The Miroir des dames in Fifteenth-Century England

This article outlines the circulation and readership of a continental French text called the Miroir des dames in England during the fifteenth century. Three surviving manuscripts can be connected with England: one belonged to the Duke of Bedford, another to Henry VII, and a third was created in England and copied from Bedford's manuscript. Documentary evidence indicates that at least two further manuscripts of the Miroir circulated in England. These manuscripts and references demonstrate the continued reading and copying of French texts in England among a select circle of bibliophiles.

CLERGY AND RULE ON THE ANGLO-SCOTTISH BORDERS UNDER THE FIRST TUDOR MONARCH

The use of clergy in public administration was a tradition of medieval England, including in the counties bordering Scotland. The first Tudor also engaged representatives of the clergy for diplomatic missions, participation in local government and even in the military-administrative sphere. Richard Fox, Bishop of Durham, was perhaps the most striking example of such participation of prelates in government. But Fox's special role in the affairs of the Anglo-Scottish borderland was connected not so much with his spiritual rank as with his proximity to the monarch. Here we can trace the desire of Henry VII to control the provincial administration with the help of loyal individuals who were not associated with the elites of the region.

Before and After the Eighteenth Century: The John Blanke Project

This chapter, authored by Michael Ohajuru, describes the origins and mission of the John Blanke Project of which he is the creator. John Blanke was a black trumpeter for the Tudor Court, pictured twice in the Great Tournament Roll of Westminster, and the first person of African descent in Britain for whom there is an identifiable image and documentation. Because so little is known of Blanke’s life, the Project commissions artists to portray Blanke in a variety of artistic mediums including poetry, rap, music, visual arts and the stage, letting history inform their imaginations. The Project also invites historians to contribute written pieces to add dimension to an understanding of what Blanke’s life might have been like in this time and place. The chapter attributes the genesis of the project to presentations Ohajuru gave with Dr Miranda Kauffman entitled Image and Reality: Black Africans in Renaissance England (IRBARE) in which he discussed images of the black magus or black king in art and the inclusion of Blanke in commissioned paintings by Stephen B. Whately on the life and times of Henry VII.