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

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.

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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