Essays on the Origins of Western Music
by
David Whitwell
Essay Nr. 124: On Music of the Court of Henry VIII
The English and Scottish kings also began to be much more active in their
support of music during the 15th century. Henry IV (1399 - 1413) was himself a
flute player and there are many extant documents relative to the care of his 6
permanent minstrels. Henry V (1413 - 1422) increased the number of his household
musicians to 18 and there is an eyewitness account of his wind band giving an hour
long concert twice a day (before and after battle) during his siege of Melun in 1420.
Several chroniclers mention the occasion of his marriage to Catherine, daughter to
Charles VI of France, in 1420. On this occasion Henry issued the promise that any
minstrel who came to help celebrate his wedding would be given a newly minted
gold coin. According to one eyewitness, thousands took him up on the offer!
...and in front of the chariot lead a great melody of trumpets, clarions,
minstrels, and many other instruments by the hundreds and thousands, and
one knows that many players appeared this day because it was ordered that
1
each of them would receive this day a salut d’or which the king had recently
begun to forge.1
Henry VI (1422 - 1461 and 1470 -1471) seems to have had some problem
keeping his compliment of musicians stable, for an order of 1456 empowers his staff
to force into his service any “young men of comely appearance, trained in the art of
minstrelsy.”2 Henry seems to have recruited his singers by the same process, for in
one order he commands an official,
to take throughout England such and so many boys as he or his deputies
shall see to be fit and able to serve God and the King in the Chapel Royal.3
There is also evidence that by this time the various English dukes were also
beginning to maintain, on average, 4 or more musicians.4
Under the first of the kings of the House of York, Edward IV (1461 - 1470
and 1471 - 1483), the household music grew considerably and now included singers
and string players [strengemen]. Richard III (1483 - 1485), although he represents
one of the darker chapters of English history, was educated in “musicke, and other
cuninge exercises of humanity.”5 Another source relates that he finished each day
by “rehearsing the polite arts of harping, singing, piping, and dancing.”6
Henry VII (1485 - 1509) again increased the number of royal musicians and
for his funeral in addition to singers and ceremonial instruments we find an
ensemble of shawms and trombones and three separate ensembles called simply
“minstrels.”
During the 15th century all four Scottish kings, James I, II, III, and IV were
musicians. James I (1424 - 1437) was also a composer and it was reported that he
was singing and performing on several instruments on the very eve of his
assassination.7
1
Jeanne Marix, Histoire de la Musique et des Musiciens de la Cour de Bourgogne sous le regne
de Philippe le Bon (Strasbourg, 1939), 24.
2 John Stevens, Music & Poetry in the Early Tudor Court (London: Methuen), 307.
3 Quoted in Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: Norton, 1959), 767.
4 Ibid., 300.
5 Gerald Hayes, King’s Music (Oxford, 1937), 42.
6Paul Kendall, Richard the Third (New York, 1955), 52.
7 Henry Farmer, “Music in Mediaeval Scotland,” in Proceedings of the Musical Association
(London, 1930), 76.
2
Henry VIII (1509 - 1547)
From all appearances, Henry VIII, among all other things, was the most
musical king in English history. The Venetian ambassador mentions some of the
instruments he played.
His Majesty is the handsomest potentate I ever set eyes on; above the
usual height, with an extremely fine calf to his leg, his complexion very fair
and bright, with auburn hair combed straight and short.... He speaks
French, English, and Latin, and a little Italian, plays well on the lute and
harpsichord, sings from book at sight, draws the bow with greater strength
than any man in England, and jousts marvelously.8
We know he played the flute, and owned no less than 154 of them when he
died, in addition to a large number of keyboard instruments, 50 strings and another
hundred crumhorns, shawms and bassoon-types.9 So perhaps Erasmus was correct
when he said of him, “there is no kind of music in which he is not more than
moderately proficient.”10 In addition, Peacham, writing later in the century,
quotes Erasmus as having knowledge of Henry’s long-rumored activity as a
composer.
King Henry the Eighth could not only sing his part sure but of himself
compose a service of four, five and six parts, as Erasmus in a certain epistle
testifieth of his own knowledge.11
Henry’s coronation service in June, 1509, included a consort of 9 “Styll
shalmes,” a consort of 4 shawm and sackbuts and 14 trumpets.12 On the following
day there was a great allegorical tournament, on the theme of Pallas and her
relationship to both War and Wisdom. There was a wagon constructed in the form
of a mountain, drawn by a “lyon made of Glyteryng gold.” The challengers rode
8
Letter dated 1515, by Piero Pasqualigo, quoted in Sebastian Giustinian, Four Years at the Court
of Henry VIII (London, 1854), I, 83. Perhaps he improvised on the lute, for there is no extant
English lute music from this period. See Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York:
Norton, 1959), 842.
9 Entirely missing in his personal collection are the ceremonial trumpets, fifes and percussion
instruments.
10 P. S. Allen, Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi Roterdami (Oxford, 1906-1958), VIII, Ep. 2143 ,
quoted in Clement A. Miller, “Erasmus on Music,” in The Musical Quarterly [July, 1966], 347.
11 Henry Peacham, The Complete Gentleman, ed., Virgil Heltzel (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1962), 111.
12 Henry Cart de LaFontaine, The King’s Musik (London, 1909), 4.
3
onto the field to the sound of trumpets and “Dromes and Fifes a greate nombre.”13
On the fourth day a hunting pageant was held, with eight knights announced by “a
greate nombre of hornes blowen” by men dressed as foresters. A deer was let loose
to be killed by the dogs. The ensuing combat display got out of hand and became so
violent that Henry was forced to call out the guard and halt the proceedings.
The early years of Henry’s reign are characterized by such allegorical
productions in which the nobles could participate in elaborate disguises. One of the
most important was held in February, 1511, to celebrate the birth of the king’s son.
A banquet for the foreign ambassadors, following this pageant, included a
performance by the singers of the Chapel Royal. During the banquet a large float
was rolled into the hall, on which rode 6 children singers of the Chapel, 6 richly clad
ladies, the principal challengers of the tournament held earlier in the day14 and 8
minstrels “with strange instruments.”15 After the banquet the minstrels provided
music for dancing and it was said that the minstrels themselves joined in the
dancing so “that it was a pleasure to behold.”
A “disguising” was an allegorical event on a smaller scale and a typical one
occurred on May 1, 1515, when the king and his company while out for a ride were
surprised by “Robin Hood” and his men.
Then Robyn hood desyred the kynge and quene to come into the
grene wood, & to se how the outlawes lyve. The kyng demaunded of ye
quene & her ladyes, if they durst adventure to go into the wood with so many
outlawes.... The hornes blewe...there was an Arber made of boowes with a
hal, and a great chamber and an inner chamber very well made & covered
with floures & swete herbes, whiche the kyng muche praysed.16
The king and his guests were served a breakfast of venison, accompanied by music
of organs, flutes and a lute. One of the guests, a Venetian, describes the return
home.
Descriptions taken from Edward Hall, Hall’s Chronicle (London, 1809), 508 and I. D. Thornley,
The Great Chronicle of London (London, 1938), 341ff.
14 A manuscript volume called the Great Tournament Roll, housed at the College of Arms,
contains illustrations of this tournament. One sees here a rare black trumpet player, who is
identified in the accounts as “John Blanke.”
15 This wagon was so heavy that when it was under construction at the bishop of Harford’s palace
it fell through the floor.
16 Hall, Op. cit., 582.
13
4
Proceeding homewards, certain tall paste-board giants being placed
on carts, and...[we] were conducted with the greatest order to Greenwich, the
musicians singing the whole way, and sounding trumpets and other
instruments, so that, by my faith, it was an extremely fine triumph. 17
After about 1516 the large scale allegorical pageants were no longer held,
although court entertainments continued to be richly adorned. A joust in honor of
the Flemish ambassadors in 1517 included harnesses for the horses made of pure
silver. An eyewitness, Chieregato, reports that this required all the smiths in
London to work on nothing else for four months before the joust.18
Cardinal Wolsey maintained his own private minstrels and we read of their
appearance at a mumming19 he gave for the French ambassadors in October, 1518.
And when the banquet was done, in came six minstrels, richly
disguised, and after them followed three gentlemen in wide and long gowns
of Crimson satin, everyone having a cup of gold in their hands, the first cup
was full of Angels and royals, the second had diverse balls of dice, and the
third had certain pairs of cards. These gentlemen offered to play at
monchaunce, and when they had played a length of the first board, then the
mynstrels blew up, and then entered into the chamber twelve ladies
disguised....20
Another contemporary account describes an appearance by the cardinal’s
wind band, during a banquet given for the king, and it hints rather darkly of
possible foul play in the sudden death of one of the shawm players.
There was not only plenty of fine meats, but also much mirth and
solace, as well in merry communication as with the noise of my Lord’s
minstrels, who played there all that night so cunningly, that the king took
therein great pleasure; insomuch that he desired my Lord to lend them unto
him for the next night, and after supper their banquet finished, the ladies
and gentlemen fell to dancing, among whom, one Madame Fontaine, a maid,
had the prize. And thus passed they the most part of the night ere they
departed. The next day the king took my Lord’s minstrels, and rode to a
nobleman’s house where there was some image to whom he vowed a
pilgrimage, to perform his devotions. When he came there, which was in the
night, he danced and caused others to do the same, after the sound of my
Lord’s minstrels, who played there all night, and never rested, so that
17
Letter of Nicolo Sagudino, quoted in Sebastian Giustinian, Four Years at the Court of Henry VIII
(London, 1854), I, 80.
18 Sydney Anglo, The Great Tournament Roll of Westminster (Oxford, 1968), 65.
19 A mumming consisted of the appearance of masked persons who invited the guests to games
of dice, fixed so that the guests always won.
20 Hall, Op. cit., 595.
5
whether it were with extreme labor of blowing, or with poison (as some
judged) because they were commended by the king more than his own, I
cannot tell, but the player on the shawm (who was very excellent on that
instrument) died within a day or two after.21
Henry was in fact, at this time, looking for fine musicians to add to his
musical household. He was particularly interested in foreign musicians and the
results of one recruiting effort are reported in a letter from Chamberlain, CourtMaster of the English merchants in Antwerp, to Paget, First Secretary of the court.
He reports that with the help of local merchants he has found five musicians, one of
whom can make all sorts of instruments. Four of the musicians are young and
would like to join the king’s service, but own no instruments. The fifth, who owns
the instruments, has with some difficulty been persuaded to go with them. If paid
wages and expenses in advance they agree to stay in England until the new year.
We can see typical evidence of the preference for wind instrument players at this
time in Chamberlain’s report that there are some Italians in town, but they can only
play the viols, and therefore “are no musicians.”22
One of the foreign musicians hired by Henry VIII was Philip van Wilder, a
lute player and “keeper of the king’s instruments.” A document addressed to him
reveals that sometimes the wind band also played in more intimate circumstances.
...paied to phillip of the pryvat chambre for 2 sagbuttes, 2 tenor shalmes and
2 treble shalmesse. 10.10s.23
As Henry’s reign progressed, the elaborate disguisings and tournaments
became more and more rare. Most accounts which describe actual performances
now are associated with distinguished visitors. For the arrival of Charles V in 1522
there was a procession which included a mechanical dragon and two great bulls,
Stow’s Annals, quoted in Edmondstoune Duncan, The Story of Minstrelsy (Detroit, 1968), 139.
One of Wolsey’s biographers, Cavendish, tells a somewhat different version of the same tale. He
says that when Wolsey was visiting the French court in Paris, in 1527, with his wind band in tow,
the king of France, Francois I, who was always on the lookout for good wind players, stole one of
Wolsey’s shawms. The implication here is that Wolsey, in retribution, was somehow responsible
for the death of the shawm player. [Richard Sylvester, ed., George Cavendish, The Life and
Death of Cardinal Wolsey (London, 1959), 60] See also, Joycelyne Russell, The Field of Cloth of
Gold (New York, 1969), 163.
22 John Stevens, Music & Poetry in the Early Tudor Court (London: Methuen), 308.
23 Ibid., 307.
21
6
“whiche beastes cast out fyer continually,” and a great arch which held trumpets in
one tower and shawms and sackbuts in another.24
Henry VIII arranged an especially elaborate reception for the arrival of his
second wife, Anne Boleyn, as part of his attempts to gain support for her on the part
of the public -- after all she had cost him a split with the pope and she was six
months pregnant. First, there was a great water procession which included a
mechanical dragon in the river and a group of “terrible monsters and wylde men
castyng fyer, and makyng hideous noyses.” Music was provided by the mayor’s
barge, which contained shawms, sackbuts “and diverse other instruments, which
continually made goodly harmony,” and 48 additional boats, each with musicians,
representing various guilds of London, “their minstrels continually playing.”25
The following day there was the official procession of the new queen into
London and among the many descriptions of ceremonial music we are attracted
especially to one which reads,
[In a tower] was suche several solemne instrumetes, that it seemed to
be an heavenly noyse, and was muche regarded and praised.26
For the following queens, due to their rapid succession, it was deemed that such
pomp was inappropriate.
The accounts of the funeral of Henry VIII list the participation of 29 singers,
8 string and 42 wind and percussion players. Among the latter were 21 trumpets, a
consort of 7 players called “Mynstrells,” a consort of 5 called “Musytyans” (all with
the family name of Bassani), a sackbut consort of 4 players, a flute consort of 5
players, and 1 fife, 1 drum and 1 bagpipes.27
24
Hall, Op. cit., 638.
Ibid., 798ff.
26 Ibid., 802.
27 LaFontaine, Op. cit., 7ff.
25
7
Edward VI (1547 - 1553)
The most extensive accounts of music under Edward VI, who became king at
age 10, are those describing his coronation in 1548. Among the many pageants
which the coronation procession passed in the streets of London, we should
particularly like to mention one which was given by a group of actors, “richly
apparelled like ladyes.” They represented the seven Liberal Arts and our attention
is drawn to the fact that the purpose of Music is given as only a pastime. The actors
made the following speeches,
Grammar
I, Grammar, with the silver key unlock the door to science every way.
Logic
And I, Logic, directly discuss all things uprightly.
Rhetoric
And I, the adorned Rhetoric, to beautify speeches is much politic.
Arithmetic
And I, Arithmetic, through exercise in numbering make men wise.
Geometry
I, Geometry, ordained for measuring, and as necessary for building.
Music
Yet I, pleasant Music, for king’s pastime am most liked.
Astronomy
I, prudent Astronomy, describe of planets the mystery.28
We gain some insight into the nature of the regular musicians employed by
Edward VI in an extant document regarding payments to the entire household in
1553. Included here are payments to the king’s trumpets, the king’s “drumslades,”
28
John G. Nichols, ed., Literary Remains of King Edward the Sixth (London, 1857), I, cclxxviiiff.
8
the “still mynstrelles” [shawms], the sackbuts and to the 5 Bassiam family members
called “mynstrelles” and to another group of 3 minstrels.29
Mary Tudor (1553 - 1558)
Mary already at age 6 had a substantial number of musicians in her personal
employ, music being an accepted means of whiling away the days for a single lady
with no expectation of ever playing an important role in society.30 These, combined
with the court musicians remaining from Henry VIII’s reign supplied the typical
ceremonial music for her coronation.
The following year, 1554, Philip of Spain came to do his duty in trying to
produce an heir for Mary and England. Since Mary and Philip shared no language,
there may have been more music than usual to fill the silence -- at least accounts
speak of their days being filled with “minstrels all playing.”31 Some of the
entertainments for Philip which were regarded as remarkable included a Spanish
game on horses, a “cane game,” played to the music of “drums made of Ketylles and
trumpets,” and minstrels dressed as apes, sitting in a row playing bagpipes.32
29
Ibid., I, cccxiii. Edward must have had some reputation for knowledge in music for a play by
Rowley, “When You See Me You Know Me” (1605) attributes this speech to him regarding the
composer Christopher Tye:
Doctor, I thank you and commend your cunning.
I oft have heard my Father merrily speak
In your high praise and thus his Highness said,
England one God, one Truth, one Doctor has
For Music’s Art and that is Doctor Tye.
30 Gerald Hayes, King’s Music (Oxford, 1937), 52.
31 H. F. M. Prescott, A Spanish Tudor (New York, 1940), 351.
32 Ibid., 355 and Daniel Henderson, The Crimson Queen (New York, 1933), 227.
9