ABSTRACT
By the time of William Laud's appointment as dean of the Chapel Royal in 1626 Thomas Tomkins was already 54 years old; his finest church music had been written, and after 1622 he was to compose no more madrigals. He had given of his best in the service of his sovereign and in 1628 it appeared that the court would at last give formal recognition to his skill and devotion to duty. Thomas Tomkins and his half-brother John, both serving as organists at the Chapel Royal, would undoubtedly have seen a good deal of each other since John's arrival at St Paul's in 1619. Soon after this shabby treatment of Thomas Tomkins, his half-brother Giles was also obliged to face a particularly unpleasant attempt at manipulation, finding himself, from the moment of his arrival in Salisbury, at the centre of an unholy row between bishop and dean.
