John Blanke (1511)
Westminster Tournament Roll
25 March 2019
John Blanke, a trumpeter of Henry VIII’s, is depicted on the famous
Westminster Tournament Roll, a 60ft-long painted roll depicting the
pageant held to celebrate the 1511 birth of the king’s first son.
In
pride of place on this artefact is the black male trumpeter. He is
full-on and up front. Historians believe he was an example to the world
of the cosmopolitan outlook of the young Henry VIII. After all, the
monarch had married a Spanish princess, eventually the aunt of the Holy
Roman Emperor.
There was no way that Henry was going to make
England look out of the loop. It could have been considered fashionable
to have an African trumpeter at court. After all, the Crusaders had seen
them in the Muslim courts of north Africa, resplendent examples of
wealth and privilege.
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