Flickr.com: 'John Blanke, trumpeter at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII'

[John Blanke, trumpeter at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, Westminster Tournament Roll, 1511]

Flickr.com
John Blanke, trumpeter at the courts of Henry VII and Henry VIII, Westminster Tournament Roll, 1511
“Black Presence” is an online feature of The National Archives of the United Kingdom, in partnership with the Black and Asian Studies Association. It includes an entry entitled “John Blanke, Black Trumpeter”: “It appears that John Blanke, a Black trumpeter, was a regular musician at the courts of both Henry VII and Henry VIII. Musicians' payments were noted in the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber, who was responsible for paying the wages. There are several payments recorded to a 'John Blanke, the blacke trumpeter'. This trumpeter was paid 8d [8 pence] a day, first by Henry VII and then from 1509 by Henry VIII.”

We learn from the archives that a son was born to Henry VIII and his wife, Catherine of Aragon, on January 1, 1511. Tradition called for a major celebration of a royal birth, so the King held the two-day Tournament of Westminster later that year: “Among the latter is a Black man. He appears twice on the Roll: once on the way from the court and again on the way back. According to the historian Sydney Anglo, he is almost certainly John Blanke, the 'blacke trumpeter' mentioned in the Treasurer's accounts. Henry VIII's tournament was a costly extravaganza, and here we find a Black man included in one of the most magnificent pageants of his time, dressed formally as a mounted musician, perhaps also belonging to the equestrian corps of the court.” [John Blanke is profiled at AfriClassical.com]