Jacques Francis

He was not, Jacques Francis insisted as prosecution witnesses tried repeatedly to have his testimony thrown out, a slave. They called him ‘blackamoor’ and ‘infidel-born’, but he called himself famulus rather than servus – a member of the household, a worker alongside free servants. At this historical distance, it seems a slight distinction – Francis made no claim to being a free man – but what is remarkable is that his dignity, articulacy, and achievements won the argument. No villein’s testimony had been admissable in an English court since feudal times, but in February 1547 the High Court of Admiralty ruled Francis was no villein. His words not only stood but were transc