ABSTRACT
By the summer of 1642, the polarisation of the Royalist and Parliamentary factions was complete and war had become inevitable. The gaining town was kept informed of events by its own Royalist newspaper, Mercurius Aulicus. In this hothouse atmosphere, compounded of overcrowding, uncertainty, tension and excitement, Nicholas Lanier and his musicians no doubt did their best to provide solace and relaxation for the royal family and the court. Lanier is said to have presented his portrait, and it has also been alleged that he did so as a return gesture for having been made a Doctor of Music during the court's occupation of Oxford. Oxford was not a large town and, because of the influx of soldiery and courtiers together with huge numbers of servants and hangers-on, military and civilian supplies, horses and pack animals, it was practically bursting at the seams.
