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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES School of Music Learning the lute in early modern England, c.1550-c.1640 by Michael Gale Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2014 ABSTRACT This study explores the popularity of lute instruction in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England and the ways in which this accomplishment was used in constructions of social status. The opening chapter outlines the functions of the lute in early modern English culture and surveys previous research on the instrument and its repertory. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the hierarchical structure of Elizabethan society, highlighting shifting conceptions of “gentle” status during the sixteenth century. The complex position of music within early modern discourses on elite identity is discussed, alongside the potential of lute-playing skills to contribute towards social advancement. Four case studies follow, each exploring the uses of lute-playing amongst practitioners located on the hazily defined boundaries between “gentle” and lower-class status. Chapter 3 uses the autobiography of Thomas Whythorne as a focal point in order to examine the ambiguous role of musicians in household service. By teaching coveted “courtly” skills to their social superiors, these music tutors were in an advantageous position to secure further rewards and enhance their status. Chapter 4 reassesses the Mynshall lutebook, highlighting the roles of music-making and literary production amongst a circle of mercantile-class men in provincial England. It reveals how lute- playing and poetic exchange facilitated social interaction and consolidated kinship bonds within this group as they sought to forge a collective identity grounded in the cultural practices of more elite circles. The role of recreational music-making amongst university men is examined in Chapter 5 through a reappraisal of the Dallis lutebook, showing how playing and collecting lute music could form a strand in the fashioning of a distinctively learned “scholarly” identity. My final case study assesses the printed tutor books marketed from the 1560s onwards, paying close attention to the material forms of extant copies (as evidence of their usage) and their paratextual materials. A close reading of Thomas Robinson’s Schoole of Musicke (1603) reveals how this publication was designed to appeal simultaneously to two very different markets: aspirant middle-class autodidacts, and wealthier “gentleman” readers who could provide further patronage and career advancement to the author. i ii Contents Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The lute in early modern English society 9 Chapter 2: Music-making and the social structure of Elizabethan England 33 Chapter 3: Household musicians and the performance of court(ier)ship 51 Chapter 4: The cultural circle of Richard Mynshall, provincial mercer and lutenist 81 Chapter 5: Learning the lute in Oxford and Cambridge colleges 117 Chapter 6: “Thou mayest easily learne by thy selfe, with very small helpe of a 173 teacher”: Music and self-education in Elizabethan and Jacobean England Conclusion 213 Appendix 1: Contributors to the Mynshall lutebook 221 Appendix 2: Extant copies of English tutor books for plucked instruments, 1568- 225 1610 Bibliography 231 iii iv List of figures Figure 1.1 Board, f.36v (detail) 15 Figure 2.1 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Douce 280, f.103v. 40 Figure 3.1 John Danyel, Songs for the Lute, Viol, and Voice (1606), 77 dedication. Figure 4.1 Mynshall, f.5v 95 Figure 4.2 Mynshall, f.[i]v 104 Figure 4.3 Mynshall, f.[ii]r 105 Figure 5.1 Dallis, p.20 151 Figure 5.2 Transcription of “Wugorns Gayliarde” (Dallis, p.20) 156 Figure 5.3a Dallis, p.226 (facsimile) 166 Figure 5.3b Transcription of ornamented progressions 167 Figure 5.4a Cambridge, King’s College, Rowe 316, f.85v (detail) 168 Figure 5.4b Transcription of Rowe 316, f.85v 169 Figure 6.1 Robinson, “Row well you Marriners”, sig. D2r (detail) 187 Figure 6.2a Le Roy 1568, f.36v, bars 1-4. 197 Figure 6.2b Le Roy 1568, f.36v (British Library copy) 198 Figure 6.3 Barley, sig. F4r (Huntington Library copy); detail showing 199 manuscript corrections Figure 6.4 Robinson, “To the reader.” 206 v vi List of tables Table 2.1 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Top.gen.c.90, f.105r 35 Table 3.1 Overview of Thomas Whythorne’s known biography 55 Table 4.1 Sources for the biography of Richard Mynshall 86 Table 4.2 Richard Mynshall’s immediate family 88 Table 4.3 Musical contents of the Mynshall lute book 99 Table 4.4 Overview of the contents of the Mynshall lutebook 100 Table 4.5 Volumes associated with Richard Mynshall & Raphe Wilbraham 116 Table 5.1 A course of lessons with Thomas Dallis? 154 Table 6.1 Chronological overview of instrumental self-tuition books 177 using tablature notation published in England c.1565-1610. vii viii DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP I, Michael David Gale declare that the thesis entitled Learning the lute in early modern England, c.1550—c.1640 and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; I have acknowledged all main sources of help; where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; none of this work has been published before submission. Signed: ……………………………………………………………………….. Date:……………………………………………………………………………. ix x Acknowledgements During the lengthy gestation of this thesis, I have benefited from assistance and support from numerous people and institutions. I am grateful to the staff of various libraries and archives for making their holdings available to me: in Cambridge, the libraries of Christ’s, King’s, and Trinity Colleges, and the University Library; Cheshire Record Office; Trinity College, Dublin; in London, the British Library, Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, and The National Archives at Kew; the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; and the staff of the Hartley Library at the University of Southampton. I am particularly grateful to Amelie Roper, who patiently dealt with my requests whilst employed at three of the above institutions, and to Bridget Palmer, who arranged for me to consult materials in the otherwise inaccessible Robert Spencer Collection at the Royal Academy of Music. Paul Boucher (Boughton House), Stephen Tabor (Huntington Library), and the staff at Durham University Library all helpfully supplied information and images relating to specific items in their collections, saving me a good deal of travelling. I was fortunate enough to receive a part-time Arts and Humanities Research Council doctoral studentship (2006-11) to support this work and I wish to express my gratitude to that organisation. For help with additional costs (including travel to libraries and conferences, as well as the purchase of research materials), I received generous further funding from the Musica Britannica Trust (Louise Dyer fund), the Music & Letters Trust, the Royal Musical Association, and the University of Southampton (School of Humanities). A huge number of other scholars and musicians have aided the course of this research over the years, sometimes by answering brief enquiries, at other times in more substantial ways (by reading drafts, providing copies of sources, and by sharing their own unpublished writing and research materials). My most substantial debts are to Kirsten Gibson, Pat Glynn, Christopher Goodwin, the late Ian Harwood, Ben Hebbert, and John Robinson. A special mention must go to Tim Crawford; the five years I spent working alongside Tim on his Electronic Corpus of Lute Music project served as a wonderful apprenticeship for this project, enabling me to get to know many of the English “Golden Age” sources under his expert tutelage. I am also very grateful to the examiners of this thesis, Professor Richard Wistreich and Dr. Stephen Rice, for their helpful comments and suggestions. xi My most significant intellectual debt, however, is owed to my supervisory team at the University of Southampton, Jeanice Brooks, Liz Kenny, and Ros King. All three have endured me repeatedly missing self-imposed deadlines over the past seven years, listening to my tales of childcare- and employment-related woe with exemplary patience and good grace. What’s more, very few institutions could have found me one supervisor with the necessary combination of cross-disciplinary interests to support this project, let alone three.