ABSTRACT
Considering that omas Ravenscro’s goal in publishing A Briefe Discourse in 1614 was to bring order out of chaos, he might have been dismayed to see what confusion has reigned in the modern understanding of his own biography. Indeed, scholars have been arguing for decades over the date of his birth, proposing one or another omas Ravenscro from archival sources as the music theorist, and basically, making a muddle of what he probably thought he had claried in his 1614 publication. e best we can do is sort through the surviving records with care, and beyond that to make surmises based on the contacts Ravenscro had at St Paul’s Cathedral, Gresham College, Pembroke College, and that are mentioned by name in A Briefe Discourse.
