LOST ELIZABETHANS: THE AFRICANS WHO LIVED IN ENGLAND
Feb 17, 2022
5 minutes
“SOME 200 AFRICANS LIVED UNDER THE REIGN OF THE VIRGIN QUEEN”
The church of St Botolph’s Aldgate sits in a busy part of the City of London, just north of the infamous royal fortress, the Tower. There, on 3 June 1597, a crowd of local men and women gathered, not for the usual Sunday service – it was a Friday – but a different kind of baptism not regularly seen in Elizabethan England. It was not for a child, but a 20-year-old black woman named Mary Fillis. It is thanks to parish clerk Thomas Harridance’s entry in his memorandum book that we know why Mary’s baptism was deemed special enough to draw a crowd.
Born in Morocco in 1577, she had come to live in London and worked in the house of the
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days