grinds no ideological axes in the process’. — Daily Telegraph

‘[The] audience will find itself in the hands of a historian of excellent investigative skills, who shows attention to detail, uses evidence with appropriate caution, and has the sensibility of a scholar.’ — Times Literary Supplement

‘Fascinating.’ — Sunday Telegraph

‘Meticulous research draws on sources from letters to legal papers… The detail [Kaufmann] unearths brings to life those absent from the pages of history.’ — Observer

‘In a work of brilliant sleuthing, engagingly written, Kaufmann reclaims long-forgotten lives and fundamentally challenges our preconceptions of Tudor and Jacobean attitudes to race and slavery.’ -- John Guy, bestselling author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years

‘Miranda Kaufmann has written a superb antidote both to the cliches of Tudor history and to the assumption that Black migration to Britain began with the Windrush. Her vivid portrait of Black Tudor lives sweeps readers around the world in the company of Diego, manservant to Sir Francis Drake, and back to the life of single woman Cattelena in the Gloucestershire countryside. Grounded in precise and detailed historical research, Black Tudors promises to change perceptions of a period at the heart of Britain’s national identity.’ -- Catherine Fletcher, author of The Black Prince of Florence

About the Author

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 and was A Book of the Year for the Evening Standard and the Observer. 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 North Wales.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01MSX81Q4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oneworld Publications (October 5, 2017)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 5, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 12640 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 517 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #520,768 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
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4.5 901 ratings

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Miranda Kaufmann

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Dr. Miranda Kaufmann is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, part of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. She read History at Christ Church, Oxford, where she completed her doctoral thesis on 'Africans in Britain, 1500-1640' in 2011. As a freelance historian and journalist, she has worked for The Sunday Times, the BBC, the National Trust, English Heritage, the Oxford Companion series, Quercus publishing and the Rugby Football Foundation. She is a popular speaker at conferences, seminars and schools from Hull to Jamaica and has published articles in academic journals and elsewhere (including the Times Literary Supplement, The Times, The Guardian, History Today, BBC History Magazine and Periscope Post). She enjoys engaging in debate at the intersection of past and present and has been interviewed by the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera USA and the Observer.

Contact her at @MirandaKaufmann or via www.mirandakaufmann.com

Recent projects include establishing the "What's Happening in Black British History?" series of workshops at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies with Michael Ohajuru, the Influential Black Londoners exhibition at the National Trust's Sutton House in Hackney, and an entry for John Blanke (fl.1507-1512) in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Her first book, Black Tudors: The Untold Story, will be published by Oneworld on 5th October 2017 (UK) and 14th November 2017 (USA).

Miranda discovered rugby at Oxford, where she became college captain at Christ Church and eventually got two winning Blues, beating Cambridge 20-0 and 35-7 in 2005 and 2006. She enjoys travelling (highlights include bar-tending in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics, teaching English in Ecuador, and retracing Francis Drake’s steps in Colombia), dancing, cinema, theatre, art, and baking white-chocolate-chip chocolate Brownies.

For articles, blogs, videos, podcasts and more visit: www.mirandakaufmann.com

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kc

Black Tudors bought Kindle and 2 books for gifts

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2022

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A different aspect of English Tudor history (beyond the usual Henry VIII coverage), "The Black Tudors..." is so interesting that I bought Kindle first, and then bought 2 paperback books for gifts. A particular person is the subject of each chapter, and there may not be many details about each one, but the author provides a range of information about the period, as well as other people that were part of the central person's sphere. I now want to read other books about the time period, including one about the sunken ship "Mary Rose", which is mentioned in Chapter 2 "Jacques Francis, the Salvage Diver". I am really enjoying the book.

For more information about Tudor life in general, I also bought the Kindle book "The Tudors in 100 Objects" by John Matusiak, which I read on my phone so that I can see the photos in color.

10 people found this helpful

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Melinda

Gives a more accurate picture of Tudor England and also the rest of the world.

Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2018

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Excellent book, very readable and well documented. Kaufmann gives a good overview of Tudor period history as well as specific examples of the integration of black immigrants into English life (and life in other countries). She shows how our current concept of race shapes our perception of historic relationships.

10 people found this helpful

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santa cruz woman

unexplored history

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2020

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if one watches historical pics, the tudors, elizabeth 1 it is easy to get the impression blacks born in europe or africa were only slaves. this discusses the lives of those many who were free workers as musicians, sailors, officials, businesswomen etc. i wasn't aware that in the time of england's henry 8 is was high fashion to have african looking musicians in your court orchestra. some were from africa, others moslems from morocco etc. the man she discusses appears in a portrait and his petition asking for a raise and promotion is shown. slaves in the new world are q
uoted as wishing they could get to england where there is no slavery and 1 made it and sailed with sir francis drake. a master who wanted his slave to work was told by a court he can't be forced to stay and serve. a woman dies and leaves an estate including the cow. it is history not taught in school and was written so well that i couldn't stop reading it. it also includes color repros of art showing africans including the musician. would make an excellent gift and there is a bibliography for those who want to read more.

24 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

History and Literature together

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2023

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Miranda Kaufmann does the heavy lifting for the reader, by thoroughly providing the proof of the existence of Africans throughout Tudor and early Stuart times. The detail is at moments overwhelming, but it leaves me both enlightened and grateful.

4 people found this helpful

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Judith Wood

Very informative

Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2021

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Very informative, The book tells you about European citizens of African dissent. And how they were able to function survive and strive in Europe of the past. I like the new information allows me to get a fuller picture of Europeans before America slavery. Which changed Europeans attitude towards Africans and saw them as slaves and Inferiors,Beast of burden and child like. His attitude persists today and feels racism and prejudice throughout the Americas and around the world.

5 people found this helpful

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edwin J. Gentry

Uncover the real History

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2022

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Once I got this book, I couldn't put it down. the information uncovered by the author was eye opening and disturbingly a great read. I recommend this book. It needs to be a movie.

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024

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Reads like a dissertation (dry, heavily foot noted and very specific) but I enjoyed this dip into a Tudor England I'd never encountered.

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Venus

Proves the importance of Black people in Tudor and Stuart England

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2022

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It's really a great book! Black people were definitely present and were sought after for their invaluable skills during Tudor and Stuart England.

5 people found this helpful

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Georg Hintzenstern

Groß Brittanien als Kollonialmacht in Afrika und in der Welt.

Reviewed in Germany on December 31, 2020

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Gute historische Literatur.

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amanda

Fantastic resource

Reviewed in Canada on October 20, 2018

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It was laid out in a way that non historians can easily read. It has a ton of details, and many more stories than the 10 you expect (each chapter is on a different person). The author does a great job of weaving the facts with possible reasons things happened.
This was a textbook for my Tudor history class, I thought it was fantastic.

2 people found this helpful

Monica Balt

Especially for those who think they know history

Reviewed in the Netherlands on September 15, 2018

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Thoroughly researched and highly readable!

Caroline H

Superb book and a wonderful read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2017

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Black Tudors

I pre-ordered this book some months ago. I received it this morning . It is a splendid read, and I read it today from start to finish. It is a joy to read.

Who knew that after the deluge of Tudor TV series, documentaries , re-hashes etc there could be a fresh new book offering insight into the Tudor period - and from an original fascinating perspective ?

The Tudor period is complex , and has been explored through many angles in many books, most of which I have read . However this splendid book explores the history of people from an African racial background living in England in Tudor times, and in an era before the Imperialist transatlantic slave trade. Records of 'black tudors' are necessarily limited by the distance of time. However, insofar as such records are extant, the author gives a erudite, comprehensively researched, moving and powerful account of the BME presence in Tudor England. Such records that have survived include the fascinating story of one the first salvage divers who sort to recover items from the Mary Rose. I did not know contemporaneous attempts were made at salvage and that one of those salvage divers was of African descent, born off the coast of West Africa.

The trumpet on the cover references John Blanke, a BME trumpeter , employed by both King Henry the Seventh and King Henry the Eighth and whose image appears in the Westminster Tournament Roll.

This is a splendid book in my view and I hope others will enjoy it as much as I have.The best and most original book on the period I have read for a long time.

20 people found this helpful

Nick Jones

Black Tudors

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2023

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A really interesting account of the lives of ten selected Africans who lived in Tudor England, and who are intended to represent hundreds of others of whom not enough trace was recorded to reconstruct their lives. Dr Kaufmann explores how these people got to England, how they lived their lives and made their livings and what they tell us about the legal status of Africans in 16th century England, and how they were regarded by other people.

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