Exploring Visual Sources

Dr Miranda Kaufmann and writer and art historian Michael Ohajuru discuss John Blanke the Trumpeter and the Westminster Tournament Roll in this video.

In the discussion Miranda Kaufmann and Michael Ohajuru investigate the background to the Westminster Tournament Roll and ask questions about the depiction of John Blanke.

After watching the interview, we’d like you to take a closer look at the images of John Blanke and the Westminster Tournament Roll in the previous steps.

Reflection

Reflect on anything you noticed after examining the images of John Blanke and the Westminster Tournament Roll more closely.

• Take a look at detail such as John Blanke’s clothes, turban, horse and his fellow trumpeters. What do these details tell us about John Blanke’s employment, status and freedom?

• What’s your personal response to the portrait of John Blanke and the background of the Westminster Tournament Challenge?

Later this week you will look in more detail at the manuscript sources which reveal details about the wages and expenses of John Blanke, but first we look at how he might have arrived in Tudor England.

References

Michael Ohajuru (2020) Before and After the Eighteenth Century: The John Blanke Project, in ‘Britain’s Black Past’, ed. Gretchen Gerzina, Liverpool University Press. pp. 7-26.