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Lord Minimus: The Extraordinary Life of Britain's Smallest Man
In 1628, as the guest of a lavish banquet thrown by the Duke of Buckingham, the newly married Queen Henrietta Maria watched as servants set a large pie in front of her. Before she could cut into it, the crust began to rise and from the pie emerged a tiny man, perfectly proportioned, but only 18 inches tall. Lord Minimus is the story of that man - Jeffrey Hudson.
Jeffrey's was a life of splendor and riches; of piracy and slavery; of war, treachery, intrigue and death. From the lowest strata he rose to the courts of kings and queens and was celebrated by the finest artists of the day.
As he grew older, his adventures grew even more bizarre. He was captured by pirates, killed an opponent in a duel, served as a slave in North Africa, and was falsely imprisoned. Yet tragically, Britain's smallest man died alone, abandoned by a society which no longer cared and which had long moved on to the next object of fashion.
Lord Minimus is the first complete biography of Hudson. Nick Page draws on original, contemporary sources to weave a tale that is not only a thrilling biography, but also a fascinating insight into the seventeenth century.
Jeffrey's was a life of splendor and riches; of piracy and slavery; of war, treachery, intrigue and death. From the lowest strata he rose to the courts of kings and queens and was celebrated by the finest artists of the day.
As he grew older, his adventures grew even more bizarre. He was captured by pirates, killed an opponent in a duel, served as a slave in North Africa, and was falsely imprisoned. Yet tragically, Britain's smallest man died alone, abandoned by a society which no longer cared and which had long moved on to the next object of fashion.
Lord Minimus is the first complete biography of Hudson. Nick Page draws on original, contemporary sources to weave a tale that is not only a thrilling biography, but also a fascinating insight into the seventeenth century.
272 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2001
3 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Nick Page
200 books47 followersNick Page lives in Oxfordshire, UK, with his wife Claire, their three daughters and a dog called Bill.
As well as writing books, he works with a number of campaign groups and NGOs. He is also a popular speaker for churches, church weekends and other events. events, etc.
His main focus is on church history – particularly the early church. Recent work includes A Nearly Infallible History of Christianity, and the Longest Week trilogy.
As well as writing many books for adults (or at least those who think they are adult) he has also written many books for children.
As well as writing books, he works with a number of campaign groups and NGOs. He is also a popular speaker for churches, church weekends and other events. events, etc.
His main focus is on church history – particularly the early church. Recent work includes A Nearly Infallible History of Christianity, and the Longest Week trilogy.
As well as writing many books for adults (or at least those who think they are adult) he has also written many books for children.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 25, 2019
When Jeffrey Hudson was seven years old he was only eighteen inches high yet perfectly formed. He was given to Queen Henrietta Marie, wife of King Charles I, and from then on lived as The Queen's Dwarf. That happened in 1626. This book attempts to tell Jeffrey's life story.
It is a noble effort, but reads more like a history of an age rather than a biography of a man. Still interesting and eye-opening, but not as compelling as expected.
But that is understandable, especially after reading these lines in an early chapter called The Receipt, in which the author explains his project.
"He is written about by others, he appears in paintings, poems and plays, his actions are reported in official dispatches, even in the very early newspapers. But from his own hand we have nothing. Nothing, that is, except a receipt for five pounds, signed when he was tired and old and forgotten."
I never felt that I actually met Jeffrey, but I did get a fairly clear picture of what his life must have been like. How it must have been to be reliant on the whims of royalty for your existence. How it must have felt to be considered a pet, just like the Queen's dogs, bird, and monkey.
The author did the best he could with what he had, and jeffrey lived through quite a few surprising adventures as he aged. Page certainly tells the truth when he concludes his text about Jeffrey this way: "He deserves to be remembered."
It is a noble effort, but reads more like a history of an age rather than a biography of a man. Still interesting and eye-opening, but not as compelling as expected.
But that is understandable, especially after reading these lines in an early chapter called The Receipt, in which the author explains his project.
"He is written about by others, he appears in paintings, poems and plays, his actions are reported in official dispatches, even in the very early newspapers. But from his own hand we have nothing. Nothing, that is, except a receipt for five pounds, signed when he was tired and old and forgotten."
I never felt that I actually met Jeffrey, but I did get a fairly clear picture of what his life must have been like. How it must have been to be reliant on the whims of royalty for your existence. How it must have felt to be considered a pet, just like the Queen's dogs, bird, and monkey.
The author did the best he could with what he had, and jeffrey lived through quite a few surprising adventures as he aged. Page certainly tells the truth when he concludes his text about Jeffrey this way: "He deserves to be remembered."
June 5, 2011
18 inches tall and captured by pirates twice.
March 31, 2010
read more like a textbook than a biography; very interesting never the less..
February 16, 2022
I thought I’d visited Jeffery Hudson’s birthplace in Oakham. The first thing Nick Page’s Lord Minimus: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Smallest Man taught me was that I probably hadn’t. This was fitting for a book whose subject is as much the subject of myth as it is history.
Born in Oakham (most-likely in a much smaller house), to a butcher, Jeffery was a proportionate dwarf. At the age of eight he was entrusted into the care of/sold to Lord Buckingham, who gave him to Henrietta-Maria, the newly married wife of Charles I. He did this as a gesture towards healing their fractious relationship and as a piece of theatre. Jeffrey was placed in pie casing so that when the young Queen opened it, there he stood in armour and waving a little sword, I guess he made a change from twenty-four blackbirds. Then he found himself taken to Henrietta-Maria’s court, a small French Catholic enclave in the protestant city of London. The Queen was so young, only fifteen and shortly after Jeffery arrived, the majority of her household was deported to ease her public image.
Jeffery’s role in the household was essentially to be a pet, like Henrietta-Maria’s monkeys, to be dressed in fine miniature suits and pose for portraits. Yet, he was no dunce and began to learn courtly behaviours, being as noted for his quick wits and genuine humour as his unusual appearance. By his twenties he’d even learned to ride and shoot and had been part of a delegation to fetch the Queen’s preferred midwife, where he’d been captured by Dunkirk pirates and released (probably because he was worth too much for the pirates to handle). It possible (probable?) that he was also a confidant of the Queen, being in each other’s company a lot, outsiders in the country and not even so far apart in age - though, like a lot of this biography, that’s speculation.
On the outbreak of Civil War, Jeffrey was given a commission as Captain of the cavalry. It’s unlikely he partook in any major battles but he may have led skirmishes and was certainly one of very few people accompanying the Queen in her travels to the Netherlands, to raise money, her return to Bridlington, where she was attack and her final escape to France. When she set up a mini-court in France, he saw himself as having proven himself by his experiences and declared he would duel anyone who laughed at him. This was an opportunity some felt too good to resist and so a duel was arranged.
Who knows what Jeffrey’s intention was but it was clear his challenger just thought it would be a good laugh, bringing a water pistol as his weapon. The two finally decided on pistols and on horses. If anything proves that Jeffrey may have seen action in the Civil War, it’s the fact that while riding a galloping horse, he shot at another galloping target right through the forehead. As a result he was exiled and lucky not to be executed.
This is where a murky story gets even murkier, somehow he was captured by Barbary Pirates and sold as a slave in North Africa where he remained for 25 years. Oddly, in these conditions, he doubled his height at the age of thirty-five and when he was released and brought back to England he was a short, broken man but no longer a curiosity. His bad luck continued as he went to London to gain a pension from the restored Charles II but was locked up as a known Catholic by a crowd whipped up by fellow Oakham man, Titus Oates. He was there for two years and died shortly after.
This is the kind of biography where the subject appears at the edge of things and very few of the primary sources can be entirely trusted. Nick Page does a great job balancing speculation and justifying his suppositions with the information that is more certain. As such, there is as much about Henrietta-Maria and her court as there is about Jeffery, which I found really interesting. It’s amazing how the court worked as its own family and how it shielded and blinkered itself from the outside world. I was also left impressed by Jeffrey himself. I was expecting a wild ride (having known the bare bones of his story) but I was not expecting the man himself to be so compelling and so tough. He managed to be more than a plaything for a Queen and in his time as a slave and in prison, he survived conditions which broke many other people - but not Jeffery As the books says, ‘he deserves to be remembered’.
(Also, I was very surprised the Tabloid Bible guy wrote this).
Born in Oakham (most-likely in a much smaller house), to a butcher, Jeffery was a proportionate dwarf. At the age of eight he was entrusted into the care of/sold to Lord Buckingham, who gave him to Henrietta-Maria, the newly married wife of Charles I. He did this as a gesture towards healing their fractious relationship and as a piece of theatre. Jeffrey was placed in pie casing so that when the young Queen opened it, there he stood in armour and waving a little sword, I guess he made a change from twenty-four blackbirds. Then he found himself taken to Henrietta-Maria’s court, a small French Catholic enclave in the protestant city of London. The Queen was so young, only fifteen and shortly after Jeffery arrived, the majority of her household was deported to ease her public image.
Jeffery’s role in the household was essentially to be a pet, like Henrietta-Maria’s monkeys, to be dressed in fine miniature suits and pose for portraits. Yet, he was no dunce and began to learn courtly behaviours, being as noted for his quick wits and genuine humour as his unusual appearance. By his twenties he’d even learned to ride and shoot and had been part of a delegation to fetch the Queen’s preferred midwife, where he’d been captured by Dunkirk pirates and released (probably because he was worth too much for the pirates to handle). It possible (probable?) that he was also a confidant of the Queen, being in each other’s company a lot, outsiders in the country and not even so far apart in age - though, like a lot of this biography, that’s speculation.
On the outbreak of Civil War, Jeffrey was given a commission as Captain of the cavalry. It’s unlikely he partook in any major battles but he may have led skirmishes and was certainly one of very few people accompanying the Queen in her travels to the Netherlands, to raise money, her return to Bridlington, where she was attack and her final escape to France. When she set up a mini-court in France, he saw himself as having proven himself by his experiences and declared he would duel anyone who laughed at him. This was an opportunity some felt too good to resist and so a duel was arranged.
Who knows what Jeffrey’s intention was but it was clear his challenger just thought it would be a good laugh, bringing a water pistol as his weapon. The two finally decided on pistols and on horses. If anything proves that Jeffrey may have seen action in the Civil War, it’s the fact that while riding a galloping horse, he shot at another galloping target right through the forehead. As a result he was exiled and lucky not to be executed.
This is where a murky story gets even murkier, somehow he was captured by Barbary Pirates and sold as a slave in North Africa where he remained for 25 years. Oddly, in these conditions, he doubled his height at the age of thirty-five and when he was released and brought back to England he was a short, broken man but no longer a curiosity. His bad luck continued as he went to London to gain a pension from the restored Charles II but was locked up as a known Catholic by a crowd whipped up by fellow Oakham man, Titus Oates. He was there for two years and died shortly after.
This is the kind of biography where the subject appears at the edge of things and very few of the primary sources can be entirely trusted. Nick Page does a great job balancing speculation and justifying his suppositions with the information that is more certain. As such, there is as much about Henrietta-Maria and her court as there is about Jeffery, which I found really interesting. It’s amazing how the court worked as its own family and how it shielded and blinkered itself from the outside world. I was also left impressed by Jeffrey himself. I was expecting a wild ride (having known the bare bones of his story) but I was not expecting the man himself to be so compelling and so tough. He managed to be more than a plaything for a Queen and in his time as a slave and in prison, he survived conditions which broke many other people - but not Jeffery As the books says, ‘he deserves to be remembered’.
(Also, I was very surprised the Tabloid Bible guy wrote this).
February 15, 2019
Very readable and compelling, though Page has a tendency to repeat the same word/phrase in consecutive sentences which feels a little sloppy. What an amazing life, though, and as a short man myself (though not in Hudson's league) I appreciated Page's empathy for the challenges/casual insults that drove Hudson to a duel.
I read this as part of my project to read one book from every aisle of Olin Library at Cornell; you can read my reactions to other books from the project here: https://jacobklehman.com/
A fuller review/reaction will follow on my website.
I read this as part of my project to read one book from every aisle of Olin Library at Cornell; you can read my reactions to other books from the project here: https://jacobklehman.com/
A fuller review/reaction will follow on my website.
August 17, 2020
A lovely biography of a largely unknown figure of the Stuart court. Fragments collected from a scattered life. From a butcher's son, to a favored pet of the Queen's court, to a slave, to a prisoner of the Protestant Parliament. What a life for anyone.
April 14, 2020
Solid AND entertaining history or a unique person in a unique era.
April 4, 2025
Very engaging. While it's a biography, it plays out like a fictional tale. Good stuff
June 10, 2015
Seven year old Jeffrey Hudson was tiny, when he popped out of a pie specially prepared at one of the Duke of Buckingham’s celebrated banquets to the delight of King Charles I’s wife Queen Henrietta Maria. The Queen adopted Jeffrey as part of her menagerie, like a pet. The court was graced by the talents of Inigo Jones and Ben Johnson and the great artist Van Dyck. Because what is known about Jeffrey is little (sorry couldn’t resist), the book is filled out with information about the 17th Century Court. I certainly learnt about Queen Henrietta, whom I knew nothing about before, I was aware of Charles I’s struggle with Parliament having studied 17th Century English History as part of the A Level* many years ago ( I passed my History A Level in 1983 – Grade B). I learnt a lot more about the seventeenth century reading this, including lots of trivial information such as lemons at the time were a luxury, whilst oysters were the food of the poor, how times have changed!
Jeffrey’s life is eventful. He was born in Oakham, Rutland (the smallest man from the smallest county). He arrived at court in 1626, where he performed in the masques of Ben Johnson and Inigo Jones. Inigo Jones particularly used Jeffrey for his size, to add to the visual effects he wanted to convey. He was painted by Van Dyck, the cover of the book is a detail from “Queen Henrietta Maria and her Dwarf”. He was twice captured by pirates, fought a duel (with an opponent who mocked his height), held as a slave on the Barbary Coast and imprisoned for treason falsely on the slanderous words of Titus Oates.
The biography is highly readable but there are large gaps in Jeffrey’s life like his 25 years on the Barbary Coast, possibly in Algiers. The book also paints an interesting picture of seventeenth century England especially the court of Queen Henrietta Maria.
Jeffrey’s life is eventful. He was born in Oakham, Rutland (the smallest man from the smallest county). He arrived at court in 1626, where he performed in the masques of Ben Johnson and Inigo Jones. Inigo Jones particularly used Jeffrey for his size, to add to the visual effects he wanted to convey. He was painted by Van Dyck, the cover of the book is a detail from “Queen Henrietta Maria and her Dwarf”. He was twice captured by pirates, fought a duel (with an opponent who mocked his height), held as a slave on the Barbary Coast and imprisoned for treason falsely on the slanderous words of Titus Oates.
The biography is highly readable but there are large gaps in Jeffrey’s life like his 25 years on the Barbary Coast, possibly in Algiers. The book also paints an interesting picture of seventeenth century England especially the court of Queen Henrietta Maria.
November 14, 2015
Lord Minimus, née Jeffrey Hudson, became part of Queen Henrietta's entourage at the age of 7 years old. It wasn't just his stature that caught the Queen's interest, she had other dwarves, but that fact that he was perfectly proportioned despite his size–18 inches.
While the story of Lord Minimus is interesting, the way it is written is not interesting. I value the background information and the historical context-it really adds to the story-but the essay like format gets old fast. A book does not have to be academically written to be accurate. If Page had written it slightly more colloquially, I think it would have built up the story a little more rather than it reading like a dry, monotonous essay.
Jeffrey spent the first 18 years of his life in the Queen's entourage, being part of the court, learning to ride horseback, and act in plays. At the age of 25 though, Jeffrey killed a man in a duel. The Queen banished him for this and while he was sailing back to England from France, his boat was captured by pirates. The next 25/26 years of his life was spent as a slave in north Africa. When he finally returned to England, he was imprisoned for being Catholic and died shortly after being released from jail.
The smallest man in England had a sad life, one filled with personal struggle and loss. The book details it as well as it can, although a lot of information has been lost through the centuries. I think it is well worth the read, especially if you have never heard of Jeffrey Hudson or are more interested in the reign of Charles I and Henrietta Marie. There is a lot to be gleaned from this text, and the historical/political context really adds to Jeffrey's story.
While the story of Lord Minimus is interesting, the way it is written is not interesting. I value the background information and the historical context-it really adds to the story-but the essay like format gets old fast. A book does not have to be academically written to be accurate. If Page had written it slightly more colloquially, I think it would have built up the story a little more rather than it reading like a dry, monotonous essay.
Jeffrey spent the first 18 years of his life in the Queen's entourage, being part of the court, learning to ride horseback, and act in plays. At the age of 25 though, Jeffrey killed a man in a duel. The Queen banished him for this and while he was sailing back to England from France, his boat was captured by pirates. The next 25/26 years of his life was spent as a slave in north Africa. When he finally returned to England, he was imprisoned for being Catholic and died shortly after being released from jail.
The smallest man in England had a sad life, one filled with personal struggle and loss. The book details it as well as it can, although a lot of information has been lost through the centuries. I think it is well worth the read, especially if you have never heard of Jeffrey Hudson or are more interested in the reign of Charles I and Henrietta Marie. There is a lot to be gleaned from this text, and the historical/political context really adds to Jeffrey's story.
April 3, 2015
Considering what little (no pun intended) information there is available about Jeffery Hudson, the author did an excellent job recreating his life & life at court during the 17th-century. Determined to be more than just "the Queen's dwarf", Hudson fought & protected his queen during the civil wars, but was eventually banned from court for killing a man in a duel. If that were not bad enough, he was captured by pirates, & sold into slavery for approximately twenty-five years.
When finally released, upon his return to England, he found it quite changed. Instead of the favour he had previously been shown, he was imprisoned for his religious beliefs, & died, penniless a few years after being released
When finally released, upon his return to England, he found it quite changed. Instead of the favour he had previously been shown, he was imprisoned for his religious beliefs, & died, penniless a few years after being released
January 15, 2008
a biography of Jeffrey Hudson, the Queen's Dwarf. Hudson was presented to Queen Henrietta Maria by George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, in 1626; he remained in her service until after the Revolution.
An enjoyable read, but sadly lacking in certainty: little documentation actually exists about Hudson (both contemporary biographies are included in appendices, and together total less than five pages), and Page has had to make a great many guesses. It should be read less as an authoritative biography, and more as a possible character sketch.
An enjoyable read, but sadly lacking in certainty: little documentation actually exists about Hudson (both contemporary biographies are included in appendices, and together total less than five pages), and Page has had to make a great many guesses. It should be read less as an authoritative biography, and more as a possible character sketch.
July 1, 2017
A strange little biography which was probably less about the Little Person of the title and more an overview of the cultural and political history of the period. It was fun to tie this into other things I've read around this period and I did learn where the term 'Tory' comes from [gaelic for 'pursuer'-toraidhe, pronounced tory, which became a general term for conservative supporters of the crown:]
May 26, 2014
I found this book to be very informative and thought provoking. The reader receives an understanding of court life during a turbulent era. Even more, an understanding of what it meant to be different and the kinds of struggles created by having a different appearance. I really enjoyed it, but it is not as professional a writing as I would have liked. A lot of the scenarios are written as Nick Page imagines thy would have occurred without actual accounts.
February 26, 2017
Well written, tho it contains much supposition. It gets a bit off subject, but I do like the cultural references.
August 5, 2011
boring. not interesting. dry. gave up after 4 chapters. quite dissappointed
November 3, 2012
Delightful read, well-researched history of a "dwarf's" (the author's word, not mine) time at court and his eventual downfall to poverty when his particular royal patron fell out of favor.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews