_______________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION 20 _______________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION 0.1 Biographical Details The fragmentary ‘Fayrfax’ Book of Hours 1 held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, contains, amongst other things, detailed notes on the births, baptisms and confirmations of the Fayrfax family of Deeping Gate, Northants. 2 One of the first entries records the marriage of William Fayrfax to his second wife, Agnes, second daughter of Robert Tanfeld, Keeper of Arms of Aldermanbery Church in London on 26 June 1445. 3 Following entries contain information concerning William and Agnes’ twelve children who were born between 1456 and 1472. The birth of their sixth child, Robert, appears as follows: Robertus filius predictus Willmi et Agnetis natus fuit apud depyngate predictum xxiii die mensis Aprilis viz in festo Sancti Georgi martyris. circa hora decima ad nocte Anno domini M CCCC mo lxiiii & Anno Regni Regis Edwardi quarti quarto. littera domilicalis g. Compatres eius fuerunt dominus Johannes Dykelow tunc temporis Rector de Peykyrke et dominus Johes Russetow vicarius de Estdepynge parochia Sancti Jacobi. Comater eius fuit Anna Pulter uxor Thomas Pulter Armigeri. Baptizatus vero fuit in ecclesia predicta Sti Jacobi in Estdepynge. Compater eius fuit ad episcopum magister Willius Witham decretorum doctor & tunc temporis Archidiaconis Leicestrie 4 This entry records that Robert was born in Deeping Gate on 23 April 1464 at about 10pm. His godparents at his baptism in the church of St James, East Deeping, were Master John Dykelow, Rector of Peakirk, Master John 1 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Lat. Liturg. e. 10. 2 At that point Deeping Gate was in Northamptonshire, see: Christopher Saxton, Christopher Saxton’s 16 th Century Maps: The Counties of England & Wales (Chatsworth Library: Shrewsbury, 1992) pp 64-5. The village is now in Lincolnshire. 3 MS Lat. Liturg. e. 10 f 23v. 4 Ibid. f 24v. 21 Russetow, Vicar of East Deeping in the parish of St James, and Anna Pulter, wife of Thomas Pulter. Robert’s sponsor before the bishop at his confirmation was Master William Witham, the Archdeacon of Leicester. It seems likely that Fayrfax lived in Deeping Gate with his parents and siblings for the earliest part of his life, on land rented from Margaret Beauchamp, dowager duchess of Somerset. Very little is known about the early and latter years of the composer’s life, given the lack of sufficient primary source material. I hope to put forward a number of theories in view of surviving material, secondary sources and circumstantial evidence, but these are only speculation. The celebrated seventeenth-century Oxford antiquary and historian Anthony à Wood, and William H. Gratton Flood, state that Fayrfax may have been a chorister in the Chapel Royal in around 1480 where he would have studied under Gilbert Banaster, but no evidence has been found to prove this theory. 5 The Fayrfax family was obviously well connected and it is possible that a number of local dignitaries could have influenced Robert’s early life. The relationship between the family and that of Margaret Beauchamp was evidently important. Many of the Fayrfax children’s godparents were related to Margaret from her second marriage to Oliver St John. These included Edith St John, the Duchess’ daughter, and Elizabeth Zouche, daughter of Lord Grey of Codnor and niece of Edith St John. In addition to local wealthy businessmen and merchants, important ecclesiastical figures such as the abbots of Peterborough and Bourne, the prior of Deeping, and clergymen associated with parishes surrounding Deeping Gate also acted as godparents and sponsors, and the influence of these individuals should not be overlooked. The area around Deeping Gate was musically thriving; several local establishments are known to have had flourishing choral traditions. Two of the 5 William H. Gratton Flood, Early Tudor Composers (Humphrey Milford: London, 1925) pp 37–8. 22 most important of these institutions, the colleges at Fotheringhay and Tattershall were only about 20 and 30 miles away respectively. It is possible that Fayrfax may have served as a boy chorister in one of them, but unfortunately insufficient primary source material survives listing musicians associated with either college. Another possibility is that Fayrfax sang in the Lady Chapel choir of one of the local monasteries. Connections existed between the family and the institutions at Crowland and Bourne; however, the number of associations between the Fayrfax family and the surrounding area point to Peterborough as a likely institution. The abbot of Peterborough twice acted as the sponsor to Fayrfax children: first, in 1445, to Margareta – daughter of Robert’s father and his first wife, Elena; and second, in 1456, to William. 6 It is known that Peterborough Abbey owned land in Deeping Gate, Welland fishery and Maxey in 1504 but the frequency with which members of the monastic community visited the land is unclear. 7 Roger Bowers has investigated the work of the Lady Chapel Choir at Peterborough. He states that the exact number of boys in the choir is unknown but in Advent 1454, a payment of 3d a day was made to provide meat for 10 days. Bowers states that in view of this, there would probably have been no more than six or eight choristers. 8 When Margaret Beauchamp died in 1482, her residence at Maxey Castle passed to her daughter from her first marriage to John Duke of Somerset, Margaret Beaufort. Three years later Margaret Beaufort’s position was elevated and her power of influence increased when her son became King Henry VII. Robert’s musical career may have owed a great deal to Margaret and it is 6 This is likely to have been Richard Ashton, Abbot of Peterborough 1439–1471. William Page (ed.), The Victoria History of the County of Northamptonshire 2 (Archibald Constable: London, 1906) p 93. 7 NRA 25686 and 5870. 8 R. D. Bowers, Choral Establishments within the English Church: their Constitution and Development, 1340–1542 (Unpubl. PhD. thesis: University of East Anglia, 1976) p 5035 ( sic ). 23 possible that he was involved in the musical life of her household. Her chapel – closely modelled on the Chapel Royal – was based at her primary residence at Collyweston, Northamptonshire. It is impossible that Robert was a boy chorister in her chapel as he would have been 23 years old when the residence at Collyweston came into her possession in 1487. The area from which Margaret recruited choristers was very large; in October 1504 a member of her musical establishment – and possibly its magister choristarum – Robert Cooper, was paid for riding to find choristers in London, Windsor, and the West Country. 9 Margaret sponsored boys from her household to attend schools and to serve in other institutions further afield such as Higham Ferrers, Tattershall College, Winchester College, London Charterhouse, and the Chapel Royal. 10 This interchange of personnel occurred between many of the most important musical institutions of the time, and it seems as though the Chapel at Collyweston – and perhaps Fayrfax as well – played its part in this. It is known that Margaret was recognized by the pope as patron of the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. At her request, Margaret’s dean – Henry Hornby – wrote an office for the feast which was used in addition to the mass of the Name of Jesus in her chapel. 11 It may not be insignificant that Fayrfax composed a motet, Magnificat and mass entitled ‘O bone Jesu’. 12 As a composer, Fayrfax certainly contributed to the musical life of Margaret’s chapel. On 4 December 1504 he received a payment from the countess’ cofferer, most probably for musical duties. 13 A few years 9 Fiona Kisby, ‘A Mirror of Monarchy: Music and Musicians in the Household Chapel of Lady Margaret Beaufort, Mother of Henry VII’, EMH 16 (1997) p 216. 10 Ibid. pp 217–8 and 220. 11 Michael K. Jones and Malcolm G. Underwood, The King’s Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (CUP: Cambridge, 1992) p 176. 12 It is also possible that this group of works was written for the Guild of the Holy Name in St Paul’s Cathedral, as discussed below. See: David Mateer and Elizabeth New, ‘ “In Nomine Jesu”: Robert Fayrfax and the Guild of the Holy Name in St Paul’s Cathedral’, M&L 81/4 (Nov 2000) pp 507–19. 13 Fiona Kisby, The Royal Household Chapel in Early-Tudor London (Unpubl. PhD thesis: University of London, 1996) p 481. 24 later, on 11 August 1507, he received a payment of 6 s. 8 d. from the Treasurer of the Chamber of Margaret’s household, this time for a new mass. 14 By the latter part of 1497 at the latest, Fayrfax’s reputation – probably as both a singer and composer – was good enough to secure him a position as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. Members of the Royal Household Chapel frequently received corrodies at the nomination of the King. This involved religious houses and other institutions sponsoring the Gentlemen by granting an annual allowance of food, accommodation or money, or a combination of them. These payments varied and could be paid to a gentleman throughout his career or, alternatively, as a pension. On 6 December 1497 Fayrfax was granted a chaplaincy in the Castle of Snodhill, Herefordshire, vacant on the death of Richard Jacqueson. 15 This position was surrendered only 11 months later on 16 November 1498 when it was granted to Robert Cooper, who – as discussed above – was subsequently Master of the Choristers in Margaret Beaufort’s household. Two further corrodies were granted: first on 29 March 1498 at Selby, Yorkshire; and second in 1502 at the monastery of Stanley, Wiltshire. No extant source material shows exactly when this latter corrody was granted, but it was relinquished on 21 February 1513 to another member of the Chapel Royal, John Fyssher.