ABSTRACT
Reorganisation of the court finances and administration at the accession of James II disposed of a number of anomalies. Where previously some musicians had received combined fee-and-livery payments from the Treasurer of the Chamber, now liveries for all the main group of twenty-four men were to be paid by the Great Wardrobe. However, before the new system was established, an effort was made to clear some of the arrears left from Charles II’s reign. No annual payment of liveries appears to have been made between 1685 and 1688; consequently there is a gap in the series of Debenture Books for those years. The approval by James II in Council, a warrant dated 21 September 1686 required the Great Wardrobe to pay a proportion of the outstanding arrears to the musicians.
