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Some Observations on the Life and Career of Lionel Power

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1975

Roger Bowers
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Extract

The contribution of Lionel Power to European sacred music during the first half of the 15th century has long been appreciated, and the current publication of a complete edition of his surviving work has long been overdue. The purpose of this article is to present such few details as are known of his career, and to sketch enough of their background to permit some approximation to a coherent picture of the circles in which he lived and worked.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 102 , 1975 , pp. 103 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © 1979 The Royal Musical Association and the Authors

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References

1 The subject-matter of this article formed the content of a paper given at short notice to the Dufay Quincentennial Conference at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, in July 1974. I am very grateful to those members of the audience whose concern has at last prompted me into publishing it. I must also record my thanks to the many librarians and archivists by whose courteous assistance I have gained access to the original sources from which it is drawn, and to the governing bodies of the appropriate institutions for their permission to quote from documents in their possessionGoogle Scholar

2 The archival sources are virtually unanimous in spelling his name Lionel (or Lyonel); the musical sources are virtually unanimous in spelling it Leonel No explanation for this phenomenon can be offered. His Christian name is so very unusual that in the musical sources his works are commonly identified by it alone. Power himself used the normal English form Lionel, at least when having a legal document drawn up in his name (see Appendix II to this article), on these grounds the form Lionel is adopted in this article.Google Scholar

3 Charles Hamm, ed., Leonel Power. Complete Works, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, 1 (Rome, 1969—in progress)Google Scholar

4 William H. Grattan Flood, A History of Irish Music (Dublin, 1905), 94Google Scholar

5 IbidGoogle Scholar

6 Ibid., 98, 358. 95Google Scholar

7 Ibid., 94 5.Google Scholar

8 See, for example, certain passages (more probably written by his disciples than by Wyclif himself) in Unprinted Works of John Wyclif, ed. Frederic D. Matthew, Early English Text Society, old series, lxxiv (1880), 76–7, 91, 112, 169–76, 191–3. Books and articles on Wyclif and Lollardy in general are legion. K Bruce Macfarlane, Wycliffe and English Non-Conformity (Harmondsworth, 1972) was much used in the compilation of these paragraphsGoogle Scholar

9 The nature of the Lollard challenge to the music and ceremonial of the church, and a detailed consideration of the establishment's reaction to it, are analyzed in Roger Bowers, Choral Institutions within the English Church. their Constitution and Development, 1340–1500 (unpublished PhD dissertation, University of East Anglia, 1975), chap 4, pp. 1–9 (4001–9) et seqGoogle Scholar

10 For a general discussion of the nature of royal and aristocratic household chapels, see Frank Ll. Harrison, Music in Medieval Britain (2/London, 1963), 21–6, 170–4Google Scholar

11 Thomas F. Tout, The Place of the Reign of Edward II in English History (Manchester. 1914), 278, Ian D Bent, The Early History of the Chapel Royal (unpublished Ph D dissertation, Cambridge, 1969), i, 145–63, Bowers, op cit (n 9), chap. 2, pp. 58–60 (2058 60; chap 3, pp. 24–9 (3024–9)Google Scholar

12 Bowers, op. cit. (n 9), chap. 4, pp. 21–32, 46–8, 51–3 (4021–32, 4046–8, 4051–3); the books and rolls of accounts from which this information is drawn are too numerous to list here, but full references are given in the dissertation.Google Scholar

13 Public Record Office (designated henceforth as PRO), E 101 407/4, f. 36r, E 101 406/21, f 27r; E 101 45/5, m. 11; E 404 31/444. The composer Cook, of whom neither the Christian name nor initial is known, may be identifiable with the John Cook who was also a member of the Chapel Royal of Henry V.Google Scholar

14 PRO, E 403 643, mm. 2–3, 6; E 404 35/247Google Scholar

15 Margaret Bent, ‘Sources of the Old Hall Music’, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, xciv (1967/8), 19–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 K. Bruce Macfarlane, The Nobility of Later Medieval England (Oxford, 1973), 96–9, 112, Harrison, op. cit. (n. 10), 24–5, Bowers, op. cit. (n 9), chap. 4, pp. 33–5, 48 (4033–5, 4048), chap. 5, pp 28–30 (5028–30).Google Scholar

17 Westminster Abbey, Muniments of the Dean and Chapter, MS 12163 (designated henceforth as WAM 12163).Google Scholar

18 Ibid, f. 16r. For a complete list of names, see below, Appendix I to this article.Google Scholar

19 Ibid, f 14r: ‘Et in denaris solutis lionell Power magistro dictorum puerorum [capelle] pro calciatura camisiis et aliis necessariis suis per tempus compoti per parcellam examinatam etc xxiijs. vijd. ob.’ Unfortunately the parcella has not survived with the accountGoogle Scholar

20 See below, Appendix I to this article The scribe compiling the livery list of the names of the Chapel personnel became somewhat muddled at the point where the list of names of chaplains ended, and that of the clerks began; it may have been intended for Power's name to appear at the head of the list of clerks.Google Scholar

21 Biographical details from Charles L. Kingsford, ‘Thomas, Duke of Clarence’, Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 1885–1900), Ivi, 158–60; with corrections from The Register of Henry Chichele, ed. Eric F. Jacob, Canterbury & York Society, xlii, xlv-xlvii (London, 1938–47), ii, 647 (where for 1389 read 1388 at line 1). Between 1401 and 1413 Clarence held office as the King's Lieutenant of Ireland, and spent the years 1401–3 and 1408–9 in Ireland. If there is any fortuitous substance in Grattan Flood's claims of an Anglo-Irish origin for Power, then this latter visit to Ireland could have been the occasion on which Clarence made Power's acquaintance and appointed him to his household. The name of one of the chaplains of his household chapel in 1419, dom. Patrick, suggests an Irish origin. The surname Power is common in the vicinity of Waterford in south-east Ireland, beyond the Pale but within the region under Anglo-Irish control.Google Scholar

22 Harrison, op cit. (n 10), 21–6; Bowers, op cit. (n. 9), chap. 4, pp. 34–5 (4034–5).Google Scholar

23 Jules Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean, duc de Berry (1401–16) (Paris, 1894–6), i, 226–7, 132, 339–40; ii, 125 (no. 973), 235 n 3, 318. Léopold Delisle, Le cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1861–81), iii, 193; it seems certain that his items 282 and 283 refer to one and the same volume. Following Clarence's death, this book eventually came into the possession of the Dukes of Burgundy at some time between 1420 and 1467: Friedrich Ludwig, ed, Guillaume de Machaut: Musikalische Werke (Leipzig, 1928, reprinted Leipzig, 1954), ii, 10∗-11∗, and 11∗ n. 1. I am grateful to Professor Brian Trowell fur suggesting the source of this information. As long as this manuscript remained in Clarence's possession, it seems inconceivable that Power can have failed to study it, It contains Mauchaut's Mass: Power's direct acquaintance with this work could have constituted one strand in the line of development which eventually led him to conceive the idea of the unified cyclic Mass, with which he is commonly credited.Google Scholar

24 Bowers, op. cit. (n. 9), chap. 4, pp. 51–3, 56–9 (4051–3, 4056–9)Google Scholar

25 Ibid., chap. 4, pp. 40 50 (4040 50)Google Scholar

26 WAM 12163, passim, esp. H 8r, 22v, 24r.Google Scholar

27 Dorothy W Sprules, ‘Woking’, Victoria County History of Surrey, ed Henry E Maiden (London, 1911), iii, 382–3.Google Scholar

28 According to an early 14th-century survey of the palace, the original has perished, but a transcript survives in London, British Library, Add 6167, f 460rGoogle Scholar

29 WAM 12163, ff. 10r-25r, passim.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., ff. 14r. 14r The surname Power is not common, this concentration of there Powers (Lionel, Richard and Thomas) in a single aristocratic household is certainly worthy of remark, but it need nevertheless be no more than mere coincidence. Thomas Power may himself have been a singer and clerk of the chapel recently recruited from Lincoln Cathedral A vicar-choral of that name occurs there in June 1419, exchanging the stall of Empingham prebend for that of Leighton Buzzard; but in September 1420 his stall was conferred on another vicar on account of Power's prolonged absence in partibus transmarinis (Lincolnshire Archives Office, Lincoln, Muniments of the Dean and Chapter, A.2.30, ff 86r, 102r). In 1434 a John Power was admitted vicar-choral for this same stall (ibid., A.2.32, f. 96v)Google Scholar

31 WAM 12163, f. 23r; the will has been printed in full in The Register of Henry Chichele (n. 21 above), ii, 293–6.Google Scholar

32 WAM 12163, f. 14v.Google Scholar

33 London, British Library, Add. 57950 The Old Hall Manuscript, ed Margaret Bent and Andrew Hughes, Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, xlvi (Rome, 1969). Also Andrew Hughes and Margaret Bent, ‘The Old Hall Manuscript a Reappraisal and an Inventory’, Musica Displina, xxi (1967), 97, Bent, op. cit (n 15), 19 37, esp 31, n. 31Google Scholar

34 Bent, op, cit. (n. 15), 26.Google Scholar

35 PRO, E 101 408/1, f. 16r; 408/25, f. 1v, the list for 1437/8 unfortunately breaks off incomplete before reaching the clerks of the chapel (408/24, f. 44v) Power makes no appearance on the lists for 1441/2 or 1443/4 either (409/9, f. 36r; 409/11, f. 38r).Google Scholar

36 ‘Iste libellus pertinebat Johanni dunstaple cum duci Bedfordic musico’: Cambridge, St. John's College, MS F25 (James 162); Montague R.James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St John's College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 1913), 192. This inscription is well known and has often been quoted with, perhaps, rather less caution than it deservesGoogle Scholar

37 Thomas Ragun was designated as one of the supervisors of the will of Sir William Talbot, made on 14 April 1425 The Register of Henry Chichele (n 21), 11, 326, 678.Google Scholar

38 PRO. C 54 294, m. 18v, calendared in Calendar of Close Rolli, 1441–7, 211, printed in full below as Appendix II to this articleGoogle Scholar

39 See above, p 109.Google Scholar

40 London, British Library, Arundel 68, f. 62v. ‘Memorandum quod anno domini moccccmo xxiijo ij idus maii die veneris in crastino ascencionis Recepti fuerunt in traternitatem nostram per dominum J[ohannem] W[odenesbergh] priorem tune presentem Johannes Ardenne subthesaurarius Anglie, Ricardus Knyghtle, Robertus Burtone, Nicholaus Crane et Leonellus Powere [Joye sainz fyne added in another hand]’ Identification of Power's fellow-initiates has so far failed to shed any light on the nature of his employment at this timeGoogle Scholar

41 This is spelled out with particular clarity in the forms for admission to membership of the fraternity of Lincoln Cathedral Henry Bradshaw and Christopher Wordsworth, Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral (Cambridge, 1892–7), 1, 408–10; and, more generally, William G Clark-Maxwell, ‘Some Letters of Confraternity’, Archaeologia, Ixxv (1926), 19–60, lxxix (1929), 179–216Google Scholar

42 Lists of admittees for various years, between 1290 and 1526 appear in British Library, Arundel 68, ff. 2v-11v, 52v-67r, passimGoogle Scholar

43 The example of Nicholas Sturgeon is similar He was a member of the confraternities of St. Alban's Abbey, St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, and Christ Church, Canterbury, but is not known ever to have had any direct connection with the internal musical life of any of these institutions Frederic W Weaver, Somerset Medieval Wills, 1383–1500, Somerset Record Society, xvi (1901), 165Google Scholar

44 Certain of Power's compositions in the Old Hall manuscript appear to have been composed before approximately 1400 Bent, op cit (n 15), 32, Hamm, op cit (n. 3), 1, xix.Google Scholar

45 For some account of the Lady Chapel choirs which flourished at the greater monasteries during the last 140 years of their existence, see Harrison, op cit (n 10), 38–45, 185–94, Bowers, op cit. (n 9), chap 4, pp. 75–100 (4075–100), chap 5, pp 32–45 (5032–45), chap 6, pp 34–5. 44–59. (6034–5, 6044–59).Google Scholar

46 Bowers, op cit. (n 9), chap. 4, pp. 77–85 (4077–85).Google Scholar

47 Ibid, chap 5, pp. 82 4 (5082 4)Google Scholar

48 For some account of these almonry schools (meagre and inaccurate, but the only remotely serious studies yet afforded them) see Arthur F. Leach, The Schools of Medieval England (London, 1915), 213–34, Nicholas Orme, English Schools in the Middle Ages (London, 1973), 243–8Google Scholar

49 The obituaries were written over the years by a succession of inmates, and were eventually compiled into a single volume, written in 1536, which still survives among the cathedral muniments. Canterbury, Muniments of the Dean and Chapter (henceforth abbreviated as CDC), Lit. MS D 12. A digest of the contents of the profession and obituary lists in this manuscript and two similar volumes was prepared by William G Searle, Christ Church Canterbury (1) The Chronicle of John Stone, Monk of Christ Church, 1415–72; (2) Lists of the Deans, Priors and Monks of Christ Church Monastery, Cambridge Antiquarian Society, xxxiii (1902), 168-end. Appropriate passages are quoted and discussed in Harrison, op. cit. (n. to), 189–90, and Bowers, op. cit. (n. 9), chap 4, pp. 70–74 (4070–74), chap 5, pp 36–7 (5036–7). For a description and inventory of five fragments of polyphonic music of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries surviving in the cathedral library, and possibly originating at the cathedral for use by the monks at the choir service, see Sandon, Nicholas, ‘Fragments of Medieval Polyphony at Canterbury Cathedral’, Musica Disciplina, xxx (1976), 37–54Google Scholar

50 R Anthony L. Smith, Canterbury Cathedral Priory—a Study in Monastu Administration Cambridge, 1943), 4.Google Scholar

51 Payment to the monk-organist of his annual fee of 10s occurs on all the sacrist's accounts which survive for the period 1361–1533: CDC, Priory Accounts, Sacrist The list of organists printed by Charles E. Woodruff and William Danks, Memorials of Canterbury Cathedral (London, 1912), 461, is not trustworthy for the pre-Dissolution period.Google Scholar

52 A chantry of six priests was established in the chapel of the almonry in 1320, and this occasioned certain alterations to the organisation of what was evidently already a flourishing almonry school: London, British Library, Cotton Galba E iv, ff. 88v-89v.Google Scholar

53 CDC, Registers N, S, T and T2 were searched, as seeming to be the most promising in this respect, but in vain.Google Scholar

54 A boy called Thomas Ware had been a chorister of Henry V's Chapel Royal in 1421: PRO, E 101 407/4, ff. 21r, 46rGoogle Scholar

55 Accounts of distribution of livery by the prior to certain lay servants of the priory: Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 165, f. 166r.Google Scholar

56 Journal of Prior's Expenses 1446/7, C.DC, Misc. A/cs 4, f 134r ‘Et solut’ Thome Ware pro stipendiis suis vjs. viijd.' Normally this stipendium was paid in four quarterly instalments of 20d. each: cf. ibid., ff. 177r, 219r.Google Scholar

57 Ibid, I 142r: ‘dvna Et dat’ puerts cantantibus die Epiphame iijs. iiijd’, f. 142r: ‘dona Et dat’ Thome Ware magistro puerorum pro regardo vjs. viijd Et dat' ad recreacionem puerorum suorum cantantium xxd.’; f 144v: ‘dona— Et dat’ Thome Ware et pueris suis venientibus ad Eastry iijs. iiijd' Further references to Thomas Ware and his singing boys occur in later journals of prior's expenses, e.g. ibid., f. 187r (1447/8).Google Scholar

58 E.g CDC. A/c Sacrist 40 (1456/7): ‘Item clerico capelle beate marie Thome Ware xxxiiijs. viijd. Item solutum eidem clerico ultra stipendia consueta vs. iiijd.’ Ware is named as Clerk of the Lady Chapel on all the Sacrist's Accounts from 1452/3 to 1469/70 (CDC, A/cs Sacrist 39–40, 42–9, 62); accounts prior to 1452/3 record the payment of the salary, but do not give the name of the recipient.Google Scholar

59 Searle, op. cit. (n 49), 61. The Master of the [Singing] Boys received a further £2 p a. of his salary from the Warden of the Altar of Our Lady Undercroft—in 1510/11 at least, the only year for which evidence survives; 10s. quarterly to Nicholas Bremmer, magister puerorum, CDC, Misc. A/cs 36 ff 3r, 6v, 9r, 11r, 13vGoogle Scholar

60 CDC, Misc A/cs 4, f. 226v: ‘dona—Et dat’ Thome Ware cum puens decantantibus missam xxd.'Google Scholar

61 CDC, A/cs Sacrist 39–40, 42–9, 62.Google Scholar

62 Corbrand. CDC, A/cs Sacrist 51–5 Nesbett: CDC, A/cs Sacrist 55–8; Misc. A/cs 7, ff. 4v, 35r; MS Scrapbook B, nos 47–9; MS Scrapbook C, no. 95. The identification of these two hitherto obscure composers, both represented in the manuscript Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys 1236, enables Charles's conclusions concerning the date and provenance of this manuscript to be still further refined (Sydney R. Charles, ‘The Provenance and Date of Pepys MS 1236’, Musica Disciplina, xvi (1962), 69); 1 hope to show elsewhere that it was probably written during the 1470s, and was compiled for possible use at services in the almonry chapel (where the secular Salisbury Use was observed) at Canterbury Cathedral.Google Scholar

63 CDC, MS Domest. Econ 31, f 2v. ‘Et solut’ Nicholao Bremer pro missa beate marie virginis celebrata nota fracta pro termino finiente festo Natalis domini ex gracia domini prioris xv Bremmer was recorded as clerk of the Lady Chapel on sacrist's accounts from 1488/9 onwards (CDC, A/cs Sacrist 58 with 68; Misc. A/cs 7, ff 36v, 61v, 119v, 139v; Misc. A/cs 9, f. 27v); and as master of the boys on the accounts of the warden of the altar of Our Lady Undercroft (CDC, Misc. A/cs 36, ff. 3r, 6v, 9r, 11r, 13v).Google Scholar

64 CDC, Misc A/cs 4, ff. 141v, 186v.Google Scholar

65 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 165, ff. 171r-177r passimGoogle Scholar

66 CDC, MS Scrapbook C, unnumbered item on sixth page from end of volume.Google Scholar

67 Payments for their clothing occur on the main series of prior's and treasurer's accounts, and on various subsidiary documents recording notional transactions between the two offices: CDC, A/es Prior 12, 14, Treasurer, 16 18, 20, Treasurer, file without reference; MS Scrapbook C, nos 22, 96; MSS Domest. Econ. 21, 22, 48.Google Scholar

68 Searle, op. cit. (n. 49), 39Google Scholar

69 CDC, Misc A/cs 4, ff. 134r. 177r, 219r; Lit MS E vi, ff. 43r. 55rGoogle Scholar

70 Journal of Prior's Expenses, 1444/5, CDC, Misc. A/cs 4, f 33r ‘Et solut’ pro pencione lionell' power pro termino Natalis domini xxd.'Google Scholar

71 Oxford, Bodleian Library, Tanner 165, ff 166r-177r.Google Scholar

72 Ibid., ff. 155r 163v. Although Power was already a resident of Canterbury at least by September 1438, as shown above, his name mysteriously fails to occur on the prior's livery list for Christmas that year. No convincing explanation for this discrepancy presents itself It is possible that he had not yet entered the priory's service in 1438, and was resident in Canterbury in the employment of some other patron (possibly in the household chapel of Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury?) Perhaps more probable is the speculation that he was indeed already employed by the cathedral by September 1438, but failed to qualify for an issue of livery that Christmas because he had not yet completed a full year's service there. This would have contravened the general rule that issues of livery (unlike salaries) were normally made in advance, not in arrear; but the issue of 1438 was the restricted liberacio prirata, and Prior William Molassh was conspicuously mean in issuing livery to armigeri and generosi in such years. Prior John Salisbury, who succeeded Molassh in 1439, was somewhat more liberal (ibid, ff. 154v-158r). It thus remains uncertain whether Power entered upon his duties at the cathedral in 1438 or 1439, but the former year seems the more probable.Google Scholar

73 London, British Library, MS Tiberius B iii, f 4v; Searle, op. cit. (n. 49), 37.Google Scholar

74 For example, CDC, A/c Sacrist 28 (1436/7): ‘Item clerico Capelle beate marie in navi Ecclesie xxxiiijs. viijd’ At this time the Lady Chapel was situated in the two easternmost bays of the north aisle of the nave: J. Wickham Legg and William H. St. J. Hope, Inventories of Christ Church, Canterbury (Westminster, 1902), 160–1Google Scholar

75 According to injunctions left by Archbishop Robert Winchelsey after a visitation of the priory, dated December 1298. London, British Library, Galba E iv, f 67rGoogle Scholar

76 Information drawn from the oath taken by the clerks on their admission' CDC, Lit MS C 11, f 37r. This copy was made in 1503 by William Ingram, a monk recently appointed Warden of the Martyrdom Shrine.Google Scholar

77 CDC, A/c Sacrist 28, see above, n 74.Google Scholar

78 CDC, A/c Sacrist 29 ‘item clerico beate marie in Navi ccelesic xxxiiijs xiijd Item solut’ eidem clerico ultra stipendium consuetum vs iiijd'Google Scholar

79 CDC, A/c Sacrist 39 (1452/3) ‘Item clerico beate Marie in Navi ecclese I Ware xxxiiijs viijd Item solut’ eidem clerico ultra stipendia consueta vs iiijdGoogle Scholar

80 CDC, A/cs Sacrist 29–31Google Scholar

81 CDC, A/c Sacrist 32Google Scholar

82 See above, n 73.Google Scholar

83 CDC, Misc. A/cs 4, f 85v records the prior's payments during 1445/6 from the officium elemosinarie, the payment of this pensio is conspicuously absentGoogle Scholar

84 CDC, A/c Sacrist 33 (1445/6)Google Scholar

85 See above, p 115.Google Scholar

86 CDC, A/cs Sacrist 35, 39.Google Scholar

87 Oxford, Corpus Christi College, 256, f 166v.Google Scholar

88 rogantes quatinus non solum hoc, verum ectam antiphonam, allam ad honorem gloriose christ matris vobis a deo noviter inspiratam continuare curtis ibid.Google Scholar

89 If Archbishop Stafford were hoping that the new prior might prove more amenable, then his hopes were fulfilled, for Thomas Ware was appointed to succeed Power at Michaelmas 1446Google Scholar

90 See above, p. 114.Google Scholar

91 See below, p 125.Google Scholar

92 Sec above, n 73Google Scholar

93 London, British Library. Arundel 68, f 29v, London, Lambeth Palace, Library of the Archbishops of Canterbury, MS 20, f. 192rGoogle Scholar

94 CDC, Misc A/cs 4, f 226r ‘solution privata Et dat’ pulsatoribus pro obbitu lionell power xijd.'Google Scholar

95 Hamm, op cit. (n 3), xi, xii, xiv-xix This threefold classification appears to be intended to supersede Hamm's earlier, more intricate, classification and chronology of Power's works' Charles Hamm, ‘The Motets of Leonel Power’, Studies in Music History. Essays for Oliver Strunk 'Princeton, 1968), 127 36CrossRefGoogle Scholar

96 Charles Hamm and Ann Besser Scott, ‘A Study and Inventors of the Manuscript Modena, Biblioteca Estense, ModB)’, Musica Disciplina, xxvi (1972), 108 13.Google Scholar

97 Scott has tentatively suggested that Power may himself have visited Italy towards the end of his life, as a member of a delegation from the province of Canterbury to the Council of Ferrara (Jan 1438 Jan 1439), taking with him the large collection of English music copied into ModB (Ann Besser Scott, ‘English Music in Modena, Biblioteca Estense, αa.x.i.i i and other Italian Manuscripts’, Musica Disciplina, xxvi (1972), 151 5) Attractive though this suggestion may be, the evidence presented is far too slender and circumstantial to support it, and the whole conception is wholly improbable. There is no certain evidence that any delegation from Canterbury province ever set out for Ferrara. If it did, then the laymen two earls, two barons and ‘many of the knightly rank’ by whom the clerics were to be accompanied would have been in attendance to supply protection on a potentially dangerous journey With the whole of the province of Canterbury to choose from (the whole of England south of the Trent), this was hardly the sort of assignment for which an elderly musician (who was only a domestic armiger, not a lighting man) would have been selected Anyway, if a delegation ever set out for Ferrara, it did not leave any earlier than May 1438, and in September 1438 Power was sale at home in Canterbury city, executing his quitelarm to Thomas Ragoun. He had nothing to offer to justify his inclusion in a clerico-diplomate mission to Italy, and by 1438 he may well not have been free to go, having already started his regular daily work in the cathedralGoogle Scholar

98 James H Wylie and William T Waugh, The Reign of Henry V (Cambridge, 1914 29). iii, 163 310 passimGoogle Scholar

99 London, British Library, Lansdowne 763, ff 104v 112r, printed by Sanford B Meech. ‘Three Musical Treatises in English’, Speculum. x (1935). 242 58Google Scholar

100 See above, p. 106 and n. 19.Google Scholar

101 London, British Library, Lansdowne 763, f 104v, Sanford B Meech op. cit in 991–242Google Scholar

102 Ibid., C 113v, p 260Google Scholar

103 Bowers, op cit. (n 9), chap 5, pp. 85 8(5085 8)Google Scholar

104 Harrison, op cit. (n. 10), 230Google Scholar

105 Ibid., 219.Google Scholar