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What was the time period like?:

This was a hard time for people to live, if they were not rich. Poor people worked on the land and there was very limited medical knowledge and sanitation and housing was very basic.

The Tudor period is famous for Henry VIII and his six wives, the plays of William Shakespeare and the exploration of America.

William Shakespeare

Hampton Court, Henry VIII’s favourite palace

Tudors lived in a feudal system. This means that the monarch had absolute power (total power)  and owned all the land in the country. Nobles would swear loyalty to the monarch who would then grant them lands. The nobles would then allow peasants to work the land in exchange for food and shelter.

If you were born a peasant, you would live your whole life in poverty. Having to work for the noble on whose land you worked. Children would have the same life as their parents, there was not a social ladder for the poor to climb.

In the Tudor period, it was a man’s job to provide for his family while women were responsible for raising children and taking care of the household. Women had very few rights and were under the control of their fathers or husbands.

The ruler was expected to be a king. When Henry VIII had no surviving male heir (son) this was a cause of serious concern. His daughter, Elizabeth I became queen as there was no suitable male in the family, and all her life she had to fight prejudice because she was female.

Turning to the life of Black people, they were living in Europe since Roman times. It had been thought that the Black people in Tudor England were African slaves. However, now that historians have studied the records they understand that Black people were paid wages and some, like John Blanke had important jobs. We know that Black people married native women and had families that lived and worked with the native population. But only the rich left written records. We know about John Blanke because he is shown in a painting of a royal celebration.