We know that a small number of Africans were living settled lives in Tudor England and we know that some came from North Africa. After the Reformation, when King Henry VIII rejected the Catholic Church, relations between the Protestant English and Muslim North African governments were good because they had a common enemy in Catholic Spanish. The North Africans resented the fact that Spanish forces had re-conquered Spain and taken control away from its previous Moorish rulers.

Other African immigrants were Moors who had come directly from Spain. They may - like one of the attendants of Queen Catherine of Aragon - have been Muslims who converted to Christianity.

Other immigrants came from West Africa. They included:

• The son of a prince sent to England for an education.
• A group who had been enslaved on a Portuguese ship which was attacked by an English ship. They were brought to England to learn English: the plan was for them to become translators.