JOHN HOTHBY AND THE CULT OF ST REGULUS AT LUCCA

Extract

On 20 February 1469, the cathedral canons of Lucca appeared before the general council of their city to plead on behalf of their choirmaster of less than two years, John Hothby. Warning that this Englishman and Carmelite friar might accept a more lucrative post elsewhere, they asked the council to supplement his salary provided by themselves and the local nobleman, Nicolao da Noceto. Such support, they assured, would guarantee Hothby’s continued residence in Lucca and thus his cultivation of ‘so many talented students in music and in the practice of it that he will not only be useful to the clergy but also the highest consolation and praise to the entire people’. Their predictions had the desired effect, as the council granted the choirmaster a monthly stipend of 2 ducats.