The Lyrics of Henry VIII/Manuscript

Description of the Manuscript
The manuscript is vellum (12 by 8.25 inches, 309 by 211 millimetres), with some paper additions as the result of its rebinding in 1950-1. H was obtained by the British Museum in its original bindings; these are wood, covered with leather with a design characterised by roses, fleur-de-lis, and tooling; the covers measure 13 by 8.5 inches, and were once held together by two clasps, now missing. The effect of the cover design is a double-ruled and centred square, in which a series of diamonds are created by diagonal tooling; each of the full diamonds in the centre of the cover contains a fleur-de-lis, while the remaining divisions contain roses. The tools used on the binding have been identified as belonging to a binder operating in London ca. 1520-3. As it currently exists, it is bound in modern covers of maroon leather on boards and consists of the following:
 * 1. One paper page (modern addition).
 * 2. Two vellum sheets, chiefly blank save for the latter, which has written in the bottom right corner of the recto of it “Purchd. of B Quaritch, / 22 April 1882.” These are original and, while unnumbered, match in composition and wear those numbered ff. 129 and 130, listed below as 5(iv).
 * 3. One paper page (modern addition, containing a list of printed texts and notices of this manuscript).
 * 4. One paper page, an addition containing the remains of two paper bookplates,
 * (i) of “Thomas Fuller: M:D,” with “Stephen Fuller of / Hart Street, Bloomsbury / 1762” written in ink above the arms of Thomas Fuller, and
 * (ii) of “The Right Honourable / Archibald Earl of Eglinton.”
 * 5. One hundred and thirty vellum sheets comprising the original manuscript. These are made up of sixteen gatherings generally of 8 leaves each, though the first gathering is of ten; i10 lacks the tenth leaf (a stub remains), and xvi8 lacks the first leaf (for which a stub remains as well). The front fly leaves and the end-pages (ff. 129-30) are additional to these gatherings. The physical contents of the manuscript are as below:
 * (i) 1r-2r: blank, except for some extra-scribal markings (noted below).
 * (ii) 2v-3r: a numbered (arabic) index of works in the manuscript, listing only pieces having original ink numbering in the manuscript itself, and inaccurate after number 49.
 * (iii) 3v-128r: 109 pieces, of which 75 are lyrics set to music (with at least a title or incipit provided) and 34 are settings with no words; these run continuously, except for blank faces left on 43r, 97v (which is blank, but ruled for music), and 102v; there are occasional extra-scribal markings (noted below).
 * (iv) 128v: a blank sheet.
 * 6. 129r-130v: two vellum sheets, chiefly blank save for some extra-scribal markings (noted below), and a pencilled account of the manuscript (dated 1882) on 129v; ff. 129 and 130 match in composition and wear the first two vellum sheets in the manuscript (noted above).
 * 7. One paper page (modern addition) containing the manuscript’s record of treatment.

Foliations 1 through 130 are numbered in pencil in the top exterior corner of the recto face, with an older pagination of 1 (2v) through 251 (128r) in the top exterior corner on both recto and verso; the older pagination is erroneous and is largely erased or crossed out. As well, there is an original ink numbering, roman numerals i-lxxii, of works in the manuscript, typically appearing in the top centre of the recto of the leaf after which a work begins (this, typically on the verso); these almost exclusively enumerate those works with fully-completed lyrics, matching those listed in the index on 2v-3r.

The manuscript shows evidence of five scribal hands, none identifiable, employed in its copying, with deployment as follows: A (2v, 3r [final line], 3v-14r, 18r, 21v-25v, 26v-89v, 90v-124r), B (14v-17v, 18v-21r), C (26r, 119v-120r [correcting and augmenting A], 124v-128r), D (90r), and E (3r). The differentiation of A and B relies chiefly on the evidence of the texts of the lyrics alone, for the musical notation here is quite similar; this suggests the possibility that textual entry and musical notation were somewhat separated as scribal activities. The contents of the manuscript are listed by A (2v, 3r [final line, “I love vnlovid”]) and E (3r), urging the possibility that the penultimate lyric “I loue vnloued suche is myn aduenture” (H 122v-124r) was added slightly later than others listed in the contents; this, coupled with the prominence of A’s hand throughout, suggests A’s role in the production of the manuscript as more than a copyist. The final lyric,“Hey troly loly lo” (H 124v-128r; copied by C), does not appear in the list of contents and is, as with “I loue vnloued suche is myn aduenture,” likely also a slightly later addition; this, and further consideration of C’s corrections and additions to both the lyrics and the music first written by A on ff. 119v-120r, suggests C’s involvement in the later history of the manuscript’s compilation in an editorial capacity in addition to his scribal function. Scribe D’s work, which consists of a music-only piece on 90r, may be a later addition as well.

Extra-scribal markings occur infrequently, though not altogether uncommonly, and are chiefly gathered on the sheets which surround the manuscript proper; they appear as follows:
 * (i) 1r: near the centre on the top is written, in a sixteenth-century hand, “henricus dei gr[aci]a Rex Anglie.”
 * (ii) 2r: what appears possibly to be a large majuscule “R” with an extended flourish, in the top centre of the sheet.
 * (iii) 3v: (a) in the top left corner, the name of “Stephen Fuller” in ink; (b) as well, in pencil, the incipit for the piece which begins on this page is given as “[B]enedictus”.
 * (iv) 55r: (a) in the top right corner is written “henr” in ink and in a sixteenth century hand; (b) the same, “henr,” in the same ink and hand, next to the seventh line of text; and (c) on the same line as the attribution of the piece, in a different hand and in fainter ink than the other markings on this page, “William Cornysh” is written in a sixteenth century hand and rubbed out partially.
 * (v) 125v-127r: several markings, possibly scribal and approximately “,” occurring (a) one third the way down the left margin of 125v, (b) half way down the right margin of 126r, and (c) one third the way down the left margin of 126v and again near the bottom. Other markings, possibly scribal as well, occur (d) two thirds of the way down the left margin of 126v, and (e), on 127r, at the top of the left margin and half way down the leaf in the same margin.
 * (vi) 129v: (a) some pen practice, written sideways, downwards on the page from the top right corner; in a different hand, centred near the top of the page, “Ser John Leed in the parishe of benynden / Vynsent Wydderden ys an onest man so sayeth / Nycolas Bonden cuius est contrarium verum est.”
 * (vii) 130r: in several different hands, (a) near the top right are two smudged pieces of writing, one, running as the pen practice on the previous sheet, and illegible and, the other, “. . . Wydderden”; below this, (b) reads “Vynsent Wydderden ys a kneet”; below this, (c), written as a above, reads “Dauye Jonys ys a kneet” (the last word has been crossed out); to the right of a, (d) reads “John” as well as other smudged words, including what appears to be “Thomas”; below this, (e) reads “Syr John Lede in parishe of Benenden / Benynd[ ] / Leed in parishe Thomas” and directly above this last word “Benynden”; below this, (f) reads “Dauey Jonys in the paryshe of Benynden / ys an onest man so sayeth . . .”; lastly, (g) on the lower right section of the page, running horizontally, “Jane Reve of the paryshe of Mownfeld.”

The manuscript is chiefly in black ink, though slight variations in inking occur throughout, most notably on 90r (hand D, slightly darker), and 119v-120r (in hand C, as on 124v-128r, though A and C are both present on these sheets) and 124v-128r (hand C, slightly darker). Other colours—red, blue, and gold (gilding)—are employed for initial capitals. Typically, initial capitals are block style, stretching the height of both the musical staff and the space left for the text below. There are exceptions and, at times, blank spaces have been left in the manuscript for such initials and remain unfilled.

Date of the Manuscript
As one of only three remaining early Tudor songbooks, the Henry VIII MS is also surely the latest. The Ritson MS (LRit), containing a version of Henry’s “Pastyme with good companye” (H 14v-15r) with the heading of “The Kynges Ballade” (141v), is dated ca. 1510; the Fayrfax MS (LFay) in which “Svmwhat musyng” (H 120v-122r, LFay 33v-35r) is found, itself associated with Prince Arthur’s court shortly before his marriage to Katherine of Aragon, is dated ca. 1500-1. The best date which can be accurately assigned the Henry VIII MS is ca. 1522, though the majority of its contents are clearly from an earlier time.

Some have placed the lyrics from the manuscript as late as the 1530s. Jungman, for example, has linked Henry’s “Pastyme with good companye” to the state of affairs that existed between the King, Anne Boleyn, and Thomas Wyatt in 1530, and a version of “A robyn gentyl robyn” (H 53v-54r), attributed to Wyatt in the later Devonshire (LDev) and Egerton (LEge) MSS, is set by Cornish in H. Such a late date, however, runs contrary to the evidence provided by the manuscript itself.

The latest date for manuscript composition may be set to that of its binding, ca. 1520-3 in London. This is established by tracing the implements used in creating the design on the manuscript’s leather cover. There are eight roses (Oldham, Bindings #1034; Shrewsbury #75, A.viii.10[2]), and four fleurs-de-lis (Oldham, Bindings #1055; Shrewsbury #74, A.viii.10[1]); the tools that created these designs were used in London by a binding shop identified (but not named) by Oldham. The same fleur-de-lis and roses as those used on H are employed in a similar pattern on Lambeth 94.B.3 (Lyons, 1523) which, in turn, shares a roll design (Oldham, Bindings #878, RCa[1]) with Lambeth 18.D.12 (Basle, 1520). The same fleur-de-lis is also found on BL Additional MS 34,807; as well, as noted by Oldham, the rose is used in conjunction with roll #892 (Bindings RPa[1]; London 1523).

While helping to establish an approximate end-date, information associated with the binding of H does not assist greatly with its precise dating, for it is possible that the tools employed in the design on the bindings of H were in use several years before or after the binding and decoration of H. Moreover, manuscript evidence suggests the likelihood that H saw circulation and use prior to its binding; as one might expect, H shows evidence of trimming after materials were copied into it but, more unusually, trimming appears to have occurred after some marginalia indicative of its use had been entered. Circulation in such a state may help explain the presence in H of the name of John Lede—a man associated with the Church of St. George in Benenden, Kent, ca. 1518 and afterward—on 130r, the contents of which appear unaffected by trimming and the location and wear of which suggest its place as the original end sheet.

Whether bound in leather or with vellum end sheets, H appears to have been in circulation some time after ca. 1518. Evidence provided by the lyrics themselves is further suggestive, both urging an earlier date than that of binding to be considered for the majority of the lyrics contained in H, but also establishing a date before which the manuscript could not have been copied in full.

While some of the English lyrics, such as “Svmwhat musyng” (H 120v-122r), hail from before 1500, and several of the instrumental compositions of Henry VIII can be placed quite shortly after the turn of the century, references in several lyrics by Henry and other authors point to events early in, and throughout, the first decade of Henry’s reign. The festivities that celebrated the birth of a prince on New Year’s Day 1511 are reflected in “Adew adew le company” (H 74v-75r). The songs “ENglond be glad pluk vp thy lusty hart” (H 100v-102r) and “Pray we to god that all may gyde” (H 103r) encourage assistance to the King against the French with reference to Henry’s 1513 invasion of France. Moreover, aspects of Henry’s lyrics are echoed in the Interlude of Youth, itself dated between August 1513 and May 1514.

The last occasions to which lyrics in H can be matched, however, suggest a date for the ultimate compilation of H no earlier than mid-1522. Cornish’s “Yow and I and amyas” (H 45v-46r) appears, by its allegorised characters and their described interaction, to be directly associated with the Schatew Vert court pageant-disguising held 5 March 1522; lines in “What remedy what remedy” (H 108v-110r) also reflect the devices employed by Anthony Browne and Henry VIII, and Browne’s motto as well, at the tournament of 2 March 1522 associated with the Schatew Vert pageant. Moreover, but more speculatively, Flood (64-5) assigns Cooper’s “I haue bene a foster” (H 65v-66r) to the play presented by Cornish at Windsor, 15 June 1522; the unattributed “I am a joly foster” (H 69v-71r) is a clear and immediate answer to Cooper’s lyric, thus suggesting the possibility of a similar association as, perhaps, with Cornish’s “Blow thi hornne hunter” (H 39v-40r).

Provenance of the Manuscript
The early history of the Henry VIII MS itself is difficult to establish, but a reasonable (if conjectural) provenance can be suggested for it, prior to its possession in the eighteenth century by Thomas Fuller, M.D. As William Chappell first put forward, it is most likely that the manuscript was removed from the courtly circles in which it originated to Benenden in Kent, as is documented by the extra-scribal markings on 129v-130r. The manuscript, as Chappell also advanced, may have made its way to Kent on one of the frequent royal visits to the seat of the Guildford family, the manor of Helmsted in Benenden; while Chappell mistakenly asserts that the manuscript was the property of Henry VIII, the basic tenets of his argument are sound and, in acknowledgment of the issue of ownership posed by Chappell, John Stevens has pointed to the possibility that the manuscript was commissioned by Henry Guildford, comptroller to Henry VIII’s household (M&P 386). Such a suggestion is well worth considering, for there is much to confirm Guildford’s strong presence in the activities represented by the manuscript, and to allow for its passage from immediate court circles to his family’s seat (held by his brother, Edward, also a friend to the king) in Benenden; that said, while I will, below, explore this conjectural connection, it is not the only possibility.

As materials for a history of Henry Guildford suitable to our purposes are unavailable in a collected form, and some are in manuscript alone, they are rehearsed here. By Henry VII’s accession, the Guildford family had been settled in Kent and Sussex for some eight generations and, for several generations before Henry Guildford’s service to the king, they had served as comptrollers to royal households. Henry was the third son to Sir Richard Guildford (ca. 1455-1506), a man who rose under Henry VII to become master of the ordnance, armory, and horse, as well as comptroller of the household. In his several roles, Richard had much to do with courtly entertainments, including the jousts for which he was granted the royal manor at Kennington by Henry VII; here, in 1501, Guildford hosted the newly-arrived Katherine of Aragon, whose welcoming pageant (the “Receyt”) he was instrumental in arranging as well. Richard appears to have had quite a large library, and was himself commemorated in a work dealing with the trip that led to his death (1506), the Pylgrymage of Sir Richarde Guylforde.

It was by Richard’s second wife, Jane, that Henry was born in 1489. Jane was at one time a member of Princess Mary’s household and, between 1497 and 1505, was in attendance on the young Prince Henry (b. 1491) as nurse; as well, one of Richard’s functions, on occasion, was to take charge of the royal children.

By the time of the 1509 accession, Henry Guildford was already a member of Henry VIII’s personal household, having been so while the new king was still a prince; being contemporaries and, at some times, under the same charge of Jane, we might say that they grew up together. Guildford was the only member of this household, after the accession, to enter the circle of Henry’s good friends, which itself included Charles Brandon, Edward Howard, Thomas Knyvet, and Guildford’s eldest brother, Edward. During the early years of Henry’s reign, Henry Guildford was often the Master of Revels for court entertainments, appearing in them with a frequency surpassed by few others; Guildford also signed the articles of challenge on the second day of the tournament celebrating the birth of Henry’s son in 1511. Knighted 30 March 1512, Guildford saw frequent advancement by Henry, commanding a force of his own in the 1513 invasion of France, and being honored with the office of the royal standard-bearer; he is also documented as participating in the festivities of that year at the court of Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. In later years, he would receive letters from Erasmus in praise of the English court (1519), would attend the Field of the Cloth of Gold (1520), and accompany Wolsey to the conferences in Calais in 1521; he would also remain a loyal and faithful friend and servant to the king, but would decline in courtly favor over the matter of the king’s divorce ca. 1531, an event that would lead to his retiring from court that year to Benenden, where he died the following year.

While not in possession of the family seat—this was held by his brother, Edward, as with much of the family inheritance —Guildford had enjoyed a level of exposure to the king enjoyed by very few others. Edward, several years senior to his youngest brother and the young king (and, hence, not so close a member of prince Henry’s household), would succeed his father in the Sargent of Armature under Henry VII and VIII, but would not rise as high, nor have a presence so close to the king for as long as his youngest brother.

In addition to Guildford’s participation in the revels, entertainments, and jousts during the early years of Henry’s reign, his role as master of revels, and so forth, it is the level of close familiarity that Guildford had with the king, from the time of the first years of both their lives to the end of Guildford’s, that remains the best argument for his participation in the production of the Henry VIII MS. At every identifiable event represented in the manuscript—the 1511 festivities surrounding the birth of a son, the 1513 war with France and, likely, the entertainments of the same year with the court of Margaret of Austria, and events of 1522 as well—and those that are more generic; the works of H, for example, that suggest their part among the pageants, interludes, and other entertainments and court pastimes—one finds or can presume the participation of Guildford, because of his formal courtly role and his association with the king. Unlike the roles of other figures who are associated and identified with the court activities represented in H, that of Guildford can, in addition to explaining H’s remove to Benenden, also help explain the presence in H of many of the poorer and more amateurish musical settings of Henry’s foreign lyrics. As described by Fallows in his “Henry VIII as Composer,” pieces such as “Gentyl prince de renom” (H 47v-48r) and “HElas madam cel que ie me tant” (H 18v-19r) demonstrate the mediating influence and interaction of a tutor (30-1), and were likely completed in the few years just after 1500 (35). Guildford, as we know, was a member of prince Henry’s household at this time and, while several members of Henry’s Chapel Royal ca. 1510-15 may have been involved with Henry’s tutelage, the Henry VIII MS is not a document akin to what was produced in such circles.

H, rather, appears very much a document of the highest courtly circles, intended for a noble amateur (as its decoration and size suggests) closely connected with Henry’s own childhood and youth, his courtly entertainments and dalliances, and the happenstances of court in a way that is suggestive, chiefly, of the role of Henry Guildford as its commissioner and earliest owner.

One might also note that the circumstances of William Cornish warrant his consideration as the commissioner and, perhaps, owner of H as well. He is the second most represented composer in the manuscript, was almost as active as Guildford in the aspects of courtly life represented by the contents of H (including their joint involvement in the events which mark, temporally, the latest entries into H), and who retired to Hylden, Kent just before his death in 1523. Other possibilities relating to the early provenance of the manuscript have been advanced, most recently and most convincingly by Dietrich Helms, with discussion of the early use of the manuscript as well (Heinrich VIII und die Musik, and in the forthcoming "Henry VIII's Book: Teaching Music to Royal Children").

The passage of H from this point forward to its possession by Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) of Seven Oaks, Kent, is quite unclear, but details from that point forward can be recounted with a much greater degree of certainty. From Thomas Fuller it passed ca. 1762 to Stephen Fuller of Hart Street, Bloomsbury. It next was possessed by Archibald Montgomery, the 11th Earl of Eglinton (1726-96). By the marriage of Montgomery’s daughter and heiress, Mary, it was transferred to Sir Charles Montolieu Lamb (d. 1860) of Beauport Park, Sussex. Through the firm of Quaritch it was sold by the daughter of Mary Montgomery and Lamb to the British Museum, 22 April 1882.

Language of the Manuscript
H is a court-based song book—a musical miscellany capturing the diverse tastes of the early Tudor court under Henry VIII—and, as such, reflects the work of a number of authors and composers, as well as that of the scribes who produced the document, presumably in London where it was compiled ca. 1522 and bound shortly thereafter. The dialectic forms of English found in this miscellaneous collection, as one might expect in a document of this nature produced in London at this time and intended for courtly circles, are not such that any one regional influence is betrayed, save that of the dialectic melting-pot that London had become by this time. Continental languages are present in lyrics that reflect what might best be termed a light English courtly French and, via incipits that suggest absent texts, Latin, Italian, and Flemish.