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Mapping medieval manuscripts: how surviving romance manuscripts are aiding the search for People of Colour in North Atlantic medieval Europe

Discover how medieval romance manuscripts are helping to uncover the overlooked presence of People of Colour in North Atlantic Europe.

Medieval manuscripts offer a unique window into the lives and imaginations of the past. Illuminated pages can point to wealthy patrons, while the texts themselves reveal the interests and concerns of medieval readers. Some aspects of the medieval world, however, are less visible. Tracing the presence of People of Colour in North Atlantic medieval Europe is one such challenge. While representations exist, the question remains: how can we locate the real people behind the stories?

This talk explores a key part of Georgie Anderson’s research, which combines literary analysis with codicological methods to build a database of surviving manuscripts. This approach uncovers how stories featuring People of Colour were shared, read and preserved. Focusing on The Hague, KB, MS 129A 10 and the Middle Dutch romance Morien, Georgie will demonstrate her process from working with the manuscript in the archive to transforming the data into visual maps that link related texts. These connections help to trace how narratives moved through time and space, offering insights into the lives of people who have often been overlooked in historical accounts.

This talk is part of the Fulham Palace Black History 365 event series where we re-examine historical narratives and bring to the forefront the voices of those who have been marginalised.

About the speaker

Georgie Anderson is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent. Her project, Tracing the Figure of the Black Knight in Chivalric Romances from North Atlantic Europe, is supported by CHASE and the Stuart Hall Foundation. Her research uses both literary and manuscript-based methods to explore the presence of People of Colour in the medieval world. Her recent publication includes a chapter titled Masculinity, Monstrosity, and the Uncanny in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021), featured in Unveiling the Green, edited by Dr Jonathan Fruoco and published by Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre.

Discover the untold stories of people of colour in early modern London through powerful digital maps and newly uncovered archival records in this free talk!

What if the streets of London could speak? What if they revealed a city shaped for centuries by people whose stories have too often been ignored?

The Switching the Lens project from London Metropolitan Archives brings together over 3,300 baptism, marriage and burial records of people of African, Caribbean, Asian and Indigenous heritage. These records span from 1561 to 1840 and uncover a multiracial London that many people have never seen. This powerful and expanding dataset offers a fresh perspective on the city’s past, one that is vibrant, diverse and deeply connected to global histories.

Join us for a gripping talk that brings these histories to life. Using digital mapping tools, the speakers will share the stories of individuals recorded in the archive. You will see how they lived, where they moved, and the global journeys that led them to London. These maps do more than plot locations. They help us see the city differently, connecting the past to the places we know today.

Through this visual and research-led approach, we will explore how people of colour left their mark on London’s streets, neighbourhoods and communities, reshaping the city in ways that still matter now.

This event is part of the Black History 365 series at Fulham Palace. The series invites audiences to uncover hidden histories and hear the voices of those who have been too often left out of the record.

About the speakers

Liberty Collard is a second-year History PhD student at Northeastern University London, using digital technologies to rediscover and recenter the Black African presence in London in the long eighteenth-century. Liberty is a research assistant on the Mapping Black London project at Northeastern and the AHRC CounterTenor project.

Odile Jordan is a first-year History PhD Student at Northeastern University London, working on the South East Asian presence in nineteenth-century London. Odile is also a research assistant on the Mapping Black London project at Northeastern.

You’ve heard of Antiques Roadshow, now get ready for Black History & Heritage roadshow taking place at Fulham Palace!

Join us for a special community event at Fulham Palace that puts the spotlight on local stories.

The Black History & Heritage roadshow invites you to bring in objects that help tell the story of Black history in Fulham and the wider area. From photographs and clothing to jewellery, books and keepsakes, we’re celebrating the everyday items that hold powerful meaning.

Our team of experts will be available throughout the day to share insights into the items people bring, helping to connect personal stories to wider histories.

Come along, bring a friend, and be part of this celebration of Fulham’s Black history and heritage.

Uncover the hidden legacy of the Bray Schools and the Black voices left out of history.

Throughout the eighteenth century, the Associates of Dr. Bray, an Anglican charitable group, funded schools in British North America for the education of free and enslaved Black children. These ‘Bray Schools’ taught basic literacy, sewing and etiquette, with the underlying aim of religious conversion and social control. While presented as benevolent, the schools were deeply entangled with the maintenance of slavery and colonial power.

In this talk, Nicole Brown, PhD Candidate in American Studies at William & Mary, will explore the complex legacy of the Associates of Dr. Bray and their connection to the Bishop of London. Drawing on research in collections at Oxford and Lambeth Palace Library, she will focus on re-centering the lives and voices of the Black children educated in these schools—voices often excluded from the archive. Her talk will invite audiences to consider how historic collections can support contemporary work in social justice and historical recovery.

This event is part of our year-round Black History 365 series, which re-examines established narratives and brings to light the experiences of those historically marginalised.

About the speaker

Nicole Brown is an award-winning author, living history expert, and a PhD Candidate in American Studies at William & Mary; she was previously a Program Design Manager at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.

Her ongoing academic research analyses Black literacy in the Atlantic World via interdisciplinary and descendant-engaged scholarship. Brown’s work as a museum professional has taken her across the globe, presenting on interpretive techniques for “hard” histories at museums and historic sites in the United States. Brown recently co-edited a book entitled The Williamsburg Bray School, 1760-1774: A History Through Records, Reflections, and Rediscovery.

Discover the hidden role of the Bishop of London in colonial slavery in this free talk with PhD researcher Eleanor Hex.

From c.1675 the Bishop of London was commonly referred to as the ‘Bishop of the Colonies’, but what did this practically look like for those living in these spaces?

Focusing on Virginia as a case study, PhD student Eleanor Hex will bring light to the imbedded theological call of Jesus in the Gospels to convert those of all nations. This ‘Great Commission’ was a call from Jesus for His disciples to go forth and teach the gospel, baptising people and teaching them to obey His commandments.

In this talk, Eleanor will explore how this mission shaped the structure of the colonial Church, moving from the Bishops to their commissaries, through to the clergy and ultimately to their enslaved parishioners.

This talk is part of the Fulham Palace Black History 365 event series where we re-examine historical narratives and bring to the forefront the voices of those who have been marginalised.

About the speaker

Eleanor Hex is a second-year CHASE funded PhD researcher working on a collaborative doctoral award between the University of Kent and Fulham Palace. Eleanor’s research focuses around the Bishops of London and their connections to systems of enslavement in the tobacco colonies. Earlier this year she undertook a research trip to Virginia and Maryland- she will happily wax lyrical about this at any opportunity so feel free to ask her any questions!