ABSTRACT
The Chapel Royal is the body of priests, musicians and other officials serving the religious needs of the monarch and the royal household. At the beginning of King James’s reign the musicians consisted of a group of singing men and organists (the ‘Gentlemen’ of the Chapel) whose number hovered around twenty-four (though there were often a few ‘extraordinary’ musicians waiting for an appointment in ordinary), and a dozen boy singers. The Chapel’s musical traditions had been shaped by men of the calibre of Thomas Tanis and William Byrd. Its pre-eminence in English musical life can be attributed to its location at the centre of national power and culture, of which it was a visible manifestation, and in varying degrees to its function as an instrument of policy, to the quality of its musicians, and to a continuity of performance and repertory. 1
