Henry VIII's Book: Teaching Music to Royal Children

British Library Additional MS 31922, more familiarly called "Henry VIII's book," is known as the largest repertory of early Tudor secular song and as a unique repository of music sung and played at the court of Henry VIII. A closer look at the music raises doubts that the book was meant to be an anthology of early Tudor English song: excluding all compositions from the Continent, all pieces without lyrics, and all compositions by Henry VIII, the actual repertory of English song represented in the book becomes astonishingly small. And although the manuscript contains a number of songs which can be linked to specific historical events, the book was not originally compiled and copied to commemorate the music sung at revels and court festivals. Here, Helms argue that by assembling the material used and produced fix the education of a king, Henry VIII's manuscript was intended to serve as a book of examples for the musical education of a royal child.