John Mabbe was the name of three English goldsmiths working in Tudor London. The senior John Mabbe (died 1582) married Isabell Colley, and was

Chamberlain of London The Chamberlain of the City of London is an ancient office of the City of London, dating back to at least 1237. The Chamberlain is the finance director of the City of London Corporation. They are the financial adviser, accountant, receiver and pa ...

. His son John married Martha Denham, and they were the parents of the third John Mabbe, the stationer Ralph Mabbe, and

James Mabbe James Mabbe or Mab (1572–1642) was an English scholar, translator, and poet, and a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He was involved in translations from Spanish, notably of the Picaresque novel by Mateo Alemán, ''Guzmán de Alfarache'', in 1 ...

, a translator of Spanish literature. John Mabbe senior appears to be the goldsmith who worked for Princess Mary recorded as "Mabell" by her lady in waiting

Mary Finch Mary Finch or Fynche (1508-1557) was an English courtier of Mary I of England. She was a daughter of Christopher Kempe (1485-1512) and Mary Guildford (1486-1529), a daughter of Richard Guildford and Anne Pympe. Her mother married secondly William H ...

. He had an interest in the Tabard, Inn, Southwark, and wrote a will in 1578. His son Robert Mabbe pledged a share of the inn to the goldsmith

Affabel Partridge Affabel Partridge was a London goldsmith who served Elizabeth I. He is thought to have marked his work with a hallmark of a bird. Career Partridge was an apprentice of Richard Crompton. He worked at the sign of the Black Bull in Cheapside. On 25 ...

. An inventory of John Mabbe the younger's stock in 1576 survives. After making a statute on the quality of gold sold in London,

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

allowed him to market his existing stock of jewellery made with gold under 22 ct

fineness The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hardne ...

. It included jewels with the story of Joshua and Caleb, Charity, Hercules, Narcissus, Julis Caesar, a mermaid, the story of Mars, Venus and Cupid, Phoebus Apollo and Daphne, and the emblem ''Fama Perennis''. A gold tablet or locket with a "Roman burning his hand in fire" told the story of

Gaius Mucius Scaevola Gaius Mucius Cordus, better known with his later cognomen Scaevola ( , ), was an ancient Roman youth, possibly mythical, famous for his bravery. In 508 BC, during the war between Rome and Clusium, the Clusian king Lars Porsena laid siege to Rom ...

. There was a gold tortoise with a shell set with 39

topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

es and a pendant emerald. He had 224 gold perfumed beads known as

pomander A pomander, from French ''pomme d'ambre'', i.e., apple of amber, is a ball made for perfumes, such as ambergris (hence the name), musk, or civet. The pomander was worn or carried in a vase, also known by the same name, as a protection against inf ...

beads from the name of the scented compound.

Kim F. Hall Kim F. Hall is the Lucyle Hook professor of English and professor of Africana studies, Africana Studies at Barnard College. She was born in 1961 in Baltimore. She is an expert on black feminist studies, critical race theory, Early modern period, ea ...

notes the representation of Black Africans depicted on gold brooches in Mabbe's 1576 inventory, with cameos of a "Mores-head", a "Blackamoore", and a woman like a "More".

Nandini Das Nandini Das is professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture in the English faculty at the University of Oxford. She is a specialist in Shakespeare studies, Renaissance romance writing, early travel literature, and encounters between different c ...

, João Vicente Melo, Haig Z. Smith, Lauren Working
'Blackamoor/Moor', ''Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England'' (Amsterdam, 2021), pp. 40-50
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mabbe, John English goldsmiths 16th-century English people Chamberlains of the City of London Material culture of royal courts