Jeffrey Hudson (aka "Lord Minimus" ) was the white dwarf who belonged
to the court of Queen Henrietta Maria of England before King Charles I
was deposed. "Lord Minimus" was considered one of the "wonders of the
age" because of his extreme but well-proportioned smallness. He fought
with the Royalists in the English Civil War and fled with the Queen to
France when they lost in 1644. When he killed a man in a duel in an
apparent attempt to move beyond his mascot role, he was expelled from
her court. Soon after, he was captured by Barbary pirates, and spent 25
years as a slave in North Africa before being ransomed back to England
and living out the rest of his life in penury. A life-sized statue is
located in the grounds of Longleat House in Wiltshire.
Angela
On 16 Dec 2009, at 17:00, Marika Sherwood wrote:
> Geoff Randerson has found this in the India Office files:
>
>
>
> E/3/90/FF83V-84.
>
>
>
> Extract from the paper.
>
> Our Agent & council at Fort St. George.
>
> Sent on the ship Anne. London May 21st 1683. p82.
>
> His Majesty hath required of us to send to India to provide for him
> one Male & two Female Blacks but they must be Dwarfs & of the least
> size that you can procure, the Male to be about 17 years of Age and
> the Female about 14. We would have you next to their littleness to
> choose such as may have the best Features & send them home upon any of
> our Ships giving the Command’r great charge to take care of their
> Accomodacion and in particul’r that she be no way abused in the
> Voyage by any of the Seaman. For their Provision & Clothes you must
> take care to lat it in, and lett them be sett out with all such Ear
> and Nose Rings, & Shackles for ornament about their legs (of false
> Stones and Brass, but not with Gold) as is usual to wear in the
> Country, but lett them not be wore by them in the Voyage but sent to
> us apart.
>
>
>
> Naturally I asked the expert in that era, Kathy Chater, if she knew
> more. She replied
>
> ‘Court dwarfs were still popular at this time - Chas II's mother (or
> might be grandmother) had a dwarf (white) who was taken by the Barbary
> pirates and spent time as a slave in N. Africa. Ruined his life - he
> grew while he was there.
> I don't know any more about them - they aren't mentioned in any of
> the diaries or letter's I've seen. Perhaps they died en route. There
> might be more in the Royal archives.’
>
>
>
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