Humanism and the Reform of Sacred Music in Early Modern England

This book provides a new interpretation of John Merbecke (c.1505-c.1585), the Tudor musician, copyist and writer. Providing a new contextual study of Merbecke, it re-interprets his work in the light of humanist rhetoric. It shows how Merbecke’s 1550 publication The Booke of Common Praier Noted was an Anglican epitome of the Erasmian synthesis of eloquence, theology and music. The book thus explores the work of Merbecke as a humanist reformer, through re-evaluation of his contributions to the developments of vernacular music and literature in early modern England. As such it will be of interest, not only to church musicians, but also to historians of the Reformation and students of wider Tudor culture.